Lindberg have just announced another great kitset release that’s right its in 1/200th scale and its the 1/200th Kreigsmarine Graf Zeppelin Aircraft Carrier At present very little detail is known about this release but we will of course let you know more details as it is made available.

In the meantime enjoy these great images of the built kitset and at 56 inches long clean out some room on the modelling bench and display area for this sizeable beauty.

It is without a doubt 2009 looks to be a sublime year for the model shipwright.

It is understood that this kitset will be is available at the end of 2009 and at a price of US$249.99.

Model Images courtesy of Lindberg.

Ship History
Graf Zeppelin was a German aircraft carrier of the Kriegsmarine, named like the famous airship in honour of Graf (Count) Ferdinand von Zeppelin. It was Germany's only aircraft carrier during World War II. Its construction was ordered on November 16, 1935, and its keel was laid down December 28, 1936 by Deutsche Werke of Kiel. It was launched on December 8, 1938, but was never completed.

In 1935, Adolf Hitler announced that Germany would construct aircraft carriers to strengthen the Kriegsmarine. A Luftwaffe officer, a naval officer and a constructor visited Japan in the autumn of 1935 to obtain flight deck equipment blueprints and inspect the Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi.[3] The keel of Graf Zeppelin was laid down the next year. Two years later, Großadmiral (Grand Admiral) Erich Raeder presented an ambitious shipbuilding program called Plan Z, in which four carriers were to be built by 1945. In 1939, he revised the plan, reducing the number to two.

A review of Hitler's conferences on the German Navy, the minutes of which were captured after the fall of the Third Reich, reveals his decreasing interest in the carriers. Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, Commander of the Luftwaffe, was resentful of any incursion on his authority as head of the country's air power, and he frustrated Raeder at every opportunity. Within his own service, Raeder found opposition in Admiral Karl Dönitz, a submariner.

Having no experience building such ships, the Kriegsmarine had difficulty implementing advanced technologies such as steam-driven catapults into the Graf Zeppelin. German designers were able to study Japanese designs, but were constrained by the realities of creating a North Sea carrier vs. a "Blue Water" design.

By May 1941, Raeder was still optimistic about the project and informed Hitler that Graf Zeppelin, then about 85% complete, would be completed in about a year and that another year would be required for sea trials and flight training.

Though Raeder continued to assure Hitler that the carriers would be built, the Admiral's battles with Göring became increasingly bitter. Göring showed his contempt for the naval air arm by informing Hitler and Raeder that the aircraft ordered for Graf Zeppelin could not be available until the end of 1944.
Göring's delaying tactics worked.

Construction on the carriers had been fitful from the start and worker and material shortages plagued Graf Zeppelin.
Prior to launch, the carrier air group emphasis had been reconnaissance similar to contemporary Royal Navy concepts. The original air complement was to be 20 Fieseler Fi 167 biplanes for scouting and torpedo attack, ten Messerschmitt Bf 109T fighters, and thirteen Junkers Ju 87G dive bombers. Emphasis changed to offensive capabilities following observation of Japanese aircraft carrier operations against China in 1937. Poor performance of the Fi 167 changed the planned airgroup to thirty Messerschmitt fighters and twelve Junkers dive bombers.

Prodded by Raeder, Hitler ordered Göring to produce aircraft for the carrier and under this pressure, the Air Marshal offered redesigned versions of the Junkers Ju 87B Stuka and the Messerschmitt Bf 109E, which were at that time being phased out of the Luftwaffe first-line squadrons. Raeder was unhappy, but he had to accept them or none at all (including Göring's insistence that the flying personnel would remain under Luftwaffe command). All this forced another delay in the construction of the carrier: the flight deck installations had to be changed.

Later in 1942 projects for naval aircraft included the Me 155 V2 and Ju 87E (navalized D version). None of the Ju 87E were ever completed.

By 1943, Hitler had become disenchanted with his Navy. Raeder was relieved at his own request and Dönitz, the submarine admiral, took the top naval post. Work on the 95% complete carrier stopped; all armaments were removed and transferred to coastal batteries in Norway. The hull itself was used to store hardwood for the Kriegsmarine. The carrier was scuttled in shallow water at Stettin (now Szczecin) on 25 April 1945, just before the Red Army captured the city.

The carrier's history and fate after Germany's surrender was unclear for decades after the war. It appears that the Soviets decided to repair the damaged ship and it was refloated in March 1946.

What is known is that the carrier was briefly designated as "PO-101" (Floating Base Number 101) until, on August the16th, 1947, it was used as a practice target for Soviet ships and aircraft After being hit by 24 bombs and projectiles, the ship did not sink and had to be finished off by two torpedoes. The exact position of the wreck was unknown for decades.

On July 12, 2006 RV St. Barbara, a ship belonging to the Polish oil company Petrobaltic found a 265 m long wreck close to the port of Łeba (a BBC report stated 55 km north of Władysławowo) which they thought was most likely Graf Zeppelin.

On July 26, 2006 the crew of the Polish Navy's survey ship ORP Arctowski commenced penetration of the wreckage to confirm its identity, and the following day the Polish Navy confirmed that the wreckage was indeed that of Graf Zeppelin. She rests at more than 87 meters (264 feet) below the surface

Historical images and information courtesy of Wikipedia