Plan Z and individually powerful destroyers

Germany expected to have fewer destroyers than its potential opponents, which encouraged larger ships with greater individual fighting power. Plan Z's political ambition for a renewed risk fleet sat beside naval planning that still assumed numerical inferiority. This resembled the Japanese effort to make each ship as capable as possible. An expected shortage of cruisers also pushed the destroyers toward cruiser duties and influenced their gun choices. Useful torpedo positions and a balanced gun arrangement accompanied mines, depth-charge equipment and many other demands on the same hull.