The structure of Plan Z was improved by combining two strategic ideas of the German Navy. Initially, the German Imperial Navy was a small fleet under the command of an army general, and the army's strategy and tactics also influenced naval drama. Later, Tirpitz, the father of the German navy, advocated the idea of "risk theory" and lured some enemy troops to a decisive battle against the fleet. However, due to the fatal flaw of Germany's geographical position, a naval battle broke out in jutland in the middle of World War I, and after the exchange of fire with the whole British fleet, the high seas fleet was blocked, because personal influence in Tirpitz was very dramatic, and the German navy went to Weimar. 1926, Wolfgang Wei Gena vice admiral first put forward the geostrategic theory and the application of the existing fleet, and commented on the importance of German geostrategic disadvantage and strategic objectives to Britain within the navy. He thinks that Tirpitz pays too much attention to destroying the effective force of the enemy fleet in the naval battle, instead of using it more flexibly, focusing on breaking the situation. Germany has always been at a disadvantage in geographical position. Britain's maritime lifeline is located on the west side of the Atlantic Ocean, while the waters near Germany are only the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. Before trying to cross the Atlantic, the German fleet will be attacked by the British fleet close to home, which can effectively support it, while Germany does not. Although Wei Gena advocated the control of maritime traffic lines, which had its geostrategic focus, he excessively belittled the gap between Britain and Germany in terms of fleet quality and quantity, and thought that geographical advantages could completely make up for everything. Even so, due to the failure of Tirpitz Theory in World War I, the German Navy turned to Wei Gena's "traffic control" theory as the enterprising core of its naval development, which stimulated many young officers to study its related strategies in the military, but it was also criticized by conservative officers. At the same time when Wei Gena put forward the idea of a new navy, the German navy was ruled by the Nazi Party and began to plan and rebuild the fleet, which required a military theory to determine the route. In the New Naval Thought, Hugo von Vader-Hartz's article "Tomorrow's Naval Battle" describes his viewpoint most completely and extremely. He thinks that the battle between fleets is out of date, and the future development of naval battle will be transformed into an offensive and defensive war against merchant ships on the maritime trade line.

Joint operations of surface fleet and submarine

Lei Deer is one of the conservative officials who oppose Wei Gena Theory. During his tenure as commander-in-chief of the navy, he also banned his own thoughts. However, the Z plan he put forward has his thoughts on traffic warfare, and it also combines Tirpitz's thoughts on cruisers' decisive battle against superior forces. Lei Deer believed that the North Sea could break through the British blockade with a combat fleet, and sent many cruisers and submarines into the Atlantic and other British routes for traffic warfare, forcing Britain to use a large number of escort fleets to protect the fleet, dispersing the power of the Royal Navy, and then destroying escort ships and local fleets one after another. Such a strategy can not only cause the loss of a large number of British materials, but also contain considerable military strength of the enemy. The failure of the submarine in World War I is considered to be due to the lack of single-ship combat capability and being defeated by scattered escort forces. This problem can be solved if the surface fleet and submarines unite. At the same time, the existence of submarines can limit the formation of fleets and make it easier for surface fleets to attack. Therefore, in addition to the three German-class armored ships manufactured in the early days, Z plans to continue to build such warships with merchant ships and fragile escort ships as the main targets, rather than the main battleships.

In addition to Lei Deer's Z-plan fleet, the German navy has another school of different opinions, that is, Colonel karl doenitz's submarine battle group theory, which is also the tactical core of the future wolves. Deng Nici believes that as long as the "tonnage war" continues, Britain will build a new ship at a slower speed than it will sink, which will reduce the materials that Britain will transport back to the mainland by sea routes, including all the raw materials needed by the war industry and the food needed by the people, and then surrender to Germany. Deng Nici had commanded submarines in World War I, and according to his experience, he thought that the only way to attack the British escort fleet was to concentrate submarines and divide them into multiple "groups" for strict tactical control and coordinated operations. After the signing of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, Deng Nici put forward a large-scale submarine construction plan, arguing that all the resources used to build the German surface fleet should be used to make submarines. Among them, the most important thing is to manufacture a large number of medium-sized submarines with strong maneuverability (that is, class VII submarines), at least 300, including sea cruise 100, access to base and combat waters 100, and access to the sea surface of 65,500. At first, his plan was not accepted by the naval headquarters. The Navy Headquarters believes that the submarine will still be a type of single-person combat in the future, and it is more suitable for building large-caliber naval guns and long-endurance large submarines (that is, class I submarines), that is, submarines will be used for functions similar to cruisers. It was not until the summer of 1939 that Deng Nici persuaded the naval headquarters to attack the British escort fleet after many drills. However, even if Lei Deer and Hitler were persuaded, the Germans did not put submarine production in the first place, so the wolf pack tactics could not be implemented after the war broke out.