Economic historiography has thrown rays of haggard light into some of the blackest corners of the Third Reich, even where, as in the case of the memoirs of Hitler's last minister of armaments, Albert Speer, much was concealed or distorted.
Most of the funding was reserved for armaments, but much of the nonmilitary funding was apparently earmarked to build these "bypass roads" and security enhancements for Israeli settlers in the occupied territories.
Another development was the substitution of missile armament for much of the former antiaircraft firepower.
The secondary armament was much heavier than the older ships, with five single hydraulically powered turrets equipped with 50-calibre BL 7.5-inch Mk II guns mounted on each side.
The intermediate armament was much more numerous than in the preceding Katori class, with six twin-gun turrets equipped with 45-caliber Type 41 10-inch guns, three turrets on each side of the superstructure.
The intermediate armament was much heavier than the older ships, with four twin-gun turrets equipped with 45-calibre 8-inch 41st Year Type guns mounted on each side.
Their armament was much the same as the earlier ships, although nine 45 mm 61-K anti-aircraft guns were mounted rather than the six on the first pair and they were fitted to carry 150 Model 1908/39 mines in place of the Model 1912 mines.
A dozen cannons and large anchors have been recovered, and no records exist of the sinking of a vessel of that size with so much armament in that vicinity other than the Queen Anne's Revenge, National Geographic News reported in 2005.
A counterfactual historical curiosity from "Inside the Third Reich," the memoirs of Albert Speer, Hitler's architect and minister for armaments: Hitler had been much impressed by a scrap of history he had learned from a delegation of distinguished Arabs.
