Shipbucket

an aircraft most carriers doesn't use doors/hatch in the hull, they have the gangway going from an lower open deck. See picture below as an example:

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Looking much better! However, I would still recommend moving the launches off the island and onto the hull...they're too high.

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB

Thanks for that input, Andreas! Will be changed.

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New AU's always bring some new interpretation to whichever country the AU is dedicated. Focusing on the technical side of German radar would certainly help improve my knowledge of it.

The biggest problem I see so far with your ships is that you are over arming them for their core duties. A quick and dirty conversion for Germanys first carrier would only have a few 88mm/3.4" AA (2-4 guns) guns and a handful of 20mm AA. Strip off the superstructure, build your hangar, flight deck on top, couple of elevators, and a few internal bits and pieces like fueling points for the aircraft, armoury for the aircraft and guns. Just enough to get the ship to sea and start learning from it.

That would be your 'as completed' drawing. Such a ship might never leave the Baltic. It is there to train your aircrews for the Graf Zeppelin, Peter Strasser and others. So it does not need enlarged armaments and better radar till 1942-43 when the Russians can make the Baltic smaller with their aircraft. That gives you a second drawing of the ship where there would be better radar but probably not armament. I would feel the ship would be allocated a stronger escort which would carry the extra armament required but would not be big enough to carry the extra radar which would go on the carrier.

Your carriers greatest protection would be the aircraft allocated to it as its 'own' squadron(s). That might be only a couple of squadrons of defensive fighters which would also act as the observation aircraft, CAP etc.

As the training carrier it would be close to the shore. Training aircraft would take off from a land based airfield, fly out to the carrier, practice their landings and take offs, then return to the airfield when finished.


PS. Thinking about carriers and what could be converted. The Germans started building their "Strength through Joy" liners in the mid-30's, you could requisition one of those. They were quite big 680x77 feet, which would be a good size for what you want.

That is a very, very good insight to the problem, Krakatoa! Thanks a lot for it.

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Please use the edit button vs. making a new post every time you have a correction or new thought to add!

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