Lost Nazi ship likely found off Poland

Associated Press ^ | 1 hour, 6 minutes ago | VANESSA GERA,

[BenLurkin]

WARSAW, Poland - Poland's Navy said Thursday that it has identified a sunken shipwreck in the Baltic Sea as almost certainly being Nazi Germany's only aircraft carrier, the Graf Zeppelin — a find that promises to shed light on a 59-year-old mystery surrounding the ship's fate.

The Polish oil company Petrobaltic discovered the shipwreck earlier this month on the sea floor about 38 miles north of the northern port city of Gdansk.

Suspecting it could be the wreckage of the Graf Zeppelin, the Polish Navy sent out a hydrographic survey vessel on Tuesday, said Lt. Cmdr. Bartosz Zajda, a spokesman for the Polish Navy.

"We are 99 percent sure — even 99.9 percent — that these details point unambiguously to the Graf Zeppelin," said Dariusz Beczek, the Navy commander of the vessel, the ORP Arctowski, said soon after returning to port Thursday morning after the two-day expedition.

During their time at sea, naval experts used a remote-controlled underwater robot and sonar photographic and video equipment to gather digital images of the 850-foot-long ship, Zajda said.

"The analyses of the sonar pictures and the comparison to historical documents show that it is the Graf Zeppelin," Zajda told The Associated Press.

Zajda said a number of characteristics of the shipwreck exactly matched those of the Graf Zeppelin, including the ship's measurements and a special device that lifted aircraft onto the launch deck from a lower deck.

The naval experts were still waiting to find the name "Graf Zeppelin" on one the ship's sides before declaring with absolute certainty that it is the German carrier, Zajda said.

The Graf Zeppelin was Germany's only aircraft carrier during World War II. It was launched on Dec. 8, 1938, but never saw action. After Germany's defeat in 1945, the Soviet Union took control of the ship, but it was last seen in 1947 and since then the ship's fate has been shrouded in mystery.

Navy researchers plan to continue to examine the material they gathered during their two days at sea, but the analysis of the shipwreck will then fall to historians and other researchers, Zajda said.

The Graf Zeppelin will almost certain remain on the sea bed, he said.

"Technically it's impossible to pull it out of the water," Zajda said.

[LongElegantLegs]

Is this too modern for a GGG ping?

[SquirrelKing]

Funky.

Good post!

[wideawake]

Did the Soviets just scuttle it?

[BenLurkin]

Good question.

Part of me hopes that our guys -- or maybe the Brits -- sent her to the bottom.

[BenLurkin]

"Polish Navy Commander Dariusz Beczek holds up an images showing with near certainty that a sunken ship in the Baltic Sea is the Graf Zeppelin, Nazi Germany's only aircraft carrier, on Thursday July 27, 2006 in Gdansk, Poland. The discovery is expected to shed more light on the fate of the ship, which was last seen 59 years ago. The top image shows a Nazi-era drawing of the ship, the second a sonar picture made this week by the Polish navy, and the last, a photograph made in the 1930s during the building of the ship. The size and other characterists of the old photographs and new sonar pictures match up exactly." (AP Photo/Wojtek Jakubowski )

[LongElegantLegs]

Yeah, I think we all know what really happened.

[Sax]

An aircraft carrier less than 10 years old - seems to valuable to scuttle?

I like the sabotage theory. Would make sense, of course we all know how the Soviet Navy never asks for help or admits mistakes unless they're found out - they could've musted it up themselves accidently..

[rmlew]

Are we sure that the Soviets didn't sink it in battle?
There were plenty of Soviet subs patrolling the Baltic. They hit everything from destroyers to ferries carrying civilians.

[gate2wire]

"The Graf Zeppelin was Germany's only aircraft carrier during World War II. It was launched on Dec. 8, 1938, but never saw action. After Germany's defeat in 1945, the Soviet Union took control of the ship..."

What am I missing. It never saw action? Launched in 38.

[SunkenCiv]

Probably due to the Bismarck's having been sunk, and the proximity of targets for German aircraft. They didn't need a forward, marine airbase, and didn't have a battle group to escort an aircraft carrier. German resources in sea warfare were skewed toward Uboats.

[gate2wire]

So it just floated in the Baltic for seven years?

[chapin2500]

Some more history. Link

Hitler had promised the German Navy (The Kriegsmarine) carriers as early as 1935, and the keel was laid for the Graf Zepplin on December 26, 1936. The Graf Zeppelin was 920 feet long and weighed 19,250 tons. Her top speed was to be 33.8 knots. Her crew complement was 1,760 and she was to hangar forty aircraft. By comparison the large American Essex class carriers of WWII could carry 80 to 100 aircraft. The Germans got as far as partly installing the catapults when the ship was then turned into a floating warehouse for u-boat parts.

[BenLurkin]

Thanks!

[Experiment 6-2-6]

It was my understanding that Hitler assured the Navy that war would not break out as soon as it did.

Ergo, lack of support vessels..

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks. Chapin2500's reply was helpful:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1673339/posts?page=13#13

[gate2wire]

"By the time work stopped on the ship, the Germany Navy had a submariner as its top naval officer– Admiral Karl Donitz– and all ship construction was turned over to building new U-Boats. The Graf Zeppelin stayed at her moorings in Stettin for the rest of the war never to see action."

Ok. Now I understand. Thanks everyone.

[Paleo Conservative]

The BBC also had a story on this.

[Polak z Polski]

Well, according to my old Weapons and Warfare books, "the lengthy gestation period of the Graf Zeppelin and the ultimate failure to complete her reflect the german's lack of expertise in this highly-specialized category of ship design and building, rather than the lack of will on the part of a European oriented power."