Depends very largely on the aircraft being flown off of the Carrier. A navalised ME-109 (surely the most likely option) as an interceptor would suffer from the same problems as the Supermarine Seafire did - lack of range. The stuka as a dive bomber would, like all dive bombers be at the mercy of whichever interceptor found it first. Also, I don't believe the germans had a decent design for a carrier borne torpedo bomber-  not sure if the Stuka could do the job (haven't checked the stats).

 

4 carriers would leave it outnumbered 2-1 by the British units and the several American units that were int he Atlantic in '42. I think these carriers would find themselves at the mercy of the fact that the Atlantic, unlike the pacific has large landmasses  that allow for more land based air power, particularly around the north atlantic.

 

Most importantly, the ability of the german navy to strike at the Royal navy carriers would be limited by range. Sending in unescorted Stukas only ever had one outcome and many RAF pilots became aces overnight with 'stuka parties'. Our own limitations in carrier aircraft, such as the abysmal Blackburn Roc and fairy fulmar were overcome by buying American, Machines like the Corsair, Douglas SBD and the Grumman cat series would mean that any German carrier force would find itself badly outranged and facing a balanced air group that would have much better chances of penetrating the German air defences than vice versa.

 

On the other hand it may have had the effect of causing the germans to form battle groups around the carriers including several of the German battleships which may have lead to one or two 'midwayesque' battles that would have crippled the german surface force quicker than was subsequently the case of picking of the Graf spee, Bismarck, Tripitz one by one.

 

Simply put, a carrier force was outside the Germans experience of commerce war, they had neither the experience nor the aircraft to make a decent go of such a force.

 

That's my opinion anyway, it's my first post and no doubt there are more experienced guys on this site with a better knowledge than me.

You're the logistics guru. How do you keep a carrier group supplied? The Germans could use Milch Cows to keep U-boats at sea but how do you get supply ships past the British blockade after 1941. The alternatives are neutral ports (not very likely apart from Spain) or the task force units also running the gauntlett home to French ports.

OK for commerce raiders like the Graf Spee and Admiral Scheer, but not feasible for carriers and escorts because of the fuel and ammunition volumes involved.

You do what the Russians did Heorot. You design a sortie fleet. Raiders don't need endurance, they just need to carry sufficient load to break out, raid, and get home. You see this in the design of the Graf Spee. She was designed to operate scout planes, a few bombers, but mainly fighters.

Sea denial is not the same as control.

Herald

one big question is what does germany have to give up to get these carriers, escorts and aircraft?  lot of money and steel etc tied up in a navy like that.

If they wanted four carriers they can kiss quite a bit goodbye.

 

Assuming the carriers are wanted at the traditional start of the war, or at the very least early war, they would have to give up:  (These are different scenarios as to what they would have to give up, not all to be taken at once)

 

1)  Some of their Heavy Surface Raiders.  Cant have 4 carriers...and Bismark..and Tirpitz....and...etc. etc.  Honestly this would probably have to happen regardless of available resources due to shipyards.  They didnt have anywhere to build them all simultaneously.  I suppose they could use the yards in France after its fall, but then you have to figure its under allied bombing and would take a long time to finish anyway.

 

2)  Your U-boats.  Yes, uboats are cheap, but if you want the carriers you have to take a large chunk out of your U-Boat fleet.  Considering Donitz was pretty upset and considerably handicapped when his proposed 300 U-Boat fleet was no where near that number at war start then getting the carreirs built would be a hard sell.  That, and any reduction in U-Boats means that the blockade of Britain would be much reduced.  As effective as it was early on it SHOULD have been much worse had Donitz possessed the fleet he wanted.  With less U-Boats the Battle of the Atlantic would be over much earlier. 

 

3) Tanks.  Bunches of Tanks.  Of course, this didnt really stop Germany anyway, they were markedly short on true, effective, armor early on in reality.  Reducing that number further could jeopardize the ground compaigns.

 

no fair, I move job and somebody posts a historic one while I am moving jobs...   :-)

 

looks like others kicked this one to death already....

 

basically... they didn't have the resources for 3-4 carriers plus everything else they were doing so something has to give.

the carriers would be nowhere near the top of the list anyway.

subs and raiders were a far better proposition considwering the geography and job to do.

 

and finally... what are the Brits doing while Hitler is building this force up prior to war???

Z plan was a nice idea but look at everyones fantasy lists....

 

better fantasy fleets are for post WW1 with some cracking plans and loads of convertions.. see where all those carriers actually came from after the Washington treaty....

 

 

Paul