Why rebuilding German sea power required decades

Lutjens's fleet-department service included observation and analysis of the Washington Naval Conference. He appears to have recognised that naval limitations affected the industry and infrastructure needed to build future fleets. German officers also faced the consequences of Versailles for their own ability to expand. Restoring a major navy therefore required decades of industrial and professional rebuilding. In this assessment, a programme on the scale of Plan Z becomes more plausible over twenty years than over five; that is a comparison of possible timetables, not a claim that Germany adopted a twenty-year plan.