The last Hitler's treasure

[3rd Herd]

Found on English Pravda: http://english.pravda.ru/photo/report/gun-718

12 Photos and a very brief write up;

"The Graf Zeppelin was launched in 1938, but never saw action because of Hitler's disenchantment with his navy. In 1945, the Soviet Union took control of the ship and used it for target practice until it sank. Nick Hewitt, a historian at the Imperial War Museum in London, said the carrier could have had "an enormous impact" on the war, probably wreaking havoc on Britain's convoy lanes in the North Atlantic. Several days ago Poland's Navy has identified a sunken shipwreck in the Baltic Sea as almost certainly being the Graf Zeppelin The oil firm Petrobaltic discovered the shipwreck on July 12 on the sea floor about 38 miles north of Gdansk.

photo sourcechevidec.net

 

[geo]

Intreresting, never knew

 

[1feral1]

One of history's mystries.


Cheers,

Wes

 

[Thatch]

Had they found any documentation beforehand? Weapon compliments? the amount of birds it could hold?
This is a pretty interesting piece of military history.

[EDIT] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_aircraft_carrier_Graf_Zeppelin

 

[ironduke57]

The Graf Zeppelin was already found last year.

Here two sonar pix´s:

And here two pix´s of an model of the "Graf Zeppelin". (From the Museum "Technikmuseum Speyer"):

And two more pix:

Regards,
ironduke57

 

[3rd Herd]

Ironduke,
thank you for the added pictures and comments. I was not sure how old the article/pictures from Pravda were as there was no year dates involved. Did you by chance have a look through some of the other "photo reports" on the sight ? A few other interesting categories there especially with some of the experimental prototypes.

 

[Hawk]

I found a couple of links:

http://www.combinedfleet.com/furashita/grafze_f.htm

and I know you hate Wikipedia, but it has some detail:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_aircraft_carrier_Graf_Zeppelin


Hawk

 

[Colin Parkinson]

To bad the IL-2 game creators didn't take a crack at building a virtual model of this, could have a carrier war in the North Sea vs the Ark Royal.

 

[patrick666]

Another one of Hitler's great strategies... destroy vehicles and equipment out of spite but still fight on!

A very magnificent find, though. A little late for the Kriegsmarine boys... 

 

[DaveTee]

Is there any possibility of someone raising it? The article said the Germans are making no claim to it, but technically could someone else claim it now?

 

[geo]

Ummm... Dave... what would you want to do with a ship that has been underwater 60 yrs AND been used for gunnery / torpedo / aerial bombing practice?

There is no value to doing the deed you propose - a waste of time AND money.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Not to mention I am still trying to collect enough ping-pong balls to raise the Titanic! Just another 9,999,999 to go...... ;D

 

[DaveTee]

Well it's the only german aircraft carrier ever built. Seems interesting from a historical point, but I have no idea how expensive or challenging it would be to raise it and so you are most likely right. I still think that if technology and diving conditions are suitable it would be a worthwhile project. I guess it depends on how damaging the target practice was. I doubt anyone would want to salvage a twisted hulk of metal...save for paper weight makers.

 

[geo]

Only German carrier that was ever built but never completed.

Only used twice ....(1) as a transport barge and (2) as a floating target
It mighta looked like an aircraft carrier but, considering it never carried planes, and naval planes were never built for it's use, it is all conjecture.

 

[DaveTee]

Hmm good point as well. I guess the value after all is pretty small.