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GRAF ZEPPELIN
(Deutsche Werke,Kiel, Dec. 8, 1938)
PETER STRASSER
(Germania,Kiel, building)
Both laid down in 1936, under the Programme for that year.)
Displacement: 19,250 tons
Length: 820.3 ft
Beam: 88.5 ft
Draught: 18.3 ft (mean)
Aircraft: 40
Guns:
16 - 5.9 inch
10 - 4.1 inch AA
22 - 37 mm AA
Machinery: Geared turbines
Speed: 32 kts
Armour: Casemates for 5.9 inch guns. No bulges.


GRAF ZEPPELIN

Notes: Flight deck reported to measure 790x88.5 feet.Sides appear to be for two-thirds of length amidships, and to a lesser extent as bow, which is of bulbous form.Will have island superstructure on starboard side.One of these aircraft carriers was photographed from the air, fitting out alongside a quay in the Naval Dockyard at Kiel,in July,1940,whence she is believed to have proceeded to Gdynia. P. Strasser does not appear to have been completed.
Notes: The construction of Peter Strasser was stopped, the half completed ship was broken down. The Graf Zeppelin left shipyard, but its armament and engines never where completed, left the shipyard in dec. 1938. its construktion displacement was 27 650 ts ist estimated max. weight 33 550 ts. It should have carried 42 planes (30 Ju-87D divebombers and 12 Me-109T fighters). To the end of the war everything usefull was removed for other projects. The hull was removed to later Poland to bring it out of range of allied airraids. In 1945 it was sunk by german troops near Stettin in the mouth of the river Oder. In 1946 it was elevated by the russians an send to St. Pererburg (then Leningrad) in 1947. The informations of its loss in sea are unclear, some say it was hit by mine, others it was sunk by torpedo, some think damges of the outer sealings causes its sinking. Perhaps it was another time elevated an later dismantled in St. Petersburg.

Graf Zeppelin discovered in the Baltic sea off the Polish coast 12 July by a Polish company that specialises in searching for oil reserves. The wreck, is some 55 kilometres (34 miles) north of the Polish port of Wladyslawowo, and lies at a depth of 80 metres (260 feet). It was damaged by artillery fire and fell into the hands of the Soviet army in April 1945.



 GRAF ZEPPELIN

A sonar picture of the wreck and an original photo underneath: Experts think that the detailed similarity of both images proves that it is the same ship.

Aerial view from a British plane in 1941

Launch ceremony in Kiel in 1938


Launch ceremony in Kiel in 1938


Aerial view 1947 ??


Aerial view 1947 ??



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