I must admit that I jumped from page 3 to 7 so please forgive me if this theory has been discussed already.
Most seem to agree on these premises regarding German navy builds:
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A: Main objective: Delay D-day
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B: Secondary objective: Ship units to Karelia/Scandinavia
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C: Major problem: Cost
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D: Major problem: Vulnerable to RAF counter(UK fighter builds)
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E: Minor problem: May end up in sub-optimal battles on the defense. Dilemma in when to abandon
I think a submarine - aircraft combo might be a solution.
Further analyses:
A: OK the main objective is to keep any invasion fleets at bay. To some extend this can be accomplished with the Luftwaffe, but this leaves Germany lacking in cheap cannon fodder, resulting in costly battles. Combining submarines and planes could solve this problem. This would require deployment of Luftwaffe in a position to strike in the Atlantic. The disadvantage is obviously that it makes it difficult to utilize especially fighters vs Russia. Using Bombers can alleviate this problem fairly effeciently.
B: Forget this with a submarine strategy. The surface ships are doomed to be air raided.
C: Obviously submarines are far cheaper than surface ships. 2 on each of the first couple of turns will make a major difference if you mange to be very aggressive (more on that later).
D: Submarines are immune to air raids, if you don’t let enemy destroyers attack you.
E: Submarines are less likely to be cornered and end up in a undesirable battle, but if it happens it is liekly to get extremely ugly.
They key is to be very aggressive and attack ANY destroyer that gets within range of the Baltic sea. If it’s just a lonely destroyer, send one sub and the Luftwaffe. If it is a major fleet, you have to all-out attack with all subs and the Luftwaffe (and pray you got the math right and kept enough air power in range.) It takes a fairly significant fleet to challenge 4 subs and 4-6 planes. There will be some tricky movement, and I may have missed some finer points here. Is it doable?
