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Plan Z was the name given to the planned re-equipment and expansion of the ''Kriegsmarine'' (German navy) ordered by Adolf Hitler in early 1939. The fleet was meant to challenge the naval power of the United Kingdom, and was to be completed by 1948. Development of the plan began in 1938, but it reflected the evolution of the strategic thinking of the ''Oberkommando der Marine'' (Naval High Command) over the two decades following World War I. The plan called for a fleet centered on ten battleships and four aircraft carriers which were intended to battle the Royal Navy. This force would be supplemented with numerous long-range cruisers that would attack British shipping. A relatively small force of U-boats was also stipulated. When World War II broke out in September 1939, almost no work had been done on the new ships ordered under Plan Z. The need to shift manufacturing capacity to more pressing requirements forced the ''Kriegsmarine'' to abandon the construction program, and only a handful of major ships—all of which had been ordered before Plan Z—were completed during the war. Nevertheless, the plan still had a significant effect on the course of World War II, in that only a few dozen U-boats had been completed by the outbreak of war. Admiral Karl Dönitz's U-boat fleet only reached the 300 U-boats he deemed necessary to win a commerce war against Britain in 1943, by which time his forces had been decisively defeated. ==Naval construction under Versailles== Following the end of World War I, the German armed forces became subject to the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles. For the new ''Reichsmarine'', this meant it was limited to six pre-dreadnought battleships, six old light cruisers, 12 destroyers and 12 torpedo boats. A further two pre-dreadnoughts, two cruisers, and four destroyers and torpedo boats apiece could be kept in reserve.〔Gardiner & Chesneau, p. 218〕 The first major ship to be built after the war was the light cruiser in the early 1920s. This was followed by a further three light cruisers of the : , and , and a further two ships that were modified versions of the ''Königsberg''-class, and .〔Gardiner & Chesneau, pp. 229–231〕 At the same time, the Germans created a dummy corporation, NV Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw (IvS), in the Netherlands to secretly continue development of submarines.〔Rössler, p. 88〕 This was in violation of Article 191 of the Treaty of Versailles, which prohibited Germany from possessing or building submarines for any purpose.〔Treaty of Versailles, Part V, Section II, Article 191〕 IvS built several submarines for foreign navies, including the Turkish ''Gür'', which was the basis for the Type I U-boat, and the Finnish ''Vesikko'', which was the prototype for the Type II U-boat.〔Rössler, p. 98–99〕 The Treaty also stipulated that Germany could replace its pre-dreadnought battleships after they reached twenty years of age, but new vessels could displace no more than .〔Williamson, p. 3〕 In response to these limitations, the Germans attempted to build a powerful heavy cruiser—classified as a ''panzerschiff'' (armored ship)—that outclassed the new heavy cruisers built by Britain and France. British and French heavy cruiser designs were bound by the Washington Naval Treaty (and subsequent London Naval Treaty) to a caliber of on a displacement of 10,000 tons, the Germans chose to arm with six guns. The Germans hoped that by building a ship significantly more powerful than the Allies, they could force the Allies to admit Germany to the Washington treaty system in exchange for cancelling ''Deutschland'', thereby abrogating the naval limitations imposed by Versailles. The French vehemently opposed any concessions to Germany, and therefore, ''Deutschland'' and two further units— and —were built.〔Bidlingmaier, p. 73〕 In 1932, the ''Reichsmarine'' secured the passage of the ''Schiffbauersatzplan'' ("Replacement ship construction program") through the ''Reichstag''. The program called for two separate production phases, the first from 1930 to 1936, and the second from 1936 to 1943. The latter phase was secretly intended to break the Versailles restrictions.〔Gardiner & Chesneau, p. 219〕 The following year, Adolf Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany. He unilaterally withdrew from the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles and began the systematic re-building of the armed forces. The prestige brought by the ''Panzerschiffe'' led to two improved vessels, the D class, to be ordered. These ships were cancelled and reordered as the battleships and ,〔Gröner, p. 63〕 which were ships armed with nine 28 cm guns and much greater armor protection than their predecessors.〔Gardiner & Chesneau, p. 225〕 In 1935, Hitler signed the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, which permitted Germany to build up to 35 percent of the strength of the Royal Navy in all warship categories.〔Gardiner & Chesneau, p. 220〕 The initial designs for two follow-on ships—the —initially called for a displacement of with guns, but to counter the two new, French s, the new ships were significantly enlarged, to a displacement of over and guns.〔Garzke & Dulin, pp. 203–209〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Plan Z」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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