Curious -- as you are developing a truely effective naval arm - it seems like the Fritz X would be a good fit -- Although not active till 43 -- the development started in 38 and test runs in 40 -- seems like this could have been accelerated for a naval arm
Wiki --
he
Luftwaffe recognized the difficulty of hitting moving ships during the
Spanish Civil War.
[2]Dipl. engineer Max Kramer, who worked at the
Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt (
DVL) had been experimenting since 1938 with remote-controlled free-falling 250 kg (550 lb) bombs and in 1939 fitted
radio-controlled spoilers.
[3] In 1940,
Ruhrstahl was invited to join the development, since they already had experience in the development and production of unguided bombs.
[4]
The only Luftwaffe unit to deploy the Fritz X was
Gruppe III of
Kampfgeschwader 100 Wiking (Viking), designated III./KG 100; the bomber wing itself evolved as the larger-sized descendent of the earlier
Kampfgruppe 100 unit in mid-December 1941. This unit employed the medium range
Dornier Do 217K-2 bomber on almost all of its attack missions, though in a few cases toward the end of its deployment history, Dornier Do 217K-3 and M-11 variants were also used. Fritz X had been initially tested with a
Heinkel He 111 bomber, although it was never taken into combat by this aircraft. A few special variants of the troublesome
Heinkel He 177A
Greif long-range bomber were equipped with the
Kehl transmitter and proper bombracks to carry Fritz X and it is thought that this combination might have seen limited combat service, at least with the combinations known to have been involved in test drops. It was found the launch aircraft had to "toss" the bomb slightly, climbing and then descending, to keep it in view ahead.
[6]
Fritz X was first deployed on 21 July 1943 in a raid on
Augusta harbour in Sicily. A number of additional attacks around Sicily and
Messinafollowed, though no confirmed hits were made and it appears the Allies were unaware that the large bombs being dropped were radio-guided weapons.
[10]
