Graf Zeppelin was found!

Magnus · Post by **Magnus** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 12:40 pm

Sorry about that off topic, but some peoples idée fixe just hit a new all time low.....

As for the Zeppelin, she isn't a war grave per say but she still belongs to the German government. This one would be hard to salvage. She isn't in all too deep water but I think that her length is the real problem if you'd wish to bring her up intact. There is also thew risk of her breaking up as she is being raised, this depending on the amount of damage sustained when she was scuttled and also the 60 years spent on the bottom of the sea.

I doubt that she has anything of value still inside her, the Soviets probably had her thoroughly gutted before sending her down. Then again, she probably has some smaller items that will interest collectors.

I found a link about the "Tricolor" that went down in the English channel a few years ago. She was a bit shorter that the "Graf Zeppelin" and only been on the bottom for a short time. She was cut into sections that were raised and then sent straight to the scrapyard.
http://www.tricolorsalvage.com/pages/home.asp

73north · Post by **73north** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 1:34 pm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The main reasons why this ship is in such good condition ,

are that the Bombs were not very destructive as they seem to have detonated on the flight deck and the ship only had a strongly built small target upperworks and superstructure for them to get hit by blast
and many bombs missed due to poor marksmanship by Soviet Pilots ,
also the Torpedoes had to be used to sink her in a hurry as she started to drift away from the Target Area .

She was also fitted in 1942/43 with a Anti-Torpedo Blister which must have saved her from terrible damage in the tests .

Finally the fact the Ships Wooden Planks appears to have survived well
is due to -> Wood Worm doesn't thrive in the Baltic -

eg Vasa Preserved Wooden Swedish Warship raised in 1960's.

Did anyone notice how the stepped aft AA Gun Positions are in remarkably great condition on the Superstructure Island remnants ?

Also why the hate towards Germany ?

Surely if the BALTIC is polluted it is not all her fault ?
what has that to do with the History of the carrier ?

Tiornu · Post by **Tiornu** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 6:13 pm

The bulge that was added to GZ was not an anti-torpeedo measure. it resulted from the realization that the weight calculations had all been wrong and the ship would have had a natural 4.5deg list. The bulge was intended to right the ship, and also to provide extra fuel storage.
The bulge would have helped her initial stability, but it would not have had a great deal of benefit against torpedo detonations. At that point it simply serves as a space for off-center flooding.

phylo_roadking · Post by **phylo_roadking** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 6:49 pm

73, if you browse elsewhere you'll find the answer to that question re anti-german sentiment. No, theres been a LOT more than the GZ sunk in the Baltic....

73north · Post by **73north** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 6:33 am

Thank you for your message -

The other ship secretly sunk after warfare tests

( and NOT scrapped as claimed in a Shipyard )

was the

Lutzow ( ex-Deutschland )

Pocket-Battleship !

The other ships I can think of are

Wilhelm Gustloff KDF Liner ( located and dived ) -

central portion of Hull heavily damaged by Post-war expolosions and Attempted Salvage by Russians looking for the Amber Room

General Steuben ( transport torpedoed in 1945 )

Goya ( transport torpedoed 1945 )

Go to " Gotterdamerung 1945 by Schneider Book " for further details .............

Also
Z-35 & Z-36

+

( both type 36B Class Fleet German Destroyers ) -

has these 2 ships ever been dived before -------------

Torpedo-Boat TIGER -

sunk by Max Schultz Destroyer in collision whilst on exercises 25 August 1939

If there are any other ships I will try to remember

but apart from 6 German Fleet Torpedo Boats sunk by Russian Air Attack 1943 - 45 ,

namely
T3 ( off Hela mine - 14/3/1945 )
T5 ( off Hela same mine field 14/3 / 1945 )
T18 Gulf of Finland - 13.9.1945 )
T22 Mined Gulf of Finland 18/8/1944
T31 - Torpedoed by Soviet MTB 20/6/1944 )
T36 - Bombed Soviet Aircraft 5/5/1945

If I have missed any let me know

regards David

sniper1shot · Post by **sniper1shot** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 10:23 am

An oil drilling team found a German sub off of Texas a few years back too.

Thanks for the pictures. This is great info for sure. Looks like a sturdy built ship even on the bottom for all these years.