Germany (1933), About 700 subs A Massive Improvement of U-Boat designs: If German tanks, aircraft and small arms from the German manufacturing complex had won a considerable and fearsome reputation in WW2, German submarines truly reached the world stage as the epitome of the genre, with just the perfect balance of engineering, simplicity, and ease … Read more
“K” class light cruisers: Planned 1925, 3 ships Germany (1927), KMS Königsberg, Karlsruhe, Köln The “K class”, Reichsmarine’s innovative ships: After the launch of Emden (1925), the light ‘K’ class cruisers were immediately started on the basis of a modernized armament, three triple turrets, of which the last two were offset from the axis, one … Read more
You certainly have heard of the Type VIIC and the Type IX which roamed the seas during WW2 and almost strangled seaways to UK in 1942-43. But over 1,100 U-Boats has been built during this war, mostly deployed in the Atlantic and over twenty-four types designed, many if which were left as paper projects…
Type Ia, the oceanic type Germany (1936) U25, U26 The Unterseebooten Typ I, were in direct line inspired by the Spanish E1 and various other international orders (Turkey, Finland, Holland…) made at The Hague. They were oceanic types, therefore openly violating clauses of the Versailles treaty. By their general configuration, they announced the famous class … Read more
Seeteufel (1944) Germany (1944) Genesis of a tracked submarine The Seeteufel “Monkfish” was an evolution of the concept of human torpedoes and midget submarines that could be thrown out on the coastal areas when U-boats failed to achieve their objectives and survive to the allied total mastery of the skies and sea at that point. … Read more
Germany (1939) Aircraft Carrier, 90% completed. Germany’s aircraft carrier Contrary to most European powers, Germany never ventured into the Aircraft carrier genre, bar perhaps a few ad hoc conversions as seaplane tenders. The appearance and raid of HMS Furious on a Zeppelin base in 1918 was duly noted by the German admiralty, but it occurred … Read more
Germany (1930-44) circa 50 ships Foreworld: German expertise on destroyers proceeded from humble beginnings: The weak TBs from 1910-1914, barely fit for the high seas. However the influence of Royal Navy designs and an order from the Russian navy before the war gave the experience of large, well armed oceanic destroyers. In particular, the “Russian” … Read more
Torpedo semi-submersible rolling Catamaran Germany (1944), Fast Attack Craft, paper project, 1944 A daring concept born from desperation: At the end of the war, Nazi Germany desperately needed new, essentially technological ways to deal with the allied steamroller, on land, air and sea. This led to an engineering fest of epic proportion, spawning some of … Read more
German mini-subs and human torpedoes Germany (1944-45) Introduction: K-verband projects: Not a part of the series of famous “V-weapons”, these ultra-modern miracle weapons supposed to reverse the fate of the Reich, these very light units of the Kriegsmarine appeared late, as a last-ditch naval bulwark to the enormous means deployed by the allies. With the … Read more
Type II U-Boats (1935) Germany (1935), 50 Submarines Types IIa, IIb, IIc, IId In 1930, the false Dutch company NV Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw den Haag (set up in the Netherlands to develop submarines for Germany after WW1) set out to design a new class of submarine as a means of coastal patrol and defense. This … Read more
