KM Baron von Richtoften (CV-1941)
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The Richtoften class of four ships were the second keel up class put into
production and carried forward all of the lessons learnt from the Graf Zeppelin
type. Except one. They carried the starboard side 88mm directly on the
superstructure rather than being all mounted off the side of the ship. The Navy
designers put stops on the gun mountings that stopped them being able to be
trained to port and interfering with the flight deck operations. The four ships
were completed, one in 1940, one in 1941, and two in 1942. Operations with the
two Graf Zeppelin Class carriers had proved that the Germanic States needed as
many as possible ready for sea and battle. When it came to the first fleet
operations in August 1940, the Germanic States only had three at sea and ready
to take advantage of the disarray of the Royal Navy caused by the surrender of
the French and the entry of Italy into the war. The Luftwaffe was having its own
Battle of Britain at the same time. If the Navy could gain some control of the
sea areas around northern Europe, then the chance of Operation Sea Lion going
ahead and being a success would be greatly enhanced.
The designers had learnt from their first effort and all of the 'ship'
features had been deleted with the aircraft handling features taking precedence.
The 88m AA guns were the Flak36 mark as used on
a different mount by the air force and army (also fitted eventually to Tiger
tanks and other vehicles). The ship names were taken from WW1 fighter aces.
| Displacement | 29,700 tons std, 36,400 full load |
| Length | 726 ft |
| Breadth | 93 ft (hull) 122 ft flight deck |
| Draught | 27.5 ft |
| Machinery | 4 shaft mixed steam and diesel propulsion. 2 shaft Steam Turbines 90,000shp 2 shaft diesel engines 30,000ihp |
| Speed | 30 knots |
| Range | 9000 miles at 18 knots |
| Armour | 1" FD, 2.6 side, 3.5" magazines |
| Armament | 16 x 88mm/L56-36 (8x2) 32 x 37mm (16x2) 24 x 20mm (5x2, 4x1) |
| Aircraft | 42 |
| Complement | 1800 |
| Notes | KM Baron von Richtoften KM Ernst Udet KM Erich Lowenhardt KM Werner Voss |
Old drawing I had for the Richtoften, which is where the idea for the twin 88
L/56 originated from.
