JAG13 wrote:A point that I forgot, the WNT limited the UK to 135.000t of carriers, which meant 47.250t of carriers for the KM, that is 2x23.500t or 3x16.000t (plus some cheating, make them 18.000-19.000t), the best course in my opinion would be 3 Zoryüs (Germanized Soryus XD ), add the wing folded German aircraft and you can cram 70+ aircraft in each.
Doubling the number of carriers demands no AGNA and a likely earlier and larger response by the RN, it would kill the WNT and LNT on its cradle since it would no longer be viable for the RN to limit itself to 6 x 23.000t = 138.000t carriers as per the WNT, they would have to reply in kind and earlier than historical. It would be a clear challenge, a clear threat, and that would upset Hitler's plan to avoid a war until later.
I just dont see it to be viable.
If Germany embarked on this path they could have negotiated a different deal. Say, they agree to not build battleships if the British will allow them equal carrier tonnage. In the mid 30's the RN might well agree to that. "We'll have parity in carriers and a huge battleship advantage..."
Or, the Germans build the first three, laying down two more in secret with the intent to launch by 1940 and starting a third a year or so later.
Even having just 4 of 6 available with say 60 planes each (of modern design) gives the Germans a huge advantage over the RN and the polyglot of obsolete and obsolescent types they're using in small numbers.
After all, at the start of the war they have just 5 carriers in home waters and of those three are pretty small (the three
Furious class) and none have a full air wing. What planes they do have include the Sea Gladiator (obsolete), Skua (obsolescent as a dive bomber, useless as a fighter), Roc (useless turret fighter), and Swordfish (obsolescent torpedo plane).
If against that the Germans are flying a navalized version of the He 112 fighter (to keep the Luftwaffe happy with not cutting into Me 109 production), a He 70 / 118 variant that is a torpedo bomber, and the Ju 87 dive bomber they have the means to deal a serious blow to any RN battle group they encounter.
The RN would be scrambling to find aircraft to match what the Germans are fielding. That really comes down to buying US. The Germans could buy Japanese if they really wanted to...
Another nasty would be to contract with a Japanese yard to build one carrier for Germany there. Importing the machinery is possible along with providing the technical expertise and manpower to do things the way the Germans would like.