Editing Erich Raeder (section)

== [[World War II]] ==
Main article: Erich Raeder during World War II

Großadmiral Raeder believed the navy was unprepared for the start of 
World War II by at least five years. The surface fleet was inadequate to
<nowiki> </nowiki>fight the Royal Navy
<nowiki> </nowiki>and instead adopted a strategy of convoy raiding. Raeder wanted the 
Kriegsmarine to play an active part because he feared the budget would 
be cut after the war. The smaller ships were dispersed around the world 
in order to force the Royal Navy to disperse their ships to combat them,
<nowiki> </nowiki>while the battleships would carry out raids in the North Sea, with a 
view towards gradually reducing the Royal Navy's strength at home.
Raeder was unhappy with the outcome of the Battle of the River Plate and believed that Hans Langsdorff
<nowiki> </nowiki>should not have scuttled the ship, but instead sailed out to engage the
<nowiki> </nowiki>Royal Navy. Raeder subsequently issued orders that ships were to fight 
until the last shell and either win or sink with their flag flying. 
Fleet commander Hermann Boehm was held responsible and was sacked by Raeder.

The Allies were using Norwegian airfields to transfer aircraft to the Finns fighting against the Soviets in the Winter War, as well as mining Norwegian waters
<nowiki> </nowiki>and the Germans were alarmed by these developments. If the allies were 
to use Norwegian naval bases or successfully mine Norwegian waters, they
<nowiki> </nowiki>could cut off the vital iron ore imports from Sweden and tighten the 
blockade of Germany. The Allies also had made plans to invade Norway and Sweden in order to cut off the iron ore shipments to Germany. Admiral [[Rolf Carls]],
<nowiki> </nowiki>commander of the Kriegsmarine in the Baltic sea region, proposed the 
invasion of Norway to Raeder in September 1939. Raeder briefed [[Hitler]] on
<nowiki> </nowiki>the idea in October, but planning did not begin until December 1939. 
The operation was in low-priority planning until the Altmark Incident, but found a new sense of urgency thereafter. The invasion
<nowiki> </nowiki>proved costly for the Kriegsmarine, losing a heavy cruiser, two of its 
six light cruisers, 10 of its 20 destroyers and six U-boats. In 
addition, almost all of the other capital ships were damaged and 
required dockyard repairs, and for a time the German surface fleet had 
only three light cruisers and four destroyers operational in the 
aftermath of the Norwegian Campaign.

The swift victory over France
<nowiki> </nowiki>allowed the Kriegsmarine to base itself in ports on France's west 
coast. This was strategically important as German ships would no longer 
have to navigate through the dangerous English Channel in order to 
return to friendly ports, as well as allow them to range farther out 
into the Atlantic to attack convoys. With the surrender of France, 
Raeder saw the opportunity to greatly enhance the navy's power by 
confiscating the ships of the French Navy and manning them with his 
crews. Hitler however, vetoed this idea, afraid that doing so would push
<nowiki> </nowiki>the French navy to join the Royal Navy. British fears of Raeder's plan 
resulted in the Attack on Mers-el-Kébir, where the Royal Navy attacked the French navy despite being at peace.

On 11 July 1940, Hitler and Raeder agreed to continue to build the battleships of Plan Z.
<nowiki> </nowiki>Raeder also had bases built at Trondheim, St Nazaire and Lorient. At 
this time, Raeder and other senior officers began submitting memos to 
invade (among others) Shetland, Iceland, the Azores, Iran, Madagascar, 
Kuwait, Egypt and the Dutch East Indies.<sup>[''citation needed'']</sup>

In January 1941, the battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were sent on a successful commerce raiding mission in the Atlantic. On 18 March, Raeder wanted to start firing on US warships even if unprovoked.<sup>[''citation needed'']</sup> He declined to invade the Azores on the grounds of the surface ship losses the previous year.<sup>[''citation needed'']</sup>

In April 1941, Raeder planned to follow up the success of Operation Berlin with an even larger mission involving a battleship, two battlecruisers and a heavy cruiser under the command of Lütjens, codenamed Operation Rheinübung.
<nowiki> </nowiki>The original plan was to have the battlecruisers Gneisenau and 
Scharnhorst involved in the operation, but Scharnhorst was undergoing 
heavy repairs to her engines, and Gneisenau had just suffered a damaging
<nowiki> </nowiki>torpedo hit days before which put her out of action for six months. In 
the end only the Bismarck and Prince Eugen
<nowiki> </nowiki>were sent out on the mission, which ended with Bismarck's sinking. The 
debacle almost saw the end of using capital ships against merchant 
shipping.<sup>[''citation needed'']</sup> Hitler was not pleased and saw the Bismarck as a poor investment.

In late 1941, Raeder planned the channel dash which sent the 
remaining capital ships to Norway. The plan was to then threaten the 
lend-lease convoys to the Soviet Union, to deter an invasion of Norway 
and to tie down elements of the Home fleet that might otherwise have 
been used in the Atlantic against the wolfpacks.

=== Resignation ===
Main article: Erich Raeder resignation and later

After a series of failed operations, especially the Battle of the Barents Sea,
<nowiki> </nowiki>Raeder was retired and made to Admiral Inspector, a ceremonial office. 
Raeder had intended to inform Hitler of the failure of the Barents Sea 
and explain it as a series of misunderstandings. However, the message 
was not passed on, and Hitler, believing that the battle had been a 
success, announced a victory. When Hitler learned the truth, he summoned
<nowiki> </nowiki>Raeder to explain himself. Upon Raeder's arrival, Hitler scolded him 
and decided he would scrap the German surface fleet.<sup>[''citation needed'']</sup> On 30 January 1943 Raeder resigned.