and the Luftwaffe, led by the egotistical Herman Goering who saw naval air capability as a threat to his own power-base, was dragging its feet on preparing the aircraft for Germany’s new carriers. Meanwhile, the army and Luftwaffe (German Air Force) were getting the lion’s share of the resources. With too little time to catch up to the Royal Navy’s conventional fleet capabilities, the Germans were forced to shift their emphasis back to what had worked so well for them in the last war: submarine warfare. Events overtook such ambitious plans, however: while Hitler had promised his navy that they would have until at least 1942 to build up, war started 3 years earlier. As it would have been Germany’s first, undoubtedly they would have had much to learn about flight operations at sea, but given that the aircraft they were preparing for sea service, Me-109 fighters and Ju-87 “Stuka†dive bombers, the Graf Zeppelin’s potential as an instrument of sea-power projection is clear. The Story of the Graf Zeppelin Class: The story of the Graf Zeppelin is the classic story of a “might-have-been.†The Graf Zeppelin would have been the first fleet carrier of Germany’s Z-Plan, an all-encompassing fleet build-up that would have given Germany an all-around, world-class navy with all of the contemporary ship types: battleships, light & heavy cruisers, destroyers and aircraft carriers. ID: Plastic aircraft carrier gaming piece: Graf Zeppelin class aircraft carrier from the game Axis & Allies Europe 40-2nd Ed. Aircraft Carrier: Graf Zeppelin Class - Germany (Anniversary).
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