Actually I think it’s probable both arguments are correct. It seems the 109T was DESIGNED as a naval aircraft with folding wings but BUILT as a de-navalised landplane. Here’s an excerpt from the link I posted above, which is in fact an extract from “Warplanes of the Third Reich, William Green, Doubleday, 1970”
[quote] Messerschmitt’s proposal for a shipboard fighter was designated Bf 109T (T for “Trager”). It was basically a Bf 109E-1 with a larger wing, an attachment point for catapult points underneath the fuselage, and an arrester hook underneath the aft fuselage. A breakpoint was incorporated in the wing spar outboard of the gun bays to permit manual folding of the wings. However, the wing folding process was complicated by the need to detach the flaps prior to folding. The landing gear still retracted outwards, but the undercarriage legs were made stronger in order to accommodate the faster sink rates involved in carrier landings …
When the war in Europe began, the Graf Zeppelin was about 85 percent complete, and most of her machinery had been installed. However, work on the Graf Zeppelin was suspended in October 1939 due to a change in German naval thinking. It was deemed that the operation of a single aircraft carrier within range of enemy land bases was impractical, and all work on the Graf Zeppelin was halted in May of 1940. Assembly of the 60 Bf 109T-1 fighters was also halted at the same time.
However …, the successes of British carrier-based aircraft against the Italian Navy late in 1940 [another interesting story ~ is there a thread?] rekindled German interest in ships of this type, and the Fieseler Werke was instructed to complete the 60 Bf 109T-1s then under construction but to remove the naval equipment and deliver them as land-based fighter bombers suitable for operation from short strips. [unquote]
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