 TD4438 wrote: |
| Good info searat12,but I should have been more specific.How would the pocket battleships have performed if they were state of the art for their time? |
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Not sure what you are asking or suggesting.... Do you mean 'how would they have performed if they were different ships altogether?' As for what the Germans 'should' have put more resources into, it seems to me that a LOT of U-boats could have been built for the price and materials of a 'Pocket Battleship,' but of course, the Versailles Treaty would have allowed no such thing. Conversely, if Adolf hadn't been such an arrogant and greedy fool, he might have delayed the start of the war by a year or two, by which time the Kriegsmarine would have been in MUCH better shape to conduct operations. But all that is 'what if,' with so many variables to account for that I don't think there is a lot of point to it, because of course, the ALLIES were ALSO improving THEIR forces dramatically as well during this time (HMS Hood would have been completely modernized, so would HMS Repulse, the KGV's would all have been fully operational, etc, etc, etc.). At the end of the day, the 'pocket battleships' in concept and performance served much as did the armored cruisers of the previous generation, and suffered the same faults when confronted with more modern ships.
It is important to remember that the navies of the world had essentially CHANGED by WW2, mostly because of the various treaties (largely promoted by the then-broke British), and the development and promotion of the heavy cruiser as the primary 'heavy warship' for most operations. The heavy cruiser largely succeeded the battlecruiser in a both operational and tactical sense, with the days of squadrons and fleets of battleships and battlecruisers pretty much a thing of the past. This is not because there wasn't a strategic or operational NEED for such ships, or that fast battleships and battlecruisers were in any way 'obsolete,' it is just that few nations could really AFFORD such ships during the Depression years. As a result, the heavy cruiser model received a LOT of attention, and some excellent ships were built and designed to square off primarily against OTHER heavy cruisers. As well, technology in the form of vastly improved fire control and greatly increased artillery ranges for 'cruiser-sized' guns meant that the old theories about battleships out-ranging cruisers and destroying them at their leisure was also largely cancelled out as well (Prinz Eugen opened fire on HMS Hood at 25,000 yards range, and hit with her second salvo!). And when you combine that ability with the sheer number of heavy guns available to most heavy cruisers (most of the Japanese 'heavies' had 12 x 8" guns!), the sheer volume of fire available could shred a 'pocket battleship' in short order (as in fact happened with Graf Spee), with no chance for the 'pocket battleship' to escape heavy damage even if the cruiser was eventually driven off, because of the vastly superior speed of the heavy cruiser (30-35 knots!). The only real modification that could have been done to the 'pocket battleship' design would be to revert to steam turbines to gain additional speed, but of course this would eliminate her primary advantage of long endurance and quick reaction (not to mention a probable loss of armor as well), and thus be no better than another heavy cruiser (albeit with larger, though fewer guns).
Of course, even if the Germans had been ALLOWED to build a fleet of 'pocket battleships' and deployed them as such, they would have been comprehensively destroyed by the existing battleships and battlecruisers still available to the allies, not to mention the impact of aircraft....