The proposed fleet combined Dönitz's submarine emphasis with Raeder's surface-raiding task groups, but its completion date extended to 1948. Its battleships, carriers, cruisers, destroyers, torpedo boats, and submarines therefore cannot be judged against the Royal Navy of 1939. Britain would not wait passively: German submarine growth would stimulate anti-submarine escorts, while new capital ships would draw matching British construction. British policy could adapt production to intelligence about German, Italian, Japanese, and Soviet programs. Plan Z was a contest between industrial systems, so the opponent's response belongs inside any force-structure calculation.
Notable Point · 17:43-23:48
Plan Z could not freeze the Royal Navy in place
Plan Z's projected battleships, carriers, cruisers, destroyers, torpedo boats, and submarines are tested against the larger British fleet that German construction would provoke.