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Hitler's Aircraft Carrier

C

Cody Coyote

SOH-CM-2024
Not sure if anyone ever modeled this for CFS2. Would be fun for "what if" campaigns. The folding wing Stuka is kind of cute.

Hitler's heavy aircraft carrier
By NÚRIA PUYUELO GISPERT | December 2012

The German Kreigsmarine never really embraced the use of aircraft carriers in WW2. Hitler showed little interest in this type of Naval vessel and its operation. The chief of the Luftwaffe, Herman Goering, was always jealous of his command over all forms of aircraft, and did all in his considerable power to stymie Admiral Reader's plan to build up to four aircraft carriers.

In 1935, Hitler announced a plan for the Navy to acquire aircraft carriers. Two keels were laid down in 1936, and in 1938, Grand Admiral Erich Raeder produced his Plan Z, a grand scheme to build four Carriers and complete them by 1945, but in 1939 this was scaled back to just two.

It was Naval policy to not actually name a ship until it was launched. The first laid down Carrier was designated Aircraft Carrier A, to be named Graf Zeppelin at her launch in 1938. The second, Aircraft Carrier B, was never launched.

Come May in 1941, Raeder informed Hitler that Graf Zeppelin, about 85% completed, would be finally finished the next year. But Herman Goering was no help, he told both Hitler and Raeder he was unable to supply the Navy with aircraft for Graf Zeppelin until the end of 1944.

His delaying tactics worked: Aircraft Carrier B was abandoned, and broken up.

By 1943 Adolf Hitler was not too interested in anything Navy, and the frustrated Raeder asked to be relieved, he was accommodated by Hitler, and Karl Donitz, the Submarine chief took charge. He was not at all interested in seeing an aircraft carrier gaining more focus than his beloved U-Boat arm, and all work stopped on Graf Zeppelin, notwithstanding she was 95% completed. The ship had her armament stripped out of her, and sent off to Norway for coastal battery use.

At war's end in 1945, to ensure this ship did not fall into Russian hands, Graf Zeppelin was scuttled in shallow water at Stettin in Poland, on April 25th. 1945.

Under the terms of the Allied Tripartite Commission, Graf Zeppelin should have been destroyed or scuttled in deep water by August 15th, 1946. But not so: the Russians decided to repair the Carrier and she was refloated in March 1946, no doubt loaded with loot from the conquered Poland.

It was unsure post WW2 what had been the fate of Graf Zeppelin until the Soviet archives were opened up.

It appears the carrier was towed from Poland to Leningrad, unloaded and designated PO-101 ( ie. floating base Number 101 ). The Russians wanted to repair the ship at Leningrad as all the repair facilities at Stettin had been destroyed. But this did not happen, and again Graf Zeppelin was towed off to the Polish coast.

On the Polish coast on August 16th, 1947 the ill fated carrier was used as target practice for both Soviet aircraft and Naval ships. After taking 24 bombs and projectiles the ship was still afloat. Finally two torpedoes did the job, and the carrier sank.

The actual position of her sinking was unknown for many years, but in 2006, a Polish Oil Company ship Petrobaltic found a 265 metre long wreck close to the port of Leba . On July 27th. 2006, the Polish Navy survey ship ORP Arctowski confirmed the find was indeed the wreck of Graf Zeppelin, sitting at 264 feet below the surface.

Crew from Polish Survey vessel ORP Arctowski identified the wreck of Graf Zeppelin July 27th, 2006.

The grand plan of Grand Admiral Erich Raeder never ever came to fruition. Germany did not produce a completed Aircraft Carrier in WW2.

A proud ship, never destined to be commissioned, post WW2, was merely used as target practice by a previous enemy.

A sad end for such a ship, once part of a scheme for the German Navy to get its wings.
 
I did a fantasy mission involving Graf Zeppelin, Bismark and Tirpitz making a break from the Norwegian Fjords. Good target practice for those lovely new Barracudas. Bloody yanks stole the fatal blow though.
 
Two good Graf Zeppelins available for CFS 2.

Here's a few shots of a North Sea "what if" mission using one each of the two available Graf Zeps available for CFS 2. Mas has a very nice one (Talon's link) available and of course the Virtual Navy also made a nice one many years ago.
 
If I remember correctly, there was an expansion "What If?" campaign involving the Graf Zeppelin for the old Avalon Hill Bismarck board game, which I played many times with my friends as a yoot. I remember "sinking" Bismark with the USS North Carolina in one such mission.

JAMES

PS Has anyone modelled a 109 for use on the Graf? I've always shuddered at the thought of trapping a 109 on an aircraft carrier, what with that spindly landing gear.
 
You can add a virtual tail hook to any aircraft in CFS 2 by adding this to the aircraft.cfg file. You can't see it, but the computer thinks that it's there.

[TailHook]
tailhook_length=3.41 ;(feet)
tailhook_position=-18.9, 0.0, -1.0 ;(feet) longitudinal, lateral, vertical positions from datum
cable_force_adjust=1.0

Adjust the actual hook up point by adjusting the numbers above.

Flying the Storch off of a carrier is quite a hoot. With 30 knots ship speed and programmed wind over the deck, you can hover above the 3 wire for a perfect landing.
 
Eoraptor1 said:
If I remember correctly, there was an expansion "What If?" campaign involving the Graf Zeppelin for the old Avalon Hill Bismarck board game, which I played many times with my friends as a yoot. I remember "sinking" Bismark with the USS North Carolina in one such mission.

JAMES

PS Has anyone modelled a 109 for use on the Graf? I've always shuddered at the thought of trapping a 109 on an aircraft carrier, what with that spindly landing gear.
Click to expand...

This may help.

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?71958-Anyone-know-of-a-BF109-T
 
Jagdflieger said:
You can add a virtual tail hook to any aircraft in CFS 2 by adding this to the aircraft.cfg file. You can't see it, but the computer thinks that it's there.

[TailHook]
tailhook_length=3.41 ;(feet)
tailhook_position=-18.9, 0.0, -1.0 ;(feet) longitudinal, lateral, vertical positions from datum
cable_force_adjust=1.0

Adjust the actual hook up point by adjusting the numbers above.

Flying the Storch off of a carrier is quite a hoot. With 30 knots ship speed and programmed wind over the deck, you can hover above the 3 wire for a perfect landing.
Click to expand...

Yes, I've done this with lots of planes. My thought was more about the 109 being unforgiving to land, even on a strip that isn't moving.

ATTN: Allen,

Thank you for the link. I did try downloading the FS9 plane, but for some reason my computer didn't want to do it. I'll try again later on my laptop, but I'm only in the house for a few minutes, and am on my way out the door. Thanks again.

JAMES
 
Thinking in "What if" missions, as the Graf Zeppelin was supposed to be finished by 1942, even disregarding trial and training time for the ship, crew and air complement, I think it would be better to add a virtual tailhook to some Bf109F or even a Fw180A4 and Ju87D or R. Torpedoes were tried sometime during the war in some Fw190. Then you would need some gray skins for those birds. A campaign in the extreme north in anti-shipping role - interdicting the russian-bound convoys.

Discus
 
Discus said:
Thinking in "What if" missions, as the Graf Zeppelin was supposed to be finished by 1942, even disregarding trial and training time for the ship, crew and air complement, I think it would be better to add a virtual tailhook to some Bf109F or even a Fw180A4 and Ju87D or R. Torpedoes were tried sometime during the war in some Fw190. Then you would need some gray skins for those birds. A campaign in the extreme north in anti-shipping role - interdicting the russian-bound convoys.

Discus
Click to expand...

I met a fellow in the grocery market a few years ago who was on one of those convoys. I'm a heart attack survivor and for a long time became winded in the grocery store, and would sit on one of the store's benches to catch my breath while my mother did her shopping, which is how I ended up sitting next to this old fellow, who was waiting for his wife to finish checking out. He told me he was a rowdy youth, and got into lots of trouble. Finally, the judge gave him the choice to be either in the military, the merchant marine, or jail, which is precisely how one of my uncles began his military career. If I'm remembering correctly, he said they made landfall at Murmansk. He told me the Sovietskis were losing the war at that point and didn't believe the Americans or the Brits were doing enough to help out. When they were offloading, some of the RUS longshoremen were cussing out the Americans to that effect, sayin "Americans were all SOBS". But, what they didn't know is that he came from a Russian neighborhood back in the States, knew exactly what they were saying, and was able to give them what for in their own language, after which, there ended up being a near-riot on the docks. He ended his story by telling me that his ship was torpedoed by a U-Boat off Newfoundland, and he got fished of of the water by a Canadian Corvette. I asked if I could touch him for good luck, and he agreed.

JAMES
 
James I enjoyed your story, as a side note my father was on the uss kendrick escorting convoys into murmansk at that time. :salute:
 
olaf1924 said:
James I enjoyed your story, as a side note my father was on the uss kendrick escorting convoys into murmansk at that time. :salute:
Click to expand...

Thank you. I've heard a lot of these stories. There are a lot of vets living locally, and I also learned a lot taking my uncles to Veteran's Hospital. If you're familiar with these places (which I suspect you are, because of your father) you know there's a lot of hurry up and wait. You get there first thing in the morning, and it may be late afternoon before you get all your business done, so, you hear a lot of the old timers swapping stories, a lot of things that don't get into the movies. Last week I was in a music store talking about Buth O'Hare and the Thatch Weave with a tin can sailor. Just out of curiosity, what class was the USS Kendrick?

JAMES
 
Murmansk Run

For a great read on the northern convoys to Murmansk, a great read is Alistair MacLean's "HMS Ulysses."

It's based on the ill fated Convoy PQ-17.

While first published in 1955 (I read it in the mid-60s) it was reprinted a couple of years ago and it's available at:

Amazon.com.
 
I'll find "HMS Ulysses" sounds like a great read.

An interesting view of the PQs may be viewed at the Naval History Homepage, Kerslake, who was a coxwain on the Trawler "Northern Gem." The trawler had an interesting history in WW2.
 
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