The uncompleted 1942 design shows that Germany could eventually combine six diesels and three shafts with destroyer speed and a roughly 5,500-nautical-mile operating radius. Moving that technological emphasis earlier would allow ocean-going German escorts to accompany major surface units. Common diesel fuel would also let escorts and capital ships support one another's supply. Destroyers beside Bismarck and Prinz Eugen at the Battle of the Denmark Strait would prevent the Royal Navy from leaving its own destroyers behind or holding cruisers far away. Screens would be needed to contain enemy destroyers while the capital ships fought. A sortie would become the kind of balanced task-group battle more often seen in the Mediterranean.
Notable Point · 25:28-30:17
The projected 1942 diesel destroyer and its implications
A projected six-diesel, three-shaft destroyer combines 36 knots with a far longer radius, suggesting what earlier diesel development might have enabled.