[MarkSheppard]

One area I'm curious about is, what's the post-War German Navy?

I assume some variation of the Z-Plan is completed in this universe; and that the resultant German fleet is semi-modernized post-war with modern technologies in the same way that the US Navy and Soviet Navy modernized their WWII and immediate post war heavy warships with missile technologies.

So figure:

Bismarck (25 years old in August 1965)
Tirpitz (25 years old in February 1966)
Friedrich der Grosse (H-39 Schlachtschiff H) (commissioned Sep 1943, 25 years old Aug 1968)
Hindenburg (H-39 Schlachtschiff J) (commissioned Nov 1943, 25 years old Oct 1968)
Goeben (H-39 Schlachtschiff K) (commissioned Feb 1944, 25 years old Feb 1969)

Schl. H and J were actually laid down in 1939, while K was also ordered in 1939.

But beyond that, I can't see a rationale for major battleship construction, as air power will quickly become apparent as the new dominant force at sea.

So I figure that in the 1950s, the Germans BBGize the three newest ships, while keeping Bismarck and Tirpitz as "expendable" shore bombardment ships.

1950s conversions were studied by the US for the Iowas, and the French for the Jean Bart. Essentially what was proposed was that half the main armament was stripped and replaced with a new superstructure accommodating the new missile directors and launchers.

But by the mid 1960s, all of the ships are going to be approaching 25 years old; about the same age for example, a World War I battleship commissioned 1916 would have been in 1941; and this means their steam plants would be old and creaky.

A big reason the battleships stayed on for so long in the US in mothballs was because of the USMC and their requirement for heavy naval gun support -- are the German Marines going to have that political influence?