German Aircraft Carrier Graf Zeppelin

Graf Zeppelin was an unfinished German aircraft carrier, the keel of which was laid in 1936 and launched in December 1938. He never entered the rope service in the German Navy (German Kriegsmarine). The ship was to be 262.5 meters long, 36.2 meters wide, and had a full displacement of 33,500 tons. The maximum speed of the Graf Zeppelin aircraft carrier would be around 33-34 knots, and its main armament would be 42 on-board planes.

Graf Zeppelin was approved for construction as Flugzeugtrager A, along with its twin ship Peter Strasser (the so-called Flugzeugtrager B) in 1934. Work on the first aircraft carrier in the history of Germany, however, started only in December 1936, and the launch of the ship's hull took place in December 1938 in Kiel. However, despite the far-reaching advancement of the work, in 1940 - as a result of Hitler's order - work on the Graf Zeppelin was discontinued. They were not returned to until 1941, but their progress was very slow in view of the pressure placed on the U-boats by the Kriegsmarine command at that time.

In 1943, the works were stopped again. 90-95% completed, the aircraft carrier was towed to Szczecin and was to be used there for ... the construction of a port dam! In April 1945, Graf Zeppelin was taken over by the Red Army and later subjected to detailed study by Soviet scientists and engineers. He was sunk on August 17, 1947. The wreckage of an aircraft carrier was discovered only in 2006.

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