Graf Zeppelin, Germany's hope of an aircraft carrier

Graf Zeppelin

During the pre-war era, aircraft carriers were more of a solution to bypass naval restrictions. Such a case happened to the Japanese with their battlecruiser Amagi & Akagi, by which, according to the Washington naval treaty, they were to either scuttle, destroy or abandon the construction of both battlecruisers. The Japanese were able to bypass the treaty by re-ordering them into aircraft carriers. The construction of Akagi was a success, although the Japanese were forced to replace Amagi with the Battlecruiser Kaga, as Amagi was destroyed on her slipway by an earthquake. Most aircraft carriers at the time were conversion, "half-carriers". The first "True" carrier was Japan's Houshou, the first ship designed from the outset as an aircraft carrier

In Germany, after Hitler's rise to power, began to militarize itself once more. The first sign of Germany's ambition for militarization was the launching of the "Deutschland" class ships, the so-called "Panzerschiff". Consisting of Deutschland, Admiral Graf Spee & Admiral Scheer (Deutschland would later be re-named, Lutzow). Even though the German navy (Kriegsmarine) received the least attention in terms of budget, their ambition ain't no different than their army (Heer) & Airforce (Luftwaffe) counterparts. This ambition is presented by the Naval High Command's order to begin research, development & Construction of an aircraft carrier.

In 1935, German commissions were sent to Japan to examine the aircraft carrier, Akagi. The commission was given over 100 copies of her blueprint The commission didn't expect though, that they were given an obsolete design! By October of that year, the Japanese would've re-build the Akagi, since her 3 flight-deck design is both impractical & obsolete by 1930s standards. The Germans had also sent commissions to the United Kindom to attend the navy week, to have a look at the aircraft carrier Furious of the Courageous class, which is open to the public during the week. Yet, the commission yielded little result, so, the Akagi had more influence on the development of the future German aircraft carrier design, especially on the "A" ship, which would be the Graf Zeppelin.

Graf Zeppelin's keel was laid on October 1936, on Deutsch Werke's slipway no.1, just 20 days after the launch of the battleship "E" (The Gneisenau) was launched from the very same slipway. She was supposed to have a single sister-ship, the aircraft carrier "B"*, whose keel was laid in 1938, after the launch of the heavy cruiser "J" (The Prinz Eugen). After 2 years of hard work, the construction of the Graf Zeppelin is finally finished, & on December 8th, 1938, she was christened Graf Zeppelin by Countess Hella von Brandenstein Zeppelin, the daughter of Count Zeppelin. Under the cheer of the massive crowd below her, & under the order of the Chancellor Adolf Hitler himself, she finally entered the cold water of the Baltic sea for the first time. Her superstructure completion resumed afterward. By the time World War 2 broke out, Graf Zeppelin was 85-90% complete, the engines & boilers were in place, and the auxiliary machinery was prepared, although not yet installed. The 15cm guns were in place too, although they lacked their armored shields.

In terms of weaponry, the Graf Zeppelin ain't no ship to scoff at, it has a total of 16x 15cm SK C/28 gun on double C/36 mounting. These secondary armaments were divided on each side of the ship, 4x on the stern & 4x on the port side. Besides these colossal guns, she also came equipped with 12x 10.5cm SK C/33 anti-aircraft artillery, 22x 3.7cm SK C/33 Light anti-aircraft artillery & 7x quadruple 2cm flak 38 anti-aircraft guns.

Graf Zeppelin's air complement was originally planned to consist of Arado Ar 197 fighter plane & Fieseler Fi 167 Multi-purpose biplane. By 1938, the Arado Ar 197 would be replaced by the Messerschmitt Bf 109T (Bf 109s modified for naval use), while the Fieseler Fi 167 would be accompanied by Junkers Ju 87C, although in 1942, both of them would be replaced by the Junkers Ju 87E (Naval alteration of the Junkers Ju 87D-1).

Even though the Graf Zeppelin might seem like a mighty aircraft carrier, it actually featured quite a lot of flaws. Firstly, its 16x 15cm guns. Yes, they might be useful on some SPECIFIC situations, but, most of the time, it would nothing more than a burden for the ship herself. To be mentioned, the armament is too weak to actually defend the carrier from enemy ships dedicated to counter other surface ships, and next, its existence and ammo count took quite a lot of space, which would've been more useful if it had been used to store aircraft, spare-parts, etc. Also, if the ship were to be accompanied by other ships during missions, what's the point of placing those guns in the first place? The next part is concerning the ship's design. Its aircraft hangar is separated into 2, which are placed on top of one another, making the process of moving aircraft onto her deck for take-off complicated. It is estimated that the time required to launch one aircraft is 1 minute, by which, if the carrier were to launch all of its air complement (42 aircraft at most) would take at least 40 minutes.

*(The name Peter Strasser ascribed by some sources to her is not presented in the official document, and it is highly doubtful that the name would have actually been chosen)

Source:
Siegfried Breyer. Graf Zeppelin. Poland, 2004