Group of wolves stand up
The fourth reason is from the concept of warfare of Marshal Dunnitz, Naval Marshal. He pioneered the submarine "wolf tactics", and concentrated several submarines to jointly attack a target to achieve the goal of weakening. In 1940 alone, the Nazi German submarine sank 471 Allied ships with a total tonnage of 2.18 million tons, causing extremely serious losses to the United Kingdom.
With the outstanding performance of the submarine, Dunnitz became one of Hitler's most optimistic capable cadres, and his position was constantly promoted and even designated as a successor. At the time of the setback of the "wolf tactics", Dunnitz still firmly believes that the submarine can play a huge role in the fight for sea power, and has always been interested in aircraft carriers.
Deviation from strategy
Another reason is that the Navy cannot really play a strategic role. At the beginning of the Second World War, the main strategic direction of Nazi Germany was always the European continent. In the war, the army and the air force played an important role, and Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and other countries have fallen. The navy could not play a role in the war. Its role has been seriously underestimated.
In July 1940, Hitler carried out the "Sea Lions Plan" that attacked the United Kingdom. In order to compete for air superiority, the Nazi German Air Force dispatched more than 46,000 flights, dropped more than 70,000 tons of bombs, lost more than 1,500 aircraft, and still did not win the air battle. Hitler saw that there was no hope of conquering Britain, and he had to give up. Attacking the UK was a good opportunity for the Navy to show its talents. As the plan stopped, the Navy was marginalized again.
Construction drag and drop, not valued
The mistakes made by the shipyard construction plan also pitted the aircraft carrier. In 1935, the Germans received a hundred sets of drawings of the Japanese "Chicheng" aircraft carrier, and there were no technical obstacles in the construction process. However, while the shipyard is building the aircraft carrier, it will build other ships in the Navy’s “Z Plan”. In the arrangement of the project schedule, the shipyard prioritized the construction of battleships and submarines, followed by cruisers and destroyers, and finally the aircraft carrier. As a result, the Nazi Germany’s aircraft carrier plan has been delayed.
In contrast, in the United States, the displacement of the aircraft carrier Essex is equivalent to that of the "Zeppelin Earl". In order to catch up with the progress, the former started construction at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dock Company on April 28, 1941, and was launched on July 31, 1942. It took only 15 months before and after, and the degree of emphasis on the aircraft carrier can be seen.
During World War II, Germany's industrial output and economic strength were second only to the United States, accounting for more than 20% of the world's GDP during the peak period. In 1943, German steel production exceeded 34.6 million tons, which was more than the United Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union, Japan and Italy. At the same time, the Germans strengthened their mechanization and equipped 1.2 million vehicles and tens of thousands of motorcycles.
Not only that, the Germans' careful and meticulous work attitude has made their industrial products reliable and durable, and they are highly respected by the military and users. However, Nazi Germany did not know enough about the importance of aircraft carriers. Despite the construction of the aircraft carrier, subjective, objective and war factors overlapped each other, resulting in Nazi Germany's aircraft carrier plan to die, failed to do so.
