@Omega1759:
Not enough U-boats in 1939 was also a big mistake. The ~30 that they had really did cause a lot of damage. More “Condor” long range patrol planes to attack allied shipping would have been good as well.
This was going to be my answer.
“Plan Z” should have never even been suggested. The idea that Germany was going to somehow “catch up” to the Royal Navy in terms of surface combatants was laughable, even prior to the beginning of hostilities with England.
The two Scharnhorsts and two Bismarks that were completed cost, in total, upwards of $400 million Reichsmarks.
I would argue that the 100 submarines you could have had instead for that cost would have probably won the war against England around the same time the historical Battle of Britain began.
And that’s just subbing out a few battleships for subs. A real committment to a submarine construction program prior to the war beginning would have been decisive, even if countered by the UK with more focus on ASW.
It took nearly 4 years, US entry into the war, and several technological breakthroughs to both fully implement the Convoy System and win the Battle of the Atlantic. I see no outcome other than defeat for the United Kingdom if they face a Germany with 300 U-Boats in 1939.
The US can threaten war over Unrestricted Submarine Warfare in 1940, but if the UK is defeated before years end, it is essentially an empty threat, as the US is not going to retake Europe by staging out of Iceland or the Azores.
Of course, extra naval patrol aircraft would have greatly aided in the goal of strangling the UK…but that would have depended on Göring not being a total idiot.
In fact, I change my answer.
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Have Göring and Ernst Udet die in a plane crash sometime in early 1933.
I’m not sure who takes over the Luftwaffe at that point…but they can hardly do worse.