German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin
Service
- as Graf Zeppelin? — 16 August 19472,193 days of the war
- Name
- Graf Zeppelin
- Namesake
- Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin
- Builder
- Deutsche Werke, Kiel Shipyards
- Laid down
- 28 December 1936
- Launched
- 8 December 1938
- Fate
- Sunk as a target ship on 16 August 1947 (1947)
- Status
- Wreck
Specifications
- Displacement, full load
- 33,550 long tons (34,088 t)
- Length
- 262.5 m (861.2 ft)
- Beam
- 36.2 m (118.8 ft)
- Draught
- 8.5 m (27.9 ft)
- Speed
- 33.8 knots (62.6 km/h, 38.9 mph)
- Range
- 8,000 nmi (14,816 km)
- Complement
- 1,720
- Main gun
- 150 mm (5.9 in)
Graf Zeppelin was a Graf Zeppelin-class aircraft carrier in service with the Kriegsmarine. She was named for Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. Deutsche Werke, Kiel Shipyards laid her keel on 28 December 1936. She was launched on 8 December 1938.
She was the only ship of her class. The class followed the German aircraft carrier I (1915) and was succeeded by the German aircraft carrier I (1942).
Displacement was 33,550 long tons. She measured 262.5 m (861 ft) long with a beam of 36.2 m (119 ft). Her designed speed was 33.8 knots, and she carried a complement of 1,720.
Her main battery was 16 150 mm (5.9 in) guns. Her belt armour was 100 mm (3.9 in) and her deck 45 mm. She carried twelve aircraft. Her machinery developed 200,000 shp.
She was in commission for 2,193 days of the Second World War.
She was expended as a target on 16 August 1947. The wreck survives.
Written from the harvested record. Every figure above is sourced; the wording is this site's own.
Armament and machinery
Armament and machinery
- Propulsion
- 4 × geared turbines
- Power
- 200000 shp
- Armament
- 16 × 15 cm SK C/28 guns
- 12 × 10.5 cm SK C/33 guns
- 22 × 3.7 cm SK C/30 guns
- 28 × 2 cm FlaK guns
- Armour
- Belt: 100 mm
- Flight deck: 45 mm
- Main deck: 60 mm
- Aircraft
- 12 × fighters
- 12 × dive bombers
- 20 × torpedo bombers
Sources
- Facts harvested from German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
- Photograph: U.S. Navy (A503 FM30-50 booklet for identification of ships, published by the Division of Naval Inteligence of the Navy Department of the United States) — U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo No. 1996.488.037.060 — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons