sparten

If the German aircraft carriers had been completed, would they have allowed the KM surface fleet to adopt a more agressive role against the RN? The fleet air arm was more or less flying obsolete aircraft. Against Bf-109's and Stukas, the carriers and the Battle fleet would have struggled at best.

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TopHatter

On paper, it is definitely possible. However it is not probable, since Hitler (as usual) would have misused or not used the Kriegsmarine carriers at all.

Bear in mind too, that Germany under whatever Reich, had never used aircraft carriers and therefore had not developed a sound doctrine for their use.
Certainly the nation that would eventually dominate the Earth's oceans hadnt done so until her Battle Line lay in smoldering ruins on the muck of Pearl Harbor.

One definitely wonders exactly how Graf Zeppelin and Peter Strasser would have performed though. (Assuming they were equipped with decent aircraft and not the fobbed-off antiques that the RAF forced on the FAA.)

Funny thing is though, those stringbag Swordfish managed to kick some major Axis azz early in the war

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sparten

Only becoz niether the Germans nor the Italians had a carrier. NE Way you musta heard of the maxim"shortest history book.....Italian military heros."

Now the Strassuer and Zepplin would have been a great asset. Fairy Sowrdfish and other WWI era aircraft would have been toast. And no battleship of the time had adequet AAA, so I have a feeling that the Majority of the Battlefleet would have gone the way of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse in 1941.

smilingassassin

I strongly dis-agree, two carriers a sunken battlefleet do not make! The RN simply would have shifted assets to compinsate, they had enough to do so. The German carriers would have given them a significant boost to their fleet but would in turn become the prime targets of the RN. The Germans simply didn't have the numbers to stand up to the RN even though some of their designs were arguably superior to British designs. The Graf Zeppilin was a flawed design, not overly flawed but inferior to most RN carriers.

The RN Illustrious was nearly sunk by Stuka's yes, but they trained for months in advance for just such an attack and were not taking off from carrier decks, the Germans also caught the RN leasurely strolling through Italian waters thinking they were only facing Italians with no taste for war.

POW and Repulse were sunk by wave after wave of experienced land based Japanese bombers without their own aircover so its hardly fair to assume two first generation German carriers could lay waste to the entire RN battlefleet singlehandedly.

Zepplin and Strassuer still had the same AA armament as the Bismarck so they were in the same boat as the RN in reguards to AA, the stringbags would not want to tangle with 109's but I doubt the RN would adhere to its historical naval air doctrine against another carrier welding nation in its backyard. The German CAP would likely be dealing with Fairey Battles or Seafires while the stringbags made their attacks.