The first German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin

A warship with a tragic fate, so to speak: it was never destined to take part in the fighting during the Second World War – fortunately for all those involved.

Construction of the first German aircraft carrier began in 1936, and in December 1938, in the presence of Hitler, it was launched from the shipyard in Kiel. Work on equipping the Graf Zeppelin was never completed. The competition between departments, typical of the Nazis, had an impact.

At the beginning of the war, all resources were thrown into the deployment of the submarine fleet, then resources were again allocated to this prestigious project, and then work was halted once more. In 1942, the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin was 85% complete. In April 1943, it was towed to the port of Stettin (Szczecin). On 25 April 1945, in the face of the approaching Red Army, it was sunk by German sappers. In March 1947, the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin was raised by the Soviet Navy. In August of the same year, it was sunk. According to one version, it was used as a training target, according to another, it had to be sunk when the tow ropes had to be cut during a storm while it was being towed to one of the Soviet naval bases. In 2006, the Graf Zeppelin was discovered at the bottom of the Baltic Sea by geologists from the Petrobaltic company.

Original photo - aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin

Technical specifications of the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin:

Length: 262 m
Width: 36 m
The ship was designed to carry 43 aircraft
Maximum speed — 33 knots
Crew — 1,720 sailors and officers, 342 flight and technical personnel.

See also:

The submarine Type VII-class

At 21 minutes to eight in the evening of 3 September 1939, the SS Asthenia, outward bound from Liverpool to Montreal with 1400 passengers, was struck by a torpedo. This was the first attack in the Second World War to be made by the German Navy, and the torpedo was fired by U-30 type VII U-boat, commissioned in 1936. On 10 July 1945, the British st...

The passenger ship RMS Campania

In 1893, the British shipping company Cunard Liner launched two of its newest passenger ships, the RMS Campania and the RMS Lucania, on transatlantic routes.

Submarine aircraft carriers of Japan

The concept of an aircraft launched from a submarine is almost as old as naval aviation itself. On January 6, 1915, a modified seaplane called the "Friedrichshafen" was launched from the deck of the German submarine U-12. In the autumn of 1917, in Germany, the "Brandenburg," which was adapted for storage directly on board a diesel-powered submarine...

Battleships Iowa class - all battleships battleships

Battleships of the "Iowa" class are considered the most advanced ships in the history of shipbuilding. It was during their creation that designers and engineers managed to achieve the maximum combination of all the key combat characteristics: armament, speed, and defense.

The aircraft carrier USS Lexington

The USS Lexington is the last operational unit of the Essex class of carriers that were designed just prior to World War II, and were modernized in the 1950s.

Comments

No comments yet