Did the Germans ever used aircraft carriers in the Second World War?

Question

I just realised only now. It seemed during the Second World War, the Germans never used any aircraft carrier. They used mostly U boats and at the most battleships like the Bismark. Aircraft carriers were mostly used by the Japanese and Americans.

Why is it the Germans never used any aircraft carriers?

Answer 1

One (The Graf Zepplin) was built and launched but never fitted out or used in active service.
She was built in Deutsche Werke, Kiel, launched Dec. 8 1938 and displaced 19,250 tons.

Answer 2

The Germans had no aircraft carrier in the Second World War.

The Germans had made substantial progress on building the hull of one, the "Graf Zeppelin" by the first years of the war; but never completed it. Before 1939 they had planned to build more in "Plan Z", to create a fleet by 1944/1945 that would compare with the British.

The Germans had no great call for an aircraft carrier because they did not need to defend essential sea routes like the British or to launch long range air attacks like the Japanese. To complete the "Graf Zeppelin" would have diverted a lot of resources for the aircraft and men which the Germans could use better for land warfare, particularly when their main concern was to attack Russia. It would have been difficult to train or "work up" the "Graf Zeppelin" in war conditions, particularly given that Germany had no previous experience of aircraft carriers (not even in World War I).

If the "Bismark" and "Prince Eugen" had been accompanied by the "Graf Zeppelin" when they broke out in 1941 it would have been a dreadful problem for the British: the Swordfish attacks that were essential in slowing the Bismark, so that the battleships could sink her, would never have been possible. However, a German aircraft carreir would have been horribly vulnerable to air and submarine attack given the limited number of suitable ports for her and the predictable areas of water ofr Europe in which she could have been expected to operate.

Answer 3

It was Britain (and France) that declared war on Germany, without Britain being involved there would not have been WW2, just a German-French war, an America-Japanese war and maybe a German-Russian war. USA wouldn't have been a threat to Germany if Britain was neutral or allied with Germany so the Pearl Harbour attack would have just involved an American-Japanese war. If Britain did side with Germany against the Soviets then the various British colonies beneath Russia would have allowed a better land invasion to be carried out so it is more likely it could be conquered. But if there were then three super powers: Nazi German Empire, the British Empire and maybe the USA it would eventually end up in a British-German war anyway as one side would eventually get jealous of the other.

Answer 4

As others have stated the Germans had a carrier building at the start of the war. The answer to your question is timming however. The Navy was planing a large balanced force of ships to counter the Royal Navy. The building program was set with war starting in 1946 in mind, not 1939! Since Hitler jumped the gun they had to use the ships they had. After losing major capitol ships in battle (Graf Spee, Bismark) Hitler fired Adm. Raeder and abandoned capitol ship programs for Uboats. Thus no Carriers.....

Answer 5

They had three aircraft carriers that were attached to the Atlantic Fleet and were only used for the fact that in the middle of the ocean you need someplace for aircraft to take off and land from. Hitler did not find it to be a viable cost since most of the German warfare was fought over land. However, he allowed the building of three carriers only after he had lost a destroyer in the atlantic to aircraft. The three carriers were then set in the Atlantic Fleet mainly for defense against other aircraft, as the AA guns on board were not extremely accurate.

Answer 6

No, they did not. The reason is simple: they only had one carrier, the "Graf Zeppelin", which was built for the German Navy, but for various reason never completed.
Germany was never a major maritime power (despite the brief period of naval expansion under Emperor Wilhelm II between 1888 and 1918) and the concept of naval airpower was not much on German minds. By the time Germany got carrier technology from their ally Japan (in exchange for the triple-turret technology for heavy surface ships), the war was already under way and by then the German Navy concentrated more on battleships and their famous submarines.

Answer 7

Despite a certain mythology to the contrary, the Nazi "war machine" was seriously lacking in many ways, particularly in naval air power, supply logistics and infantry firepower.

It also has a lot to do with where their navy operated and what the objectives were. A fleet of carriers needs a big ocean to be effective and that's not what the Kreigsmarine was planning for.

As to their supply logistics, the German Army got itself into a lot of trouble because they did not adequetly plan or provide for supplying their panzer divisions and infantry batallions with modern trucks and infrastructure.

While the infantry had the MG34 and MG42, the best machine guns in the world, the 5 round bolt-action Mauser K98k rifle, while a fine rifle, was still woefully inadequate against the M1 and even the Enfield No4, which while bolt-operated was much faster to cycle and held 10 rounds.

Answer 8

I never heard of them. Not only that I have never heard a single navy wwII veteran say, or read any account that WE had any carriers in the atlantic. All the stories about carriers seem to be about the pacific campaign.

OK so the germans had the graf zeppelin...we had led zeppelin.

Answer 9

Graf Zeppelin
Graf Zeppelin Class. Peter Strasser. Displacement. 28,000 tons. Armament. Over 40 twin-barrelled. 4.1" + smaller AA. Aircraft. 48 + spares. Speed. 34 knots. VTS Rating. 1 2 8 (2) ... The real Graf Zeppelin (19,000 tons standard) was launched with much fanfare in 1938, heralding a potential ... Naval air arm. The Graf Zeppelin languished with half-hearted effort to ...www.combinedfleet.com/furashita/grafze_f.htm - 11k -

Answer 10

No, they did not, because they didn't have any. There was one aircraft carrier planned and built for the German Navy, but it was not finished before the war ended.