Naval History Forums

Assuming the Kaiserliche Marine manages to survive the Great War, how much would they have invested into naval aviation, and what form would it have taken?

I think the Royal Naval seaplane tenders at Jutland had proved naval aviation was going to play some role in sea battles from then on, and the Germans made very good use of their fleet of zeppelins during the war. Can it be assumed that they would try their hand at building aircraft carriers similar to the British, Americans, and Japanese? There was the 1915 planned conversion of Ausonia, but it doesn't seem there was ever much interest in it.

This depends on the terms and conditions of the peace settlement. Under the Versailles Treaty no air force was allowed.

In the 1930's there was little interest in developing naval air power, the big gun battleship was still seen as the main arbiter on the high seas. The Z Plan of 1939 seemed to regard carriers as an afterthought and only one carrier got beyond the drawing board before war broke out in 1939.


Under the parameters of the question asked it is unlikely that there would be much development in naval aviation, though that wouldn't mean none at all.