<Li> 1939 proposal: 12 fighters & 30 dive bombers </Li> <P> The German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin was the lead ship in a class of two carriers of the same name ordered by the Kriegsmarine . 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 . </P> <P> 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 . The wreck was discovered by a Polish survey ship in July 2006 . </P> <P> Graf Zeppelin was 262.5 meters (861.2 ft) long overall; she had a beam of 36.2 m (118.8 ft) and a maximum draft of 8.5 m (27.9 ft). At full combat load, she would have displaced 33,550 long tons (34,088.4 t). The ship's propulsion system consisted of four Brown, Boveri & Cie geared turbines with sixteen oil - fired, ultra-high - pressure LaMont boilers . The power plant was rated at 200,000 shaft horsepower (149,140.0 kW) and a top speed of 33.8 knots (62.6 km / h; 38.9 mph). Graf Zeppelin had a projected cruising radius of 8,000 nautical miles (14,816.0 km; 9,206.2 mi) at a speed of 19 kn (35.2 km / h; 21.9 mph). She would have had a crew of 1760 officers and enlisted men, plus flight crews . </P>

Did germany have any aircraft carriers during world war ii
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