Leichte Schnellboote Germany (1942-45) – About 27 LS boats 1936-1945 Genesis of the “light fast (T)boats” The German Leichte Schnellboote were a series of small and light S-Boote or fast torpedo boats, originally designed to operate from a cruiser or auxiliary cruiser. In the end, design difficulties meant that only two were deployed on two … Read more
Type XIV “Milchkühe” U-Boats, Hitler’s Milk Cows Germany (1941-42): 10 U-boats Maintaining Wolf Packs at sea One aspect of the Battle of the Atlantic was to maintain operating U-Boats at sea as long as possible. It mostly concerned the standard Type VII, which had a limited autonomy. In the massive expanses of the Atlantic, locating … Read more
Nazi Germany, 1,170 planned, 118 completed (1944) The Elektroboot saga: Too late to win The Type XXI were large scale production Kriegsmarine’s “wunderwaffe” planned by Nazi Germany at the end of the war. Alongside the smaller Type XXIII “Elektobote” and numerous “midgets” at a stage events verged on desperation, it was supposed to reverse their … Read more
Germany (1931) – KMS Deutschland, Admiral Graf Spee, Admiral Scheer The “pocket battleships” of the Reichsmarine These ships were mostly made famous by the Graf Spee in the southern Atlantic, in the first naval battle of ww2, at the river plate in 1939. She somewhat eclipsed the other two: Scheer and Deutschland (later renamed Lützow). … Read more
Schnellbootes Germany (1934-45) Schnellboote – 9 classes*, circa 300 total +280 ordered The perile of S-Bootes: Called S-Boote (short for “Schnellboote”, literally “fast boats”) and known as the “E-Boats” by the allies (“E” for enemy, and also encompassing R-Boats), these nimble torpedo boats caused much concerns to the allies. Less than U-Boats though, but they … Read more
Fast Battleships 1939-1945 Germany (1940) KMS Bismarck, Tirpitz Introduction: The most formidable battleship in the world, 1941. The Bismarck is perhaps after the YAMATO, the most famous battleship class of WW2. However this status is certainly exaggerated in the light of its cost-effectiveness and battle records, as well as the encounter between axis propaganda and … Read more
Germany (1936) Battleships: Scharnhorst, Gneisenau The Kriegsmarine “terrible twins”: The Scharnhost and Gneisenau were the first Kriegsmarine battleships, completed shortly before the start of WW2. They were fast battleships, with an true emphasis on speed over protection. The second issue was the lack of a suitable artillery, as the 2,8 cm used since the Deutchsland … Read more
Germany (1928-35), Leipzig, Nürnberg The last light German cruisers: The Leipzig class represented the last two light cruisers of the German Reichsmarine (and Kriegsmarine). Same class but the second, KMS Nürnberg, was built to a slightly modified design and is sometimes seen separately by some authors. They clearly had sets of improvements over the “K” … Read more
Type IX U-Boats (1936) Germany (1936-45) 194 produced (290 ordered) Type IX, the long-range U-Boat: During world war two, two main types of u-boats roamed the sea: The Type VII, basically a mid-range oceanic type, able to take position in the middle of the Atlantic without refuelling, and the Type IX, the cruiser type, able … Read more
Germany (1940-44) – About 500 Amphibious ships German amphibious warfare in WW2: Prahme, converted riverine barges converted as landing ships in Wilhelmshaven, as part of the prevision for Operation Sealion, summer 1940. Whereas the focus on WW2 allied landings is very clear, the axis made a number of amphibious operations of smaller scale, first because … Read more
