Plan Z was the name given to the planned re-equipment and expansion of the Kriegsmarine 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 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.
Emden, the first major warship built after World War I
Erich Raeder, commander of the Kriegsmarine until 1943
Graf Zeppelin at her launching
U-36, a Type VII U-boat
The Kriegsmarine was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war Reichsmarine (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches, along with the Heer and the Luftwaffe, of the Wehrmacht, the German armed forces from 1935 to 1945.
Erich Raeder, commander of the Kriegsmarine until 1943
The crew of a minesweeper in France, 1941
The battleship Tirpitz in Norway, 1944
Anti-Jewish measures ordered by the German naval commander in Liepāja, 5 July 1941