Soviet Graf Zeppelin

neopeius

neopeius

Per Wikipedia, the Graf Zeppelin sank on its way to Leningrad (the Soviets say it made it and blew it up).

It seems the Soviets took German ships and used them for bombing practice (not surprising—the Americans used German ships to blow up atomic bombs nearby).

Would the Soviets have any use for a working straight-through aircraft carrier? What are the reasons none of the WW2 victors wanted these ships?
 

minhow

I would love to see a VMF Graf Zeppelin, it would have a lot of uses for them, at minimum as a prototype and how to use a CV.

It's a big ship, it has potential for late WW2/early cold war. They could refit them, remove the guns to increase internal space and add an angled deck.

Hope they learn how to make a CV that doesn't need a tug boat around when sailing.
 

Peg Leg Pom

gaiusjcaesar said:
Plausible aircraft types likely La-5 and -7, Yak-3, Su-2, among others.
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The Soviets actually have an aircraft that has a proven record as a carrier aircraft in 1945. The Hurricane, and they have no other real use for it by then. It would make sense for them to convert their own Sea Hurricanes as a tool to learn how to fly from a carrier while they develop more modern aircraft.
 

sparky42

neopeius said:
Per Wikipedia, the Graf Zeppelin sank on its way to Leningrad (the Soviets say it made it and blew it up).

It seems the Soviets took German ships and used them for bombing practice (not surprising—the Americans used German ships to blow up atomic bombs nearby).

Would the Soviets have any use for a working straight-through aircraft carrier? What are the reasons none of the WW2 victors wanted these ships?
Click to expand...
How much trouble would it be keeping her in service though? I mean all of her parts are German, could they source parts for the boilers/engines for example easily? Suppose the same question for the other ships, well the U.K. and US didn’t need anymore ships, but didn’t nations like France use some German hulls post war?
 

gaiusjcaesar

And if they kept in service and/or reverse-engineered her for their own design, they'd likely have to keep the 155mm secondary guns and designate her an "aircraft cruiser" due to reasons.
 

Airborne2001

There was a legitimate aircraft type planned for a Soviet carrier prior to the shift in priority as a result of Barbarossa. Let me see if I can find a picture of it.
 

Airborne2001

I found it! The PT-82 was a single engine torpedo bomber design. Let me correct myself though, it was intended for AFTER WWII, not before. I know there were projects that got canceled because of Barbarossa, but a lot were initiated once it was known that Germany would be defeated.

(Credit to secretprojects.co.uk. If the limits of me doing this on mobile prevent the picture from appearing, just go to the website and look for the Russian carrier projects threads.)
 

Airborne2001

I have finally accessed my laptop and I can now present the picture I have been trying to embed on mobile:
1703441739434.jpeg

The "PTI" (the PT-82 was actually a twin engine project) was a single engine torpedo bomber intended for carriers after the war. Unfortunately it was never completed.
 
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