Aircraft carrier B

Aircraft carrier B

Ship data flag  German Empire Ship type Aircraft carrier class Graf Zeppelin class Shipyard Germania shipyard , Kiel Build number 555 building-costs 92,400,000 marks Order November 16, 1935 Keel laying 1938 Whereabouts Broken down unfinished in 1940

Ship dimensions and crew length 262.5 m ( Lüa ) 250.0 m ( KWL ) width 36.2 m Draft Max. 8.5 m displacement Standard : 23,200 ts Construction: 28,090 t maximum: 33,550 tn.l.   crew 1,760 men

Machine system machine 16 La-Mont - steam boiler 4 sets of BBC - geared turbines Machine performance 200,000 PS (147,100 kW) Top speed 33.8 kn (63 km / h) propeller 4 four-leaf ∅ 4.4 m

Armament 16 × Sk 15 cm L / 55 (1,840 shots) 12 × 10.5 cm L / 65 (4,800 shots) 22 × Flak 3.7 cm L / 83 (44,000 rounds) 28 × 2 cm L / 65 (56,000 shots) 43 aircraft ( Ju 87 C , Fi 167 and Bf 109 T ) Armor Belt: 60-100 mm Flight deck: 20-45 mm Armored deck : 20–60 mm Wall bulkhead: 20 mm Casemates : 30 mm Shields: 30 mm Command tower: 30–150 mm

The aircraft carrier B (also carrier B ) belonged to the Graf Zeppelin class and was the sister ship of the Graf Zeppelin . It was supposed to be the second aircraft carrier in the Navy , but it was never completed; the construction was stopped after about a year of construction and the fuselage was broken off again six months later.

history

Approximate state of construction of carrier B in September 1939 based on a picture of the sister ship Graf Zeppelin in roughly the same state of construction. The construction of the armored deck on the front half of Graf Zeppelin's ship has begun.

The construction contract for carrier B was given to the Germania shipyard in Kiel on November 16, 1935 . The keel was not laid on the slipway until the second half of 1938 , from which the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen was launched on August 22, 1938. The reason for the late start of construction was a lack of shipyard capacity and the desire to incorporate experience from the construction and operation of the first aircraft carrier of the class, the Graf Zeppelin , into the second building. The scheduled date for the launch was July 1, 1940.

The flying unit for the ship, the carrier squadron 286, was to be set up in Wilhelmshaven in November 1941 .

Because of the Second World War , which broke out at the beginning of September 1939 , a building freeze for many capital ships was imposed in mid-September 1939 in order to free up shipyard capacity for submarine construction. By September 19, 1939, the day of the construction stop on carrier B, construction of the aircraft carrier had progressed to the armored deck , the upper protection of the engine rooms.

The aircraft carrier never got a name. The supposedly planned name Peter Strasser , which appeared in post-war literature and is still widespread today, is speculative in nature. The author Siegfried Breyer thinks it is possible that the name would have been shortlisted, but doubts that Adolf Hitler would have allowed a Strasser name with regard to Gregor and Otto Strasser .

Whereabouts

The unfinished hull was scrapped after February 29, 1940, the day the scrapping order was issued, which took four months and resulted in 8,000 tons of steel scrap.

The carrier's aircraft technical systems, such as the aircraft catapults , the brake cable system and the aircraft elevators , were sold to Italy for its aircraft carrier Aquila .

One of the four steam turbines of Carrier B is exhibited today as a cutaway model in the machine hall of the Kiel University of Applied Sciences .

literature

• Frank Omeda: The German aircraft carriers. From the beginning until 1945. Kindle Edition E-Book / Book 2017.

Web links

• Data about the aircraft carrier B (Engl.)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Siegfried Breyer: Marinearsenal special volume 1