Graf Zeppelin may have been found

[R-2800]

wow really cool that they have found her

[Henk]

Now they must take some pics of her and it would be complete.

[HealzDevo]

It would also be interesting to know how much of her was ever completed. I wonder just how much of the equipment necessary for an aircraft carrier she had when she sank? Also what was her hull like? The records I think are educated guesses.

[Henk]

She was almost completed and had her engines fitted but still needed a lot of stuff to make her a fully operational aircraft carrier. The Russians maybe took what they wanted from her so we will never know in what state the was in at the time they sank her.

[HealzDevo]

Yes, sadly, we never will know just how close WW2 Germany had come to having a functional aircraft carrier...

[Hunter368]

Originally Posted by HealzDevo

Yes, sadly, we never will know just how close WW2 Germany had come to having a functional aircraft carrier...

Does it matter she would of been bombed / torpedoed into a million pieces.

[HealzDevo]

I agree she would have been a big target but still in a flotilla she could have been useful having fighters and also the destroyer and cruiser screen able to throw up a lot of flack to make things difficult for those that were going to bomb her. Also to torpedo something you first have to find it, and estimate speed, range etc. Some sort of dazzle paint would make it very difficult to torpedo...

[ChrisMAg2]

Originally Posted by HealzDevo

I agree she would have been a big target but still in a flotilla she could have been useful having fighters and also the destroyer and cruiser screen able to throw up a lot of flack to make things difficult for those that were going to bomb her. Also to torpedo something you first have to find it, and estimate speed, range etc. Some sort of dazzle paint would make it very difficult to torpedo...

The RAF always knew where GZ was (atleast from 1943 on). It was constantely monitored, only never bombed, as GZ never was a real threat. Intelligence always stated GZ "non-operational".
And nothing of that size can be consealed from aerial spotting just by applying what ever kind of a paintjob. But it can be made unobvious, if well integrated in the surrounding. There are examples in the PTO for that. The Germans were aware of this and therefore only made little attempts to camo GZ. They relied strongly on the strong AA-armament, which was installed. But that was never a danger for a i.e. PR Mosquito.
Also -as it was always mainly inside ports- it was always secured wtith anti-torpedo nettings. Torpedos were never an option anyway. If ever GZ would have become operational, the RAF would propabely gone for "Tallboys" like on "Tirpitz".

[Henk]

Well I think if she were completed before the war she cold have done something, but as we all know the Kriegsmarine were not ready for the war when it started. It did not have enough to take on the RN. I am just waiting for a expedition on the GZ and the pictures taken there will show us the state she is in and give us some idea of how far she was from completion.

[ChrisMAg2]

Originally Posted by Henk

...I am just waiting for a expedition on the GZ and the pictures taken there will show us the state she is in and give us some idea of how far she was from completion.

Very doubtful! As said earlier, she was stripped of almost everything -that could be used elswhere- before she was sunk! Also there is quite some damage from the bombing and shelling...

[Henk]

Yes, but I do not mean her equipment, her structure, like the bridge area and her deck.

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Originally Posted by Henk

Well I think if she were completed before the war she cold have done something

Not really, she would have been hunted like the Graf Spee and the Bismark.

[HealzDevo]

I wasn't saying the paint-job would have concealed the Graf Zeppelin, I was suggesting that such a scheme would have made it harder to successfully torpedo or bomb by providing a false image of which way the ship was going, once it became operational... So far as I know the system was successful in WW1 and WW2, in making torpedo attacks difficult. Note I am not saying impossible... This is not entirely a camo job, this is more about making it difficult to attack when under way...

[Henk]

Well Adler if the Kriegsmarine were ready for the war I think it could have taken the Atlantic from the RN, but the US could have put a stop to that.........

[Smokey]

Apparently Doenitz asked Hitler to build 300 U boats which he calculated could starve the UK into surrender, but Hitler refused and instead built U boats and battleships