Why was Kaiserliche Marine so useless?

>>571877
It wasn't useless. Keiser Willy's horrible diplomacy pitched it against the world's strongest navy. It was first the rivalry and later the fight that KM could never win.

>>571887
It was used once during 4 years of war, excluding one-ship raids and submarine warfare. It looks useless for me

"dreadnoughts have no wheels!" - Willy II

The plan was to clobber France, turn east and rout the Russians, and be home in time for tea long before the naval blockade could make any difference.

>>571892

As opposed to what? Using it more often and getting beaten all the time?

And what gains would you hope to achieve with it? You can't starve out the British because if anything, they're gonna starve out you. So I ask you; What do you think they should have done in their oh-so-favourable position?

>>571877

Compared to what? The Royal Navy didn't do much during the war either.

>>571887

>It was first the rivalry

It was a matter of time until the naval arms race would have been won by the German Empire as they were already industrially and economically superior to the British Empire. Luckily for the British, war erupted while their navy was still vastly superior.

>>571908
Then why build fleet in first place?
And piss of Brits?
Get more machine guns and canons, more trains and bullets.
Willy was a first rank wanker for sure.

The diplomatic cost of antagonising Britain far outweighed any realistic projections of what could be gained by developing the fleet, especially when you consider that whilst Britain only needed to invest in the Royal Navy the Germans also had to develop and pay for a strong army

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>>572654
>It was a matter of time until the naval arms race would have been won by the German Empire

>>572068
>The Royal Navy didn't do much during the war either
apart from the crippling blockade?

>>572654
Germans wanted to start war early exactly because they knew that in the long run they will lose.

>>571998
>What do you think they should have done in their oh-so-favourable position?
Create a fleet of fast cruisers and(later) submarines for raiding and don't waste money on stupid ass dreadnoughts.

If you are underdog, act like one.

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>>571887

The KM on an operational and strategic level was competent. In many areas, such as ship design and submarine warfare, the KM outperformed the RN (and that showed at the Battle of Jutland, which should have been a curbstomp for the RN), but ultimately Germany's industrial capacity, owed largely to being 1/5th the size of the British Empire, would be unable to replace any losses garnered by the KM had they undertaken more operations. They simply did not have the industrial output. So the KM was largely a fleet-in-being.

When the British Empire declared war on Germany, this is what went to war along with it. When 1916 rolled around and the "War of Materiel" policy came into effect, it was inevitable that the British Empire would win.

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>>572901

>fast cruisers
>cruisers
>fast

Shit nigger, go back to playing with your boats in your bath tub.

>Kaiserliche Marine was so useless guys!
http://www.roll-of-honour.com/RoyalNavy/WarshipsLostWW1.html

>>572901
>Create a fleet of fast cruisers and(later) submarines for raiding
that's literally why the RN built battlecruisers, and hence why they didn't do that.
>>572943
>ship design
not really, the losses are lopsided because of ammo storage fuckups and the fact that it was the German battleline firing on a battlecruiser squadron. The RN BBs were easily on a par with, if not better than the German BBs which is why they turned tail and ran before they were crushed

>>572658
The germans built the navy because of the pan-germanism that instilled hatred of the british people because:
>muh colonies
>muh merchant marine
The Germans have been known to say they "think the French to be mortal enemies, the Russians are to be afraid of whilst they hated the British".
>Whats your source though you asshole?
William Stearn Davis "Europe Since Waterloo"

>>572894
How do you know that they would lose?

>>573041
Not to mention William was incompetent by getting the Russians to be his enemy in the first place.

>>573052
it is not that he knew, it is what the germans knew themselves - hence the attack through belgium (to KO france quickly) and hence the decision to go to war with rusisa ("any" war) already in the years leading up to 1914 - because russia while somewhat backwards was still massive and embarked on a great programe of military rearmament and upgrade, and would dwarf german military power in some years

>>571887
>Keiser Willy's horrible diplomacy
Fuck off with that, even if Bismarck stayed aive for a thousand years and he was supreme ruler of Germany, Britain would have aligned against Germany because it feared Germany becoming the hegemon of Europe.

>>573052
German geopolitics school.

I don't have to know, it's enough to know that they thought they would lose on a long run.

>>572943
>that map
What's the actual fuck

>>573068
>Britain would have aligned against Germany because it feared Germany becoming the hegemon of Europe.
not strictly true. The main fear was actually Russia for the same reasons as Germany. The British decision to side with the French was because in a quick war scenario the humbled Central Powers would be a helpful buffer against the Russians

>>573127
As soon as Russian weakness is exposed in the Russo-Japanese War, Germany would automatically become public threat number one to Britain by grave of their industrial and military capacity.