• These three ships could serve Germany better by operating out of ‘safe’ French Atlantic ports. Staying in Brest was out of the question, this would only serve the R.A.F as targets.

    I believe the Gneisenau was still in need of repairs, however the Scharnhorst and Prinz Eugen could have sailed off in serch of British prey.


  • How many Panthers or Tiger tanks can you have if you melted those three big warships? Not many enough, and much too late.

    I’m sorry but the war against UK was lost before 1942, at least when the Germans started another front against Russia. They could sail the ships to Norway, so we could have a few more trophies at the bottom of our fjords (Blucher and Tirpitz were nice targets) when the war was over. I must admit that we needed just a little help from the Brits to sink one of those ships.


  • @Subotai:

    How many Panthers or Tiger tanks can you have if you melted those three big warships? Not many enough, and much too late.

    I’m sorry but the war against UK was lost before 1942, at least when the Germans started another front against Russia. They could sail the ships to Norway, so we could have a few more trophies at the bottom of our fjords (Blucher and Tirpitz were nice targets) when the war was over. I must admit that we needed just a little help from the Brits to sink one of those ships.

    I’m not suggesting that the three German ships in Brest in early in 1942 had the ability to win the war. With the Red Army intact and the U.S in the war, Germany had no chance of victory. However I believe the Gneisenau, Scharnhorst and Prinz Eugen could have served Germany better than Hitler’s choice role for his remaining surface fleet.


  • I think that there are much more interesting questions on a strategic level on how Germany should use their surface warships, both at the start of the war and up to the invasion of Normandy.

    I don’t know much about the German naval strats in WW2, except I watched some documentaries about the battle of the Atlantic, which could possibly help the Germans to win the war.

    How many subs and surface warships survived until 1944, and if all was sent against the invasion fleet, could they inflict some serious damage? Not that such a maneuver could save Germany, but they could put up a serious fight probably? I think that many of the German surface warships were just a nuisance for the Brits and US. This aspect was only interesting on a tactical scale, not a strategic one.

    How bout massing all the German surface warships in 1942, sail them towards London and start naval bombarding  :evil:

    But these warships would just be sitting ducks for allied aircraft?


  • Send the ships in the indian ocean to break out the naval traffic between egypt and indian and support the IJN forces in the region. (Graf Spee mission?)

    Or send in the mediterannean to support the Italian fleet. 
    I know, i know, it means pass through the gilbralter but nothing is impossible!


  • They should be sent to Northern Norway in order to cut the Lend/Lease convoys to Murmansk.


  • I think they should have let the old Kaiser use them exclusively as another Yacht, so he can ride up and down the channel showing off his many uniforms to the many waving British people on the coast.

    Keeping them in Brest gets them no protection, while Norway at least can get at Lend Lease convoys, or help Quisling escape.


  • Actually whatever they might have done was not as cool as what they did.

    The Kriegsmarines most impressive (big brass ones) act, right up the middle so to speak much in broad daylight and even when the Scharnhorst stopped TWICE the Brits ended up with egg on their face. Cheers to the German sailors. Its like being on a team that only wins a game or two every year and this was one of them.

    Nothing they did would have helped much but I agree with try to get them into action somewhere as soon as possible.

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