Unit Selection - Germany

[MarcusAurelius]

I think the Kriegsmarine is extremely well represented by the first set of War at Sea. Here's a breakdown of the German units by type:

BATTLESHIPS
The Bismarck is one the most iconic ships from World War II. Along with its sister ship Tirpitz, that's pretty much all you need. Grade: A

BATTLECRUISERS
From Atlantic merchant raids and the sinking of the HMS Glorious to the Channel Dash and the Battle of North Cape, the Scharnhorst and her sister ship Gniesenau are essential German warships. Grade: A

HEAVY CRUISERS
I could have gone either way between choosing a Deutschland or Admiral Hipper class heavy cruiser for Set 1. The Admiral Graf Spee is an excellent choice, and can also stand in for sister ships Lutzow and Admiral Scheer. Grade: A

LIGHT CRUISERS
Germany's light cruisers didn't see a lot of action in WWII. The Koln was no exception, spending much of the war in port for repairs. Nonetheless, this unit should serve as an effective complement for merchant raiding scenarios. Grade: B

AUXILIARY SHIPS
The Nordmark Dithmarschen class supply ship gives Germany the equivalent of a Liberty ship for convoy/escort scenarios. Maybe not the most exciting choice of unit, but a solid one. Grade: B

DESTROYERS
Without any carriers to provide air cover, Germany will depend heavily on cruisers and destroyers for AA support. Z20 Karl Galster served throughout the war on raiding, minelaying and escort missions. Grade: A

SUBMARINES
Personally, I thought we'd see a Type VIIC sub first. But the Type IXC U-510 may give Germany a stronger unit to open the Battle of the Atlantic. I can hardly wait to start building my first wolfpack. Grade: A

PATROL BOMBERS
Germany used a few other aircraft in this role — including the Dornier Do 24, Blohm & Voss BV 138 and the Junkers Ju 290. But the Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Kondor is easily my first choice. Grade: A

DIVE BOMBERS
Together with the Fw 200 Kondor, the Junkers Ju 87 is another great pick. I'd like to see the Henschel Hs 123 or Junkers Ju 88 eventually. But this should serve as a workhorse unit. Grade: A

OVERALL
I can't really argue with any of these selections. Right from the beginning, Germany has a pretty complete force. The only hole I see is the lack of a fighter — but there honestly isn't anything here I'd want to replace. That can wait until the next set. Grade: A

[Raptor]

I can see one possible reason for the lack of fighters. With no carrier any fighter would be land based and the german fighters had fairly low endurances, and were rarely able to provide cover for their naval forces.

[CruorVult]

for the first set the spread definitely looks good, for most navies in fact. but there's not too much variety in german naval construction in the first place, so these ships are about as far apart from each other as it's going to get. try putting a picture of the admiral hipper or prinz eugen next to one of bismarck.. they just hit enlarge on a photo copier! :)

but I would like to hear more on the potential of a given ship. the Koln's may not have seen very exciting action, but what if they had? how might they have stood up?

[Stealth]

for the first set the spread definitely looks good, for most navies in fact. but there's not too much variety in german naval construction in the first place, so these ships are about as far apart from each other as it's going to get. try putting a picture of the admiral hipper or prinz eugen next to one of bismarck.. they just hit enlarge on a photo copier! :)

but I would like to hear more on the potential of a given ship. the Koln's may not have seen very exciting action, but what if they had? how might they have stood up?


The similarity in German ship profiles caused considerable headaches to the British during the war too. In the Bismark/Prinz Eugen - Hood/Prince of Whales battle the British initially fired at the Prinz Eugen, thinking she was the Bismark! After a few salvos they shifted to the Bismark, hitting her forward fuel tanks causing the oil leak that eventually ended her. (Lutjens only turned for Brest as he figured the Bismark would run out of fuel too soon to be effective. She was also down by 10 degrees in the box and taking on water.

[MarcusAurelius]

I don't think there's a lot more that Germany really needs.

An Admiral Hipper class heavy cruiser (Admiral Hipper, Blucher or Prinz Eugen) is essential. I'd be surprised if this doesn't make the list for Set 2.

I'd also expect to see a Type VIIC U-boat. This was the workhorse of the Kriegsmarine, with almost 600 commissioned from 1940 to 1945. Another possibility is the Type XXI. It had greater range, featured advanced sonar and traveled faster submerged than surfaced. More than 100 boats of this type were built from 1943-45.

As for aircraft, I'd pick two: the Heinkel He 115 torpedo bomber and the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter. Both served throughout the war and would be a nice complement to the Fw 200 Kondor and Junkers Ju 87.

Less critical would be a second light cruiser (most likely from the Leipzig class), an auxiliary cruiser (such as the Orion), another destroyer and possibly a torpedo boat.

Low on my list for Set 2 would be the Graf Zeppelin or a Deutschland class battleship. The first ship was never even commissioned during the war. The Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein, meanwhile, were obselete predreadnoughts that served most of WWII as training ships.

[Sean-Khan]

Some new ship types would surely be great, although I don't have much knowledge on them; But there's several plane types that would be very cool. Me 109 for sure; I don't know if He-111 operated on seas but I'd love to have some of those! Can anyone confirm anything about these? Or other German plane types that operated at seas?

I think that WaS -planes would work better for air -combat scenarios than AAM planes :)

[Major Adler]

AH said this was basically an early war set...and we do not get the ships that are required to recreate one of the most famous actions of the early war...Bismarck/Prinz Eugen vs. Hood/Prince of Wales...I would have loved to have fought this action out several times to see the outcome this game would give us...but not only do we not get a Admiral Hipper class CA(Prinz Eugen)...but we do not get a KGV class BB(Prince of Wales)...big mistake AH...what were you thinking...

and what about E-boats???...

[MarcusAurelius]

Some new ship types would surely be great, although I don't have much knowledge on them; But there's several plane types that would be very cool. Me 109 for sure; I don't know if He-111 operated on seas but I'd love to have some of those! Can anyone confirm anything about these? Or other German plane types that operated at seas?

I think that WaS -planes would work better for air -combat scenarios than AAM planes :)

The Heinkel He 111 was one of Germany's most important bombers during the invasion of Poland and the Battle of Britain. It proved highly versatile and I know a variant was designed to carry torpedoes. But I'm not sure how many were produced or where they operated.

During the early stages of the Battle of the Atlantic, Heinkel He 115 and Junkers Ju 88 torpedo bombers operating from northern Norway took a huge toll on Arctic convoys. Later, with the introduction of escort carriers and new Soviet long-range fighters to provide air cover, German torpedo bomber losses escalated.

A number of German aircraft served as patrol bombers during WWII — including the Fock-Wulf Fw 200 Kondor, the Dornier Do 24, Blohm & Voss BV 138 and the Junkers Ju 290. The Luftwaffe also used a number of Italian CANT Z.506 Airone float planes in this role.

Messerschmitt Bf 109 and and Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters provided air cover for the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen during the Channel Dash.

[MarcusAurelius]

AH said this was basically an early war set...and we do not get the ships that are required to recreate one of the most famous actions of the early war...Bismarck/Prinz Eugen vs. Hood/Prince of Wales...I would have loved to have fought this action out several times to see the outcome this game would give us...but not only do we not get a Admiral Hipper class CA(Prinz Eugen)...but we do not get a KGV class BB(Prince of Wales)...big mistake AH...what were you thinking...

and what about E-boats???...

With only 24 rare slots available, I didn't expect to be able to recreate major battles after just one set. There are simply too many ships to include them all. A lot of essential units were missing after the first set of AAM, as well.

All the same, I'd rather have seen the 3 French units — the battleship Richelieu, light cruiser Gloire and destroyer Le Terrible —allocated somewhere else. My picks would be a King George V class battleship (rare), along with an Italian patrol bomber (uncommon) and torpedo bomber (common).

I can see the argument for including the Prinz Eugen instead of the Admiral Graf Spee. But they're both essential units. And I think it's hard to argue that Germany should get any more slots, when Set 1 already includes roughly half of Kriegsmarine's battleship and cruiser force. In percentage terms, Germany got better coverage than any other nation.

The German Schnellboots or E-boats are a unit I overlooked. That's a good one. I guess the Italian motor torpedo boat can stand in for now.