http://members.rogers.com/admfisher/html/grafzepplin.html
http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~pettypi/elevon/baugher_other/grzepp.html
The GRAF ZEPPELIN was to be Nazi Germany's 1st aircraft carrier, laid down in Dec 1936 and to be equipped with specialised carrier versions of the Me109 fighter and Ju87 Stuka divebomber to support major surface units of the KRIEGSMARINE. However, by 1939, construction was halted as shipbuilding priorities were shifted to U-Boats, and by April 1940 a new perspective in German naval thinking led to all work on the GRAF ZEPPELIN being halted. As such, Germany never had an operational flat-top during WWII.
WI the GRAF ZEPPELIN had been completed by 1939-40, and German naval planners hadn't been so fickle-minded in deciding which projects to focus on ? What difference could a German carrier have made to the course of the war in such campaigns as Norway in 1940 and interdicting the Murmansk-bound relief convoys 1941-42 ? I remember reading long ago WI the GRAF ZEPPELIN had accompanied the BISMARCK and PRINZ EUGEN during the May 1941 North Sea chase, where the carrier's presence would've assured the safety of the capital ships by her Me109s effectively countering the FA's Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers, and her Stukas wreaking havoc in divebombing attacks on pursuing RN capital ships.
http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~pettypi/elevon/baugher_other/grzepp.html
The GRAF ZEPPELIN was to be Nazi Germany's 1st aircraft carrier, laid down in Dec 1936 and to be equipped with specialised carrier versions of the Me109 fighter and Ju87 Stuka divebomber to support major surface units of the KRIEGSMARINE. However, by 1939, construction was halted as shipbuilding priorities were shifted to U-Boats, and by April 1940 a new perspective in German naval thinking led to all work on the GRAF ZEPPELIN being halted. As such, Germany never had an operational flat-top during WWII.
WI the GRAF ZEPPELIN had been completed by 1939-40, and German naval planners hadn't been so fickle-minded in deciding which projects to focus on ? What difference could a German carrier have made to the course of the war in such campaigns as Norway in 1940 and interdicting the Murmansk-bound relief convoys 1941-42 ? I remember reading long ago WI the GRAF ZEPPELIN had accompanied the BISMARCK and PRINZ EUGEN during the May 1941 North Sea chase, where the carrier's presence would've assured the safety of the capital ships by her Me109s effectively countering the FA's Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers, and her Stukas wreaking havoc in divebombing attacks on pursuing RN capital ships.