Hochseeflotte
The German Battlefleet of the Second World War
Battleship Ostfriesland, part of the Helgoland class of German battleships. One of the battleships of the Hochseeflotte involved in the Battle of Jutland during World War I
Introduction
Compared to the Kriegsmarine of the Second World War, the Imperial German Navy of the First World War was a naval superpower. She entered the First World War in 1914 with no less than 19 Dreadnought class Battleships, 22 pre-Dreadnought Battleships and 7 Battlecruisers. Not counting small encounters involving around a dozen ships at a time, only 1 great fleet battle was fought between this fleet and her main adversary, the most powerful naval force the world had ever seen - the British Empire's Grand Fleet: the Battle of Jutland. This great fleet battle was eventually a great disappointment for all advocators of a Grand Navy, as neither side won a clear and overwhelming victory. The Grand Fleet lost more capital ships than the Hochseeflotte (High Seas Fleet) but she also had a lot more ships to deploy, and neither side suffered a crippling blow. It was said the German Navy won a tactical victory where the British won the strategic victory because they held control of the seas and still outnumbered the Germans 3:2.The German Battlefleet of the Second World War
Battleship Ostfriesland, part of the Helgoland class of German battleships. One of the battleships of the Hochseeflotte involved in the Battle of Jutland during World War I
Introduction
Because the German command realised it could not win a prolonged naval war with the British when casualties mounted the way they did at Jutland, and because the German emperor did not want to risk the fleet, she sailed in strenght only once, 31 May and 1 June 1916, which cumilated in the Battle of Jutland. This battle convinced German admiral Scheer he would not be able to wrest control of the seas from the British, even with a highly succesfull engagement. This, coupled with the emperor's fears for the pride of his army, turned German naval attention towards the use of submarines to harrass enemy shipping.
A large part of the Hochseeflotte was interned in the British naval base at Scapa flow at the end of hostilities, where she was eventually scuttled by her own crews in June 1919 to prevent the ships from falling into British hands after the treaty of Versailles was signed. Most of these scuttled ships were recovered in 1919-1920 and sold for scrap metal. Other ships were disarmed and used as target practice or training vessels, while some were disarmed during the war and re-armed in the interwar period.
Treaty of Versailles
After the First World War, when the Weimar Republic was in charge and the Reichswehr was limited to 100.000 soldiers, a small fleet also existed, known as the Reichsmarine. The Reichsmarine consisted of 6 Pocket Battleships (Battlecruisers in game terms), 6 light cruisers, 12 destroyers and 12 torpedo boats. She was banned from owning any submarines. She was only allowed to field 15.000 men. It was allowed to replace outdated ships with newer types so long as the weight of the ships did not exceed 10.000 tons. The total displacement of the fleet was not to exceed 35.000 tons.
Intentions
As you may have guessed from the above, this AAR will focus on the German navy. The idea randomnly came to me when reading about the battle of Jutland, WW1, earlier today.At the moment, I'm still in the process of setting up the CGM for this game, it hasn't even started yet. Once all that has been resolved, a first proper chapter concerning the years prior to 1936 will be put up to explain what was done in this phase.
From there on, I intend to focus on the history of the fleet during the war, in all aspects. This includes the development and commissioning of new vessels, war plans, operations, battles etc. Other parts of the war will be largely ignored, though I will try to give a broad idea of what's going on every now and then. Some overview maps at different times at the very least. It's all still crystallising in my mind atm though, nothing's set in stone. It would probably get a bit boring or confusing if I ignored the other branches completely so I probably won't do that. The focus however, will be on the fleet.
Now, I'm absolutely no expert on naval combat, I've had some great success with an advanced (minmaxed) German battleshipfleet before, but that's no guarantee this won't go horribly wrong at some point. I've set it up slightly different this time, and haven't run a testgame yet.We shall see................
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