Plan Z emerged after earlier Plan X and Plan Y drafts and carried contradictory timing assumptions. Rearmament pressure sought major progress by 1942, yet naval planners were also promised that a general war would not begin until 1948. Erich Raeder argued for surface raiders while Karl Dönitz emphasized a much larger submarine force. The disagreement mattered because each approach required different construction priorities, supporting ships, personnel, and doctrine long before either fleet could become operational.
Chapter · 58:07-1:00:00
Plan Z's calendars and the Raeder-Dönitz rivalry
Competing completion dates and rival surface-raider and submarine strategies left Plan Z without a stable timetable or agreed theory of victory.