April Fools 2025: Wood-fueled H-class Battleship

Edit: 2nd of April 2025
The content of this specific article is an April Fools joke.

The German Kriegsmarine der Wehrmacht faced numerous challenges in the slide towards the second world war. But one issue that would always plague them was fuel. If war broke out it would be most likely that the Entente would try to strangle the Wehrmacht’s ability to wage prolonged war. Although oil was in some supply, it would be needed in significant quantities for the Panzerwaffe. Meanwhile, should any force break out of the North Sea or be away before the war starts then the question should be posed how these ships can be refueled and from which sources. The problem had to be approached with due purpose.

The primary method of addressing these concerns was the usage of diesel. Diesel as a fuel source was more efficient than the usual bunker oil. The machinery would also have other benefits such as a better rate of response and ease of maintenance. Though it had one significant drawback. Quite simply, steam provided more power. Which for a warship was a more notable concern than for other types of vessels.

There was another solution proposed to solve their dilemma. Older, coal-fired boilers. Germany was rich in coal and boilers of this type were less picky in fuel. As a more extreme case on the 9th of January 1940 the German merchant ship ‘Consul Horn’ managed to escape the Dutch antilles by burning 900 ton coal and 1200 ton sugar! This potential was not lost on the Kriegsmarine. But a main drawback was where to get the fuel from.

This is when the most radical solution of them all was proposed: wood. Inspired by the Holzgas system, a few brilliant engineers figured they could reconfigure the powerplant of the H-class battleship to accept fuel from any biomass, most notably wood, which could be found in abundance just about anywhere.

The draughtsmen used Entwurf III as a basis. To accommodate the new changes, the machinery space had to be lengthened for the new boilers and extra space amidships was necessary to load and process wood. Behind the aftmost boilers a new section would be added for the Holzgas units, such that the central shaft pair could be powered by this system for cruising.

As a natural consequence of the need to enlarge the superstructure and machinery spaces, the ship had to be lengthened. But because the new systems would not proportionally affect displacement this would warrant an entire redesign of the lineplan. To combat this; and because 6-guns were deemed sufficient for fire control, it was decided to drop the third turret from the design and to use the saved displacement for either improving the calibre of the main weaponry or to augment the ship’s main armour.

The design had received approval in early 1940 and was forwarded to the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht as Entwurf V. However, head of the Luftwaffe Hermann Göring used a veto on this design. He needed the wood for his special new project V-wing stealth fighters. 

Sources:
Archiv der Deutsches Kriegsmarine und Märchensachen, Bielefeld
Dr Ph. M. Bosscher, De Koninklijke Marine in de Tweede Wereldoorlog, deel 3 pg 130