Graf Zeppelin aircraft carrier

FM30-50 booklet for identification of ships, published by the Division of Naval Intelligence of the Navy Department of the United States




Graf Zeppelin launch (unknown postcard/photo)



ship profile diagram

A scale ship model of the Nazi aircraft carrier the "Graf Zeppelin" shown in the German Shipping Museum


Shipbuilders in Nazi Germany did a remarkable job, considering they had no previous models to base it on

German soldiers in front of the carrier in Stettin in 1941: Work on the leviathan started in 1936 in Kiel, and the ship was launched on December 8, 1938




Launch ceremony in Kiel in 1938: Compared to the British and American aircraft-carriers, the "Graf Zeppelin" could only take a limited number of airplanes on board, because of space taken up by unnecessary artillery.
german imperial navy aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin,named like the famous airship in honour of Graf (Count) Ferdinand von Zeppelin. It was Germany's only aircraft carrier during World War II. It was launched on December 8, 1938, but was never completed

Displacement: 33,550 tonnes
Length: 262.5 m
Beam: 31.5 m
Draft: 7.6 m


engine : Geared turbines, Total Performance: 200000 shp four screws
Speed: 35 kn


Range: 8000 miles at 19 kn


Complement: 1,720 crew
306 flight personnel
anti air firepower: 16 × Sk. 15 cm. guns
12 × Flak (10.5 cm)
22 × Flak (3.7 cm)
28 × Flak (2.0 cm)
Aircraft carried: 50
10 × Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters
20 × Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers
20 × Fieseler Fi 167 torpedo bombers