What ship in World War II had twelve forward-firing and four aft-firing six-inch guns for her main armament but was not a cruiser? Give up? The Kreigsmarine's carrier Graf Zeppelin. Similar to the Royal Navy's Leviathan (Colossus-class light fleet carrier) or the US Navy's Reprisal (Essex class fleet carrier) Graf Zeppelin was almost but not quite finished. In fact, she was nearly 100% done when work was stopped on her for the first time in 1940 (only missing some flight gear, antiaircraft armament and directors for main armament.)

The purpose of this article is to show the reader what I think would have happened had Graf Zeppelin and several other carrier designs/conversions been completed during World War II. Germany started their carrier program amidst much confusion. First off, the Kreigsmarine was still in its infancy. Graf Zeppelin was Germany's first "new technology" ship. Even mighty Bismarck could not boast that claim, being based on the World War I battleship Baden. Germany had never build a single aircraft carrier of any type. Since the rearmament of Germany was still a secret, the German High command decided to skip a test ship (similar to the Royal Navy's Argus or the USN's Largely) and build a fleet-size carrier. Graf Zeppelin's design went through several changes, but even when the design was frozen, the aircraft complement was still undecided.

The Luftwaffe was to provide the pilots, aircraft mechanics and planes. Goering never liked the idea of the Kreigsmarine having "his" aircraft. Nevertheless "Carrier A" was launched and christened Graf Zeppelin in 1938. By September of 1939, she was nearly 85% complete. Work slowed as more resources were diverted to U-boat construction (carriers were always at the bottom of the priority list) By the time Germany controlled most of Europe, most of Graf Zeppelin's armament had been stripped to supply Norway's defenses and to fulfill part of a deal Hitler had with Stalin.

To make a long story short, Graf Zeppelin became a floating hulk and was only partially completed in 1942. She was in drydock when Hitler, furious at the failure of his surface fleet (his fault mostly) ordered the High Seas Fleet disbanded. The hull work on Graf Zeppelin was finished (adding of torpedo bulges) and she was again towed to obscurity.

If Germany had completed Graf Zeppelin in the first few months of 1940, she could have been used to cover Bismarck's breakout into the Atlantic. It is doubtful that Bismarck would have been sunk, since the Royal Navy would not have been able to shadow the force, and the Swordfish could not have survived against the Bf 109T carrier fighters (for that matter, neither would their top cover of Blackburn Rocs and Fairy Fulmars).

On the slipways in 1939 was the Carrier B, fictitiously called Peter Strasser. No German ship was named until launching. On the drawing boards were two more carriers delayed to take into account the first year or two of operation of Graf Zeppelin. When a mad scramble began in early 1942 to get the Kreigsmarine some carriers, it was decided to convert three cruise liners sitting idle to auxiliary carriers. Of these, the liner Europa would have made the best conversion (except for nearly insurmountable problems which would really demand rebuilding a nearly new ship). Also included in the possibilities were the captured hull of the French cruiser De Grasse (ready for fitting out when Germany captured her) and the German cruiser Seydlitz.

I have included Command at Sea statistics for most of these conversions. Had the war been delayed (all the way to 1944 like Hitler actually planned) there would have been at least two, if not four carriers in service. The last of the four "H" class battleships could also be converted into a carrier. This would be Germany's most capable carrier (assuming Carrier C and D are basically modified Graf Zeppelins).

Initially, it was planned to give Graf Zeppelin and her sisters Fiesler Fi 167 biplane torpedo dive-bombers. While this plane was a conventional bi-plane it had several innovative features. It could land at approximately fifty knots, only twenty knots faster than Graf Zeppelin herself. Due to its slow speed, this plane was canceled after a preproduction batch of nearly 20 planes was produced. The plane chosen to replace the Fi 167 was the Ju 87C, which was a Ju 87B-2 with a jettisonable landing gear (for use if it had to ditch).

For fighter cover, Graf Zeppelin was to use a conversion of the Bf 109E. The Bf 109T would have and enlarged wingspan and strengthened landing gear and a tail hook. Later in the war (or in peace depending on how far you want your scenario to go) newer, more modern planes would have replaced these. Other well-known planes that I think would have been modified for carrier use are the Fw 190D and G and Fw 187 Falke (for Europa and maybe the converted "H" class battleship). The Falke was a superior plane to the Bf 110 but was canceled due to it being designed as a single-seater. However, as a strike fighter it would have been equivalent to the late war US Navy F7F Tigercat or the Royal Navy Sea Hornet.

Here are some plane-specific notes:

Fiesler Fi 167 torpedo bomber: Better in performance to the Fairey Swordfish & Albacore torpedo bombers. Approximately equivalent to the TBD Devastator that entered service with US forces at this same time. Conventional biplane with fixed spatted landing gears.

Bf 109T-1 fighter. Initial version developed from the Bf 109E-4 fighter. It had an increased span wing (but not folding) which greatly improved short field conditions but did degrade maneuverability.

Bf 109T-2 fighter. Developed from the Bf 109F-2, this version has the MG 151/15 15mm machine-cannon. Hypothetical.

Bf 109T-3 Developed from the Bf 109G-2, has the DB 605 engine that dramatically improved performance. Hypothetical.

Bf 109T-4 The first "Productionized" version of the venerable Bf 109. I say this because there were so many variations in the individual marks of each version before the K that the Luftwaffe had a hard time keeping things straight. The Bf 109K (and thus the Bf 109T-4) was designed to be built to a single standard. Hypothetical.

Fw 190T-1 This is the first completely hypothetical plane I developed for the carrier. The Bf 109T-1 was destined to be the original Fighter on the carrier decks. I chose the Fw 190G as a replacement of the Ju 87 on the Carrier.

The Fw 190G Jabo-rei (long range fighter-bomber) was capable of carrying a single LT F5B aerial torpedo or the Bv 226 & Bv 246 Haglekorn Guided glider-bombs. Also the wide track landing gear lends to its operation off of a carrier. Thus I have supplanted the Ju 87 and supplemented the Bf 109T on the carriers with the 190T-1. Fw 190T-2 combines the fuel tankage of the T-1 with the Fw 190D-9s fuselage and powerplant. This slightly decreases range but greatly increases power for maneuver and for warload.

Bv P.204 was a project developed by Blohm und Voss as an Attack/Dive bomber during March of 1944. It was to be powered by a single BMW 801 Radial piston engine and a single BMW 003A Jet engine offset to port in the wing. This combination was to lend it a speed greater than the P-51D Mustang. However, while this design never left the drawing board. I envision a carrier version existing had Germany waited till 1944 for the War.

Fw 187T Falke. This plane was designed shortly after the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Bf 110 were named as fighters and heavy fighters in 1938-1939. Performance on two low-rated engines was phenomenal. However, it was designed as a single-seat fighter and the Luftwaffe did not accept that twin-engined single seat fighters were cost effective, nor did they think that there was a need. Von Richtofen, head of the technical bureau at the time, disagreed and ordered six planes built. The first two (also the fastest) were single-seaters and the rest (ordered by Udet after he replaced Richtofen) as dual-seaters. This plane (even as a twin seater) had more power to maneuver than the Bf 110C. However, it would seem that because the Falke did not have a rear gun (which could not be accommodated without substantial reduction in performance) the Luftwaffe didn't want this "aberration." I am including this plane because I feel that it would have been an effective long-range carrier fighter. Its performance was right up there with the P-38 Lightning, on smaller engines.

Me P.1101. This is the famous swing-wing fighter design that Willie Messerschmitt designed in 1944-1945. It was later copied and enlarged by Bell Aircraft to become the Bell X-5. I am including this plane here because the swing-wing is optimal for jet performance off of a carrier. Low landing speeds but yet a high flying speed.

Carrier planes and their years of service:

1940-1941

12 Fi 167 Torpedo Bombers
24 Bf 109T-1 Trager Fighters (equivalent to a Bf 109E)

1941-1942

12 Ju 87C-1 Dive Bombers
24 Bf 109T-2 (equivalent to a Bf 109F)

1942-1944

36 Fw 190T Fighter Bombers or 12 Fw 190T torpedo fighter bombers
24 Bf 109T-3 (equivalent to a Bf 109G-2)

1944-1945 (spring/summer)

24 Fw 190T-2 (similar to Fw 190D-9)
12 Bf 109T-4 (Similar to Bf 109K-4)

1945 (spring) –1946

12 Fw 190T-2
12 Bv P.204
12 Me P.1101 swing-wing jet fighter.

Based on where Germany was heading at the start of the war, I think the carrier would have been underestimated by the Germans unless they sent Graf Zeppelin along with Bismarck or used in some similar event. After this initial success, carrier advocates would have been able to make their case, and both the carrier arm and the surface fleet would have received more support from the German leadership. Whether Goering would have cooperated is problematical, but this is all hypothetical, so he might recognize a winning idea when he saw it.

Sources:

Boyne, Walter J, Messerschmitt Me 262 Arrow to the Future
Breyer, Siegfried, The German Aircraft Carrier Graf Zeppelin, Schiffer Publishing, 1989
Green, William, Warplanes of the Third Reich, Garden City New York, Doubleday inc., 1972
Grφner, Erich, German Warships 1815-1945, Naval Institute Press, 1982
Radinger, Willy & Schick, Walter, Secret Messerschmitt Projects, Atglen PA, Schiffer Military Press 1996
Johnson, Dan "Luft '46" http://users.visi.net/~djohnson/luft46.html
"Our Century" History Channels World War II (WW2-l) E-mail list
Harpoon Users League List (HULL) E-mail list
Ladner, Edward, "Dr Who's Harpoon Page" http://mh102.infi.net/~edladner/ (were you can find the World War II Database for Computer Harpoon 2)
Q Lake, The guy who got me started on all of this

Graf Zeppelin CV

Europa CV/AVT

French DeGrasse CVL

Weser (ex-Seydlitz) CVL

Hindenburg Conversion CV/CVB