Design and construction Graf Zeppelin-class aircraft carrier

the graf zeppelin launched, 8 december 1938.

after 1933, kriegsmarine began examine possibility of building aircraft carrier. wilhelm hadeler had been assistant professor of naval construction @ technical university of berlin 9 years when appointed draft preliminary designs aircraft carrier in april 1934. hadeler s first design 22,000-long-ton (22,000 t) ship carry 50 aircraft , steam @ 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph).

the anglo-german naval agreement, signed on 18 june 1935, allowed germany construct aircraft carriers total displacement 38,500 tons, though germany limited 35% of total british tonnage in category of warship. kriegsmarine decided scale hadeler s design 19,250 long tons (19,560 t), permit construction of 2 ships within 35% limit.

the design staff decided new carrier need able defend against surface combatants, necessitated armor protection standard of heavy cruiser. battery of sixteen 15 cm (5.9 in) guns deemed sufficient defend ship destroyers. in 1935, adolf hitler announced germany construct aircraft carriers strengthen kriegsmarine. luftwaffe officer, naval officer, , constructor visited japan in autumn of 1935 obtain flight deck equipment blueprints , inspect japanese aircraft carrier akagi. germans unsuccessfully attempted examine british carrier hms furious.

the keel of graf zeppelin laid down on 28 december 1936, on slipway had held battleship gneisenau. ship built deutsche werke shipyard in kiel. 2 years later, großadmiral (grand admiral) erich raeder presented ambitious shipbuilding program called plan z build kriegsmarine point challenge british royal navy in north sea. under plan z, 1945 part of balanced force navy have 4 carriers; pair of graf zeppelin-class ships first 2 in plan. hitler approved construction program on 1 march 1939. in 1938, second carrier, ordered under provisional name b , laid down @ germaniawerft dockyard in kiel. graf zeppelin launched on 8 december 1938.