I did not say they were not technically capable of it. After studying Japanese designs
they spent years building an "almost carrier."
Begun in '36, stopped in '39, sat rusting till '40, served as a floating warehouse for the
hardwood supply for a while, work resumed in '42 when the value of CVs was ultimately
seen (too late), work halted again in early '43, towed around to various ports till' 45 -
ended up being taken by the Russians and used for target practice. It took them almost
ten years to work on ONE carrier that was wrought with some serous design flaws and
after all that the thing was never finished. "Half-baked"
But seriously? They couldn't do it and the facts show it. Just because they were German
and desperation enabled to them to produce some advanced weaponry doesn't give
them a free pass. "Well if..." and "they could have if they really wanted to" are lala land
stuff. there was a need. they saw it. The war was not going to be over in two years and
they extended themselves to where they absolutely neede them (Africa...declaring war
on the US... Atlantic fighting...)
A carrier was something that they did not have the means and resources to pull off. They
had no experience building carriers but more importantly they did not have the industrial
might to support building them or any kind of a blue water navy. Perhaps if they had
not started WWII they could have had the means and resources to build one. Then again
we're talking "what if's" and under that type of scenario maybe they could have built a
nuke too. But they couldn't and didn't.
Besides the US only Great Britain and Japan could build CVs (and blue water navies.)
France had but the one CV they built on the 20's (stil more than Germany) and while
Italy gets points for ships with style she is tied with Germany for the "Almost!" award.
