Plan Z: The Nazi Bid for Naval Dominance

David Wragg

sept 2008 · Casemate Publishers

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“A well-written yet concise history” of Hitler’s plan to build a massive naval fleet, why it failed, and how it may have affected the outcome of WWII (Nautical Research Journal).
 
Except for the strength of the U-boat fleet at the height of the Battle of the Atlantic, the German Navy, or Kriegsmarine, was never a match for the Royal Navy, even though the latter was overstretched and fighting in the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Mediterranean, and the Arctic.
 
It was not supposed to be that way. Hitler and his naval staff had a vision for a large and well-balanced fleet, including aircraft carriers. Plan Z was the name given for the massive fleet that Germany intended to build. However, the Plan relied on the outbreak of the war not occurring until at least 1942.
 
This book examines the way in which such a fleet could have influenced the major battles between the Royal Navy and the Germans. Plan Z starts by looking at Germany’s history and ambitions as a maritime power. The relationships among the three armed forces, and between them and the Fuhrer, are also examined, along with the country’s economic and industrial position. Thanks to the author’s detailed research, Plan Z considers whether the Nazis’ ambitions could ever have been realized even if the war had been delayed due to the resource and manpower limitations—and also considers what the Royal Navy’s response could have been.
 
Includes photographs

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David Wragg has published several highly praised books on railway history, and he produced a textbook for the old Chartered Institute of Transport. He has also written on railways for the Sunday Telegraph, The Spectator, The Scotsman, and the Yorkshire Post. His Wartime on the Railways was reviewed by Rail as 'very readable' and by Railways Illustrated as 'as a fascinating insight and also an important record', and Railways Illustrated chose his Southern Railway Handbook as 'Book of the Month'.

One of his most recent publications is The Historical Dictionary of Railways in the British Isles. He is also well known as a writer of military history and provide the British, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand material for On Seas Contested- The Seven Great Navies of the Second World War, published in 2010 by the Naval Institute Press in the United States and which won the Stonebooks award for "The Best Non-Fiction book on World War II" to have been published that year.'