Second Best Carrier in Pac War

[EUBanana]

ORIGINAL: madmickey

Could you imagine fighting Midway with Carriers only carrying 18 fighters and 14 TB. Aircap was a CV best protection. Battleship were sunk by DB with far more armour than British carrirs.

Sure, but they weren't designed for the Pacific. How many carriers did Germany have? answer - zero.

[Tankerace]

Carriers.... pfff, get your self a battleship man. [:D]

[wild_Willie2]

germany actally HAD a carrier, the zeppelin. Although never used operationally....

[EUBanana]

...and the RAF emphatically did not have a mantra that the bomber would always get through. That was accepted wisdom at the time but Hugh Dowding/Fighter Command certainly didnt think so. If they were that fatalistic then why bother building all those Chain Home stations?

Dowding considered the problem and came up with a solution to it. Mind you the topic now wanders from aircraft carriers. [;)]

[EUBanana]

ORIGINAL: wild_Willie2

germany actally HAD a carrier, the zeppelin. Although never used operationally....

I thought it was being built the entire time but never actually finished.

[Tankerace]

It was launched.... it floated... but it didn't actually do anything.

[2ndACR]

IIRC, the Zepplin was about 98% finished when the war ended. They did alot of start, stop, start, stop with that ship.

Probably got turned into razor blades when the war ended or else got sunk at Bikini atoll.

[wild_Willie2]

Nop, the ruskies loaded her up with v1, v2 and submaribe parts en set sail for mother russia. Along the way they ran into a big storm in with the zeppelin sunk.........

[wild_Willie2]

Nop, the ruskies loaded her up with v1, v2 and submaribe parts en set sail for mother russia. Along the way they ran into a big storm in with the zeppelin sunk.........

DAMN should check my grammar and spelling befor I post.........[:-]

[String]

ORIGINAL: wild_Willie2

Nop, the ruskies loaded her up with v1, v2 and submaribe parts en set sail for mother russia. Along the way they ran into a big storm in with the zeppelin sunk.........

i thought she was sunk after the war as target practice..

[wild_Willie2]

ok found this explantion....


There are several versions about the fate of the Graf Zeppelin after the war. One version says that the ship was sunk after a mine hit on its way to the Soviet Union. Another version is that the ship capsized because of a heavy load of equipment stored in it. One possible fate mentioned is that the ship was completed by the Soviets after the war, but this sounds not very realistic at all.

According to new Russian sources, the Graf Zeppelin was sunk after weapons tests in August 1947:

The carrier was moved to Stettin in April 1943 where it was sunk by its own crew on 25.04.1945. Being captured by Russians, Graf Zeppelin was renamed to IA-101 (Floating Base No. 101) on 03.02.1947. On 16.08.1947 the carrier has been sunk as a target ship off Swinemünde.
Graf Zeppelin sank as she "scored" 24 (!) bombs and torpedo hits, including two 1000 kg air bombs. One of them was mounted into the funnel; as it exploded, the funnel was completely destroyed up to top deck, but superstructures of the island remained intact. Two 500 kg bombs, three 250 kg and five 100 kg bombs plus four 180 mm 92 kg shells were used on the ship. All these charges were mounted upon the flight deck and hangar deck. Six training air bombs dropped from the dive bombers and two 53,3 cm torpedoes from the torpedo boat OE-503 and destroyer Slavniy were fired on the ship. The last torpedo scored the fatal hit that finished the destruction of carrier. 23 minutes after the last hit, the Graf Zeppelin sunk.

[showboat1]

ORIGINAL: EUBanana

ORIGINAL: Tankerace

ORIGINAL: Moquia

Im also facinated with Lexington and Saratoga. Carriers with 8" guns!

What about Furious then when she was completed? A flying off deck forward and a single 18" gun turret in the rear... Now THAT's a combination. [:D]

I thought the 18" gun was taken off after WW1 and swapped for more flight deck? That dated from her original (failed) plan of being an extremist battlecruiser.

Weren't those guns sent to Singapore to be used as coastal batteries?

[showboat1]

My 2nd fav carrier is the Monterrey. Of course, I have a little bias on that one as my wife's grandfathers served aboard her. He was attached to the torpedo bomber squadron (can't recall which one right off hand) and was responsible for maintenance of the torpedos. I guess that would make him an ordinance specialist of some sort.

[Tankerace]

ORIGINAL: showboat1

Weren't those guns sent to Singapore to be used as coastal batteries?

Nope, monitors. There were three barrels (1 was a spare), and three monitors were selected, although I think only two were carried out. The guns had to be mounted permanantly to starboard, aimed by the ship turning, and they could be elevated I think 30ish degrees. Quite odd ships indeed... For some reason, Marshal Ney is sticking in my mind, perhaps she was one of those converted.

[latosusi]

[;)]What's wrong with HMS Hermes?

[Tiornu]

"Sure, but they weren't designed for the Pacific."
The Japanese had plenty of carriers, and the Illustrious class was designed primarily for use against the Japanese.
Yes, Graf Zeppelin was expended in a Soviet weapons exercise. In addition to GZ, the Germans began conversion of the heavy cruiser Seydlitz and some large transport ships. Gneisenau was planned for conversion--that is, the liner, the sistership of Scharnhorst which the Japanee did convert as Shinyo.
Information on the British 18in gun should be found in Campbell's upcoming Naval Weapons of WWI.

[madmickey]

British carrier seem to be adjunct to main battle fleet, scouting, limited air cap for battle fleet and sink BB with torpedo helps if the ships are crippled or docked at a base of a unsuspecting enemy. I now Toranto but do you really expect to get away with this against the Germans.
How does limited amount of fighters help you in the Atlantic. If you wanted to attack a strong base you still have limited air cap. TB alone against manouvering ship is not a great option. It bad enough in the Pacific to send CV against bases with strong air wings.

[LargeSlowTarget]

Intrepid - cool nickname: 'Evil I' (because she collected many hits during WWII).

[RUPD3658]

The Fighting "I".

The USS Intrepid had a long and distingueshed career during and after WW2.

[crsutton]

Hornet, hands down.

She carried the war to the enemy with the Doolittle raid. A pinprick that gouged the Japanese pysche and had a dramatic effect on the war.

Besides, what cooler name is there than Hornet?[8D]