German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin 1947
Marker: recorded wreck position (Modern).
Key facts
| Name | German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1947 | Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier |
| Era | Modern | derived from year |
| Ship type | aircraft carrier | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | Scuttled | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | Nazi Germany | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | Kriegsmarine | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Conflict | World War II | Wikidata P607 conflict |
| Sea / ocean | Baltic Sea | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Poland | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 77 km from land |
| Position | 55.5175, 18.2858 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
The German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin was the lead ship in a class of two carriers of the same name ordered by the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany. She was the only aircraft carrier launched by Germany and represented part of the Kriegsmarine's attempt to create a well-balanced oceangoing fleet, capable of projecting German naval power far beyond the narrow confines of the Baltic and North Seas. The carrier would have had a complement of 42 fighters and dive bombers.
Construction on Graf Zeppelin began on 28 December 1936, when her keel was laid down at the Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel. Named in honor of Graf (Count) Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the ship was launched on 8 December 1938, and was 85% complete by the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. Graf Zeppelin was not completed and was never operational due to shifting construction priorities necessitated by the war. She remained in the Baltic for the duration of the war; with Germany's defeat imminent, the ship's custodian crew scuttled her just outside Stettin in March 1945. The Soviet Union raised the ship in March 1946, and she was ultimately sunk in weapons tests north of Poland 17 months later.
Diving & visiting
The exact position of the wreck was unknown for decades. On 12 July 2006, the research vessel RV St. Barbara, a ship belonging to the Polish oil company Petrobaltic, found a 265-meter-long (869 ft) wreck 55 km (34 mi) north of Władysławowo, which they thought was most likely Graf Zeppelin. The wreck rests at a depth of more than 80 m (260 ft) below the surface. After the wreck was located, the Polish Navy began a two-day survey of the wreckage to confirm its identity. Using remote-controlled underwater robots, they concluded that they were "99% certain" it was Graf Zeppelin.
Location
- Recorded position: 55.5175, 18.2858 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: Baltic Sea
- Nearest coast: Poland
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin (revision 1371295085), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Discovery in 2006”; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- MV Goya 1945 · 35 km
- U-1015 1944 · 70 km
- U-649 1943 · 72 km
- MV Wilhelm Gustloff 1945 · 74 km
- U-583 1941 · 92 km
- U-272 1942 · 92 km
Other wrecks of the World War II
- U-2506 1946
- U-2511 1946
- U-3514 1946
- U-825 1946
- USS Saratoga 1946
- U-234 1947
- USS Wainwright 1948
- U-2513 1951
- Giulio Cesare 1955
- SS Pasteur 1980
All 599 wrecks of the World War II →
Browse more: Europe wrecks · wrecks off Poland · Baltic Sea · Modern