The Kriegsmarine and the Aircraft Carrier: The Design and Operational Purpose of the Graf Zeppelin, 1933–1940

While the Kriegsmarine’s only aircraft carrier, the uncompleted Graf Zeppelin, has attracted considerable interest over the decades, this has been limited to technical histories of the vessel. This article explores the origins of the programme and what the German navy believed it needed such vessels for. It examines the design process and the proposed method of operational employment, and seeks to place them in an international context. To date, German efforts have been considered in isolation from the wider developments in aircraft carrier technology during the interwar period. When these are taken into account a more balanced view of the German enterprise emerges.