The carrier's heavy flak armament of twelve While there, she was used as a storage depot for Germany's hardwood supply. Now responsible for defending Norway's long coastline and numerous port facilities, the Kriegsmarine urgently needed large numbers of coastal guns and anti-aircraft batteries.ĭuring a naval conference with Hitler on 28 AprilAdmiral Erich Raeder proposed halting all work on Graf Zeppelinarguing that even if she was commissioned by the end offinal installation of her guns would need another ten months or more her original fire-control system had been sold to the Soviet Union under an earlier trade agreement. Meanwhile, the German conquest of Norway in April further eroded any chance of completing Graf Zeppelin. Construction of the ship was delayed since Deutsche Werke was working at capacity, and the slipway needed for Graf Zeppelin was occupied by the new battleship Gneisenauwhich was launched on 8 December She was launched on 8 Decemberthe 24th anniversary of the Battle of the Falkland Islands and she was christened by Helene von Zeppelin, the daughter of the ship's namesake. Her anti-aircraft battery consisted of ten The ship's flight deck was protected with up to 45 millimeters 1. This number was later increased to sixteen.
Graf Zeppelin would have carried 42 aircraft as designed: 12 navalized Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" dive bombers10 Messerschmitt Bf fighters, and 20 Fieseler Fi torpedo bombers. The wreck was discovered by a Polish survey ship in July Graf Zeppelin was At full combat load, she would have displaced 33, long tons 34, The power plant was rated atshaft horsepowerGraf Zeppelin had a projected cruising radius of 8, nautical miles 14, The ship's primary offensive power would have been its aircraft complement. She remained in the Baltic for the duration of the war with Germany's defeat imminent, the ship's custodian crew scuttled her just outside Stettin in March The Soviet Union raised the ship in Marchand she was ultimately sunk in weapons tests north of Poland 17 months later. Graf Zeppelin was not completed and was never operational due to shifting construction priorities necessitated by the war. Construction on Graf Zeppelin began on 28 Decemberwhen her keel was laid down at the Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel. The carrier would have had a complement of 42 fighters and dive bombers. She was the only aircraft carrier launched by Germany and represented part of the Kriegsmarine ' s attempt to create a well-balanced oceangoing fleet, capable of projecting German naval power far beyond the narrow confines of the Baltic and North Seas.
The German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin was the lead ship in a class of two carriers of the same name ordered by the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany.
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