German aircraft carrier

For some fascinating reading on UK carriers in WWII check out this amazing site

LINK — https://www.armouredcarriers.com/landing

With the loss of the Bismarck after its chase and the Tirpitz put out of reach of Air Power (so they thought) they were right to stop construction of the Graf Zeppelin.Air Power became too much of a threat to ships at sea history has shown now.

Alternative history being what it is, One…or even three…carriers would not have made much of a difference in the north Atlantic or along the North American coast.

It took a lot of American carriers to dislodge Japanese troops and support the invasion of small, un-industrial islands, so aside from short term disruptions, air raids against shipping assets or factories would have been fairly pointless in the long run.

What hasn’t received much attention by historians and enthusiasts, are the carrier based attacks against the Japanese home islands late in the war. Some were done by UK carriers…making the lack of books more puzzling.

While the B-29 raids have rightfully received most of the attention, naval strikes certainly caused disruption to productivity and defensive efforts. Those missions would have become critical if an invasion were launched. 

A few years ago I had a part from the Graf Zeppelin. 

I purchased a large painted steel box with wooden lining. It had an engraved sign that had location , Graf Zeppelin and a code. Inside was a paper label for piston rings.

The code on the label was for a diesel engine made by MAN. I had previous contacts with the MAN archivist and they confirmed and sent me the MAN shipping  documents that show the supply of these MAN engines to the shipyard and specifically the ship as Graf Zeppelin. Shipping was a few weeks befor Adolf launched her.

The engines were the generators to be used when she could not access dockside power. The label had the ships location for where these spares had to be stored.

Given it was a large box I don’t know how it came to UK. It went to Trinity Marine along with a T class dive plane controller.

A fascinating look into the Kriegsmarine in WW2 and another page has been written!

Wreck was found a while ago now…
https://www.ww2wrecks.com/portfolio/graf-zeppelin-diving-at-the-unique-…

Two additional sister ships of the Graf Zeppelin were planned, called the Flugzeugträger C and D. However, those two vessels were cancelled in 1938 before construction could begin.

If Adolf Hitler had listened to Kriegsmarine Admiral Erich Raeder’s warning not to invade the USSR, then the Graf Zeppelin might have been completed with existing financial resources and the Kriegsmarine would have used the ship to launch carrier-based versions of the Bf 109 and Ju 87 against American warships in the North Atlantic and naval shipyards along the US Eastern Seaboard. 

Dreessen, C., 2000. Die deutsche Flottenrüstung. Hamburg, Germany: Mittler & Sohn.

RE: German aircraft carrier

C’Mon Jase, In true British fashion we’d have sent a couple of “stringbags” to sink it!!

Keithmac

RE: German aircraft carrier

Thanks for all that info..as you said-just think what would have happened if it had got onto open water with cruiser escorts!!
thanks again…..jase

RE: German aircraft carrier

Dear oh dear, you are bored at work today aren’t you DOUGHNUT!!

Wonder what difference all this would have made if it had been completed?

RE: German aircraft carrier

Not my usual interest but as I’am bored at work today try the web site http://members.rogers.com/admfisher/html/grafzepplin.html aplogies for the length but it is the diffinitive answer.

Graf Zeppelin
Germany’s almost completed aircraft carrier.

Unlike most other nations in World War II, Germany never had an operational aircraft carrier, although several projects were made before and during the war. The Graf Zeppelin was the only one of them which came close to completion – but never saw action.

With a size of about 23,300 ts (max.) and a length of 262,5 meters or 861 feet, it was about the same size as the American Yorktown class. Like other carriers that were planned and started before the war, the Graf Zeppelin had a remarkable strong main artillery, sixteen 15 cm/5.9 in. guns, twelve 10.5cm or 4.1in. heavy AA, 22 x 3,7 cm AA and 28 x 2 cm AA – a offensive stinger that was more than a contemporary CL. The ship was protected by a 100 mm or 3.9 in. (max.) armor belt and a 60 mm or 2.4 in. armored deck, the flight deck itself was only lightly armored.

Powered by a 200.000 shp turbine system – the most powerful installed on a German warship – it was projected to archive a top speed of 35 kn. To increase maneuverability (especially for passing the Kiel Canal) the carrier was equipped with two Vought-Schneider propellers in the bow.
Since Germany had no experience in carrier aviation, no special build aircraft were available. Therefore the air component of the ship consisted mainly on modified standard aircraft of the Luftwaffe: Me109T fighter aircraft, Ju 87 C dive bomber and Fi 167 torpedo bomber and reconnaissance planes. Only the Fi 167 was special designed for carrier use, those biplanes were almost able to fly as slow as a carrier at full speed. A total of 40 aircraft were planned to be stationed on the carrier.

The ship was laid down on December 28th 1936 at Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel as Flugzeugträger “A” and was launched two years later on December 8th 1936. The construction costs were 92,7 Mil. Reichsmark. It was projected that the ship would be completed by the end of 1940 – but this never happened. An interesting detail is that in 1935, a German commission visited Japan to inspect the carrier Akagi to gain information about aircraft carrier specific construction details.

In April 1940 the construction was stopped as the focus of Germanys naval construction changed to U-boats and the work on all incomplete major surface ships was stopped. The already installed guns were used for coastal defenses in Norway and the ships was transferred to Gotenhafen.

In 1942 it became obvious that the German Kriegsmarine would need aircraft carrier for further actions of the major surface units and therefore, the construction of the Graf Zeppelin was resumed. Now planed with the use of Me109Ts and Ju87C only, it was projected to complete the ship by the winter of 1943. The ship then should be stationed at Drontheim, at the south end of the Faettenfjord. Since the need for an aircraft carrier was seen as critical, several cruise ships like the Potsdam, Gneisenau, Europa and the Prinz Eugen class cruiser Seydlitz (which was completed about 95% at that time) were planed to be converted to aircraft carriers but work only started to convert the Seydlitz.

In December of 1942 the Graf Zeppelin was again transferred to Kiel to continue the construction, at this time, the 15 cm/5.9 in. guns were removed and transported to Norway. The Graf Zeppelin was towed to Stettin on 21.04.1943 where it stayed for the rest of the war. Two years later, on 25.04.1945 the ship was scuttled by explosives and sunk in the shallow waters, where it was captured by Soviet troops.

There are several versions in literature about the final fate of the Graf Zeppelin after the war. All state that the ship was made afloat again and was transported towards the Soviet Union. One version says that the ship was sunk after a mine hit on its way to Leningrad. Another version is that the ship capsized because of a heavy load of equipment stored in it. One possible fate mentioned is that the ship was completed by the Soviets after the war, but this sounds unrealistic.

With the access to Soviet archives, more and accurate information about what happened to the ship in Soviet hands is know. According to new Russian sources, the Graf Zeppelin was sunk after weapons tests in August 1947.

Being captured by Russians, Graf Zeppelin was renamed to IA-101 (Floating Base No. 101) on 03.02.1947. On 16.08.1947 the carrier has been sunk as a target ship off Swinemünde. Graf Zeppelin sank as they “scored” 24 bombs and torpedo hits, including two 1000 kg bombs. Those bombs were mounted directly on board of the ship, one of them was even the funnel. As it exploded, the funnel was completely destroyed up to the top deck, but the superstructures of the island remained intact. Two 500 kg bombs, three 250 kg and five 100 kg bombs plus four 180 mm 92 kg shells were used on the ship. All these charges were mounted upon the flight deck and hangar deck. Six training bombs dropped from the dive bombers and two 53,3 cm/21 in. torpedoes from the torpedo boat OE-503 and destroyer Slavniy were fired on the ship. The last torpedo scored the fatal hit, 23 minutes after the it, the Graf Zeppelin sunk.

The Graf Zeppelins sister ship, the “Flugzeugträger B” (the possible name Peter Strasser is mentioned in literature very often) was laid down at the Krupp Germaniawerft in Kiel in autumn of 1938, but construction was stopped at the beginning of World War II. It was purposed that they wait until the first carrier was operational to include modifications in the ships design. In February of 1942 however, the ship was scrapped in the shipyard.

RE: German aircraft carrier

Wasn’t the Bf109T a navalised variant with an arrestor hook?

Can you imagine how hard it would be to land a 109 on a carrier? By all accounts (and the number of ground loops over the years) they’re difficult enough to get down on dry land!

Willow

RE: German aircraft carrier

As I recall the Graf Zepplin as it was called was never completed.

I think the campaign in France and the Low Countries went so well that Hitler insisted on a low pririty being given to it. Eventually the hull was towed somewhere (Kiel?) and used for accommodation IIRC.

A number of JU87 were navalised for use on it.

I await with interest the remaining info that the Forum will uncover

Moggy