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History
See other History Articles

Title: The Only Nazi Aircraft Carrier
Source: Damn Interesting
URL Source: http://www.damninteresting.com
Published: Mar 4, 2006
Author: Greg Bjerg
Post Date: 2006-12-01 22:03:03 by Indrid Cold
Keywords: None
Views: 838
Comments: 65

In no naval action of World War 2 will you find a German aircraft carrier taking part. All the major navies in the war used them extensively, except for Nazi Germany. There were lots of German U-Boats, battleships, cruisers, and destroyers, but no flattops. However, the Nazis had plans to build a total of four carriers and almost finished one of them.

Her name was the KMS Graf Zeppelin and though launched in December 1938 she was never over 80% completed. Construction delays, lack of aircraft, and bitter disputes between Air Marshall Herman Goering and the Navy insured that the ship was doomed to become scrap metal.

Hitler had promised the German Navy (The Kriegsmarine) carriers as early as 1935, and the keel was laid for the Graf Zepplin on December 26, 1936. The Graf Zeppelin was 920 feet long and weighed 19,250 tons. Her top speed was to be 33.8 knots. Her crew complement was 1,760 and she was to hangar forty aircraft. By comparison the large American Essex class carriers of WWII could carry 80 to 100 aircraft. The Germans got as far as partly installing the catapults when the ship was then turned into a floating warehouse for u-boat parts.

Hitler's attitude vacillated on the project and it never had his full backing. It also had a major detractor in Goering, who was resentful of any incursion on his authority as head of the country's air power. Goering had been ordered by Hitler to develop aircraft for the ship. His response was to offer redesigned versions of the then-obsolete JU-87 Stuka dive bomber and older versions of the Messerschmitt 109 fighter. Both planes were land-based aircraft never intended to meet the rough requirements for carrier operations. Even after modifications they were hopelessly inferior to Allied types. To insure further delay in the carrier’s completion, Goering informed Hitler that these planes would not be ready until the end of 1944. Goering’s tactics worked and the Graf Zeppelin’s construction was halted in 1943.

By the time work stopped on the ship, the Germany Navy had a submariner as its top naval officer– Admiral Karl Donitz– and all ship construction was turned over to building new U-Boats. The Graf Zeppelin stayed at her moorings in Stettin for the rest of the war never to see action.

As the end of the war in Europe neared, the Graf Zeppelin was scuttled in shallow water off Stettin (now Szczecin in Poland) on April 25, 1945 just before the Red Army captured the city. But she wasn’t quite ready for the scrap yard yet. According to recently found material in Russian archives, the ship was refloated by the Russians and towed to Leningrad filled with captured booty and military parts for use in the Soviet Union. After unloading her cargo she was named "PO-101" (Floating Base Number 101) by the Soviets. The new owners had hoped to repair and refit the ship as a new carrier but this proved to be impractical so the Graf Zeppelin had one more task to fulfill.

Graf Zepplin Aircraft CarrierOn August 16, 1947 she was towed out to sea and used for target practice by Soviet ships and aircraft. Aerial bombs were placed in her hangers, flight deck and smoke stack. Planes and ships then shot shells and dropped bombs on her to demonstrate how to sink a carrier, presumably American. After twenty-four hits the Graf Zeppelin stayed afloat and had to be finished off by torpedoes.

Details on how the Nazis planned to use the carrier in action have been lost to obscurity. The Germans had none of the experience that the American, British and Japanese navies had gained in the years between the wars. While the Graf Zeppelin had some advanced features she displayed her designers' lack of knowledge about carriers. The heavy surface armament was of little use and accounted for too much weight; the anti-aircraft armament was heavy but badly sited, all on the starboard side. The radius of action was low for a fleet carrier intended to operate with the capital ships on the Atlantic shipping routes.

Had she been commissioned she would have provided a considerable commerce-raiding capability. The carrier could have provided effective support for capital ships and cruisers with air cover, and would have increased their potential for destruction considerably. Such support operations could have changed the outcome of sea battles like the sinking of the Battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz had the Graf Zeppelin been present.

The Germans have never sailed an aircraft carrier since.

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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 46.

#1. To: Indrid Cold, historian1944 (#0)

I never thought about this rather obvious deficiency in the Nazi war machine.

robin  posted on  2006-12-01   22:37:56 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#2. To: robin, Indrid Cold, historian1944 (#1)

I never thought about this rather obvious deficiency in the Nazi war machine.

The Nazi war machine had many tactical and strategic deficiencies. Lack of long range bombers for example - because they figured they would never need them - and when it looked like they might need them instead of designing strategic bombers they developed long range bombers designed for tactical reasons - to terror bomb American cities for example instead of factories in the Urals.

The Germans may have made some awesome machines but their military land forces were still dependent on horse and mule power. Hollywood war movies made them seem as being an all mechanized military or something - they were not.

Destro  posted on  2006-12-02   1:20:04 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#3. To: Destro (#2)

75 percent of the German army crossed over into Russia on foot with their supplies pulled by horse and mule. You are right about H-wood portrayals of German military capacity- all hi-tech with the latest and greatest. And sure- they did produce some very highly technical and impressive machinery of war- which- was ironically a major flaw. They could produce the awesome Tiger tank- but it took three times as long to make- required 3 times the men and specialists to make- and required entire teams of men just to service- spare parts became hard to come by. This was typical of many of the Wunder-Krieg machines of the Wermacht. Meanwhile they were buried by the production of heavily armored basic tanks with ingenius yet not overly complicated designs- easily repaired- easy to cannabalize other wounded tanks for spare parts.

In every movie we see about WWII- American troops are shown fighting elite units with the latest and greatest stuff. The reality was they were fighting wermacht troops with bolt action rifles little changed from WWI still throwing clunky potato masher hand grendaes- who had got to the front under foot power and who lugged more stuff than did the average GI. And frankly? The American performance was not that great in the face of these second tier troops (first tier troops being on the Russian front) amd despite these disadvantges they were trained far better than American troops.

Burkeman1  posted on  2006-12-02   1:53:58 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#15. To: Burkeman1 (#3)

The American performance was not that great in the face of these second tier troops (first tier troops being on the Russian front) amd despite these disadvantges they were trained far better than American troops.

The military historian John Kagan pointed out that 100 German troops were equal to 120 American troops, even though the German troops were not as well-equipped as the American troops. The reason is because of superior German officers.

Early in the war, every time there was a battle between Americans and Germans, the Americans got drubbed. Finally realizing what was going on, the Americans concentrated on sheer numbers of men. Quantity is its own quality.

YertleTurtle  posted on  2006-12-02   8:13:19 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#18. To: YertleTurtle (#15)

The military historian John Kagan pointed out ...

Yertle: Your statement is overly broad. First, any War College will tell you that attacking forces MUST out-number defensive forces (taught in all armies). Secondly, recall the German army had been at war for three years before the Americans were engaged. Thirdly, the Battle of the Bulge is the defining argument, i.e., the Germans way out-numbered the Americans and were out-fought by a handful of American soldiers who were cooks and whomever else could be found.

Phant2000  posted on  2006-12-02   9:58:54 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#31. To: Phant2000 (#18)

Some of Robert E. Lee's victorious battles were when he attacked with numerically inferior forces. Second Bull Run, for example.

Weren't the Germans numerically inferior to the French plus the British in the Battle of France? For that matter, weren't they numerically inferior to all those Russian armies that they rolled up in the opening months of Barbarossa?

aristeides  posted on  2006-12-02   10:54:37 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#46. To: aristeides (#31)

Some of Robert E. Lee's victorious battles were when he attacked with numerically inferior forces. Second Bull Run, for example.

Weren't all of Lee's victories with numerically inferior forces? I can't think of an exception.

DeaconBenjamin  posted on  2006-12-02   17:18:29 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


Replies to Comment # 46.

#50. To: DeaconBenjamin (#46)

I qualified what I said because some of Lee's victories were on the defensive (and some of his battles were defeats.)

aristeides  posted on  2006-12-02 17:32:47 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


End Trace Mode for Comment # 46.

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