Comparing Soviet and German fleet threats if war is delayed

If the Second World War began later, would the Soviet naval program or Germany's Plan Z be the greater threat?

The Soviet program could be broader, but geographic dispersion weakened it; Germany's more concentrated force posed the more immediate problem for Britain.

Plan Z promised a stronger German fleet but still faced industrial, financial, and timing constraints. Soviet naval building could be large on paper, yet it had to cover the Baltic, Black Sea, Arctic, and Pacific theaters. Those separated fleets could not easily reinforce one another, diluting their strategic effect. Germany's force was more directly concentrated against British interests, so raw ship totals alone do not identify the greater threat.