German aircraft carrier I (1915)
Encyclopedia
The aircraft carrier
I"I" was the provisional name for the ship under which she was ordered; had she been completed she would have been assigned an actual name. was the first planned aircraft carrier conversion project of the German Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine
) during World War I
. The Imperial Navy had experimented previously with seaplane carriers, though these earlier conversions were too slow to operate with the High Seas Fleet
and carried an insufficient number of aircraft. I was intended to carry between 23 and 30 aircraft, including fighters, bombers, and torpedo-bombers.
The ship was based on the incomplete hull of the Italian passenger ship Ausonia, which was being built in Hamburg
. The conversion was proposed by the Air Department of the Reichs Navy Office, but it was abandoned after negotiations within the German Navy over a proposed moratorium on new ships at the end of the war. After World War I ended, high inflation in Germany added to the cost of the ship, and as a result, the Italian shipping company for whom the ship was originally built, declined to purchase her. The vessel was therefore sold to shipbreakers and dismantled in 1922.
, which carried two planes. The leadership of the German Navy believed that zeppelin
s were much more effective than seaplanes, both for reconnaissance and attack. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz
, the architect of the German Navy, was particularly unimpressed by the performance of fixed-wing aircraft. Nevertheless, the Navy developed several naval aircraft before and during the war, including a pair of seaplane fighters, the W.12
and the W.29
, both built by Hansa-Brandenburg
. Twin-engined torpedo-floatplanes were also designed.
Regardless of the preference toward airships, several small merchant vessels were converted into seaplane carriers during World War I. They carried only two to four aircraft each, however, and were too slow to operate with the High Seas Fleet
. The light cruiser , which was fast enough to steam with the Fleet, was converted into a seaplane carrier in 1918. She too, though, only carried two seaplanes. It was decided to convert the liner Ausonia into a flight-deck carrier for wheeled aircraft as well as floatplanes. The plan for the conversion was drawn up by naval architect J. Reimpell in 1918 at the request of the Commander, Naval Pilots.
The ship was to have been equipped with two 82 m-long hangar decks for wheeled aircraft and a third 128 m-long hangar deck for seaplanes; all of the hangars were 18.5 m wide. The flight deck would have been 128.5 m long and 18.7 m wide. All three of the hangars and flight deck were intended to have been mounted above the main structural deck. The ship's designers intended to mount a take off deck on the bow, which would have been 30 m long and 10.5 m wide. According to naval historian Erich Gröner, the ship was designed to carry either 13 fixed-wing or 19 folding-wing seaplanes, along with around 10 wheeled aircraft. Rene Greger estimated the ship to carry eight to ten fighter aircraft and a combination of fifteen to twenty bombers and torpedo-floatplanes.
s. The demands on labor and resources the war imposed on the German economy reduced the shipbuilding industry to barely being able to cover the maintenance and repair needs of the High Seas Fleet
. What resources were left over were by 1918 funneled into U-boat production. As a result of the growing importance of U-boat construction and a moratorium on new surface ships imposed by the Reichsmarineamt (RMA— the Imperial Navy Office), the conversion project was abandoned.
The design influenced the planned conversion of the armored cruiser
into a seaplane carrier. This plan too, however, was scrapped. In 1920, the Italian shipping company canceled its order for Ausonia because the post-war inflation in Germany substantially increased the price of the ship. As a result, she was sold to ship breakers in 1922 and broken up for scrap.
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
I"I" was the provisional name for the ship under which she was ordered; had she been completed she would have been assigned an actual name. was the first planned aircraft carrier conversion project of the German Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine
Kaiserliche Marine
The Imperial German Navy was the German Navy created at the time of the formation of the German Empire. It existed between 1871 and 1919, growing out of the small Prussian Navy and Norddeutsche Bundesmarine, which primarily had the mission of coastal defense. Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded...
) during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. The Imperial Navy had experimented previously with seaplane carriers, though these earlier conversions were too slow to operate with the High Seas Fleet
High Seas Fleet
The High Seas Fleet was the battle fleet of the German Empire and saw action during World War I. The formation was created in February 1907, when the Home Fleet was renamed as the High Seas Fleet. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz was the architect of the fleet; he envisioned a force powerful enough to...
and carried an insufficient number of aircraft. I was intended to carry between 23 and 30 aircraft, including fighters, bombers, and torpedo-bombers.
The ship was based on the incomplete hull of the Italian passenger ship Ausonia, which was being built in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. The conversion was proposed by the Air Department of the Reichs Navy Office, but it was abandoned after negotiations within the German Navy over a proposed moratorium on new ships at the end of the war. After World War I ended, high inflation in Germany added to the cost of the ship, and as a result, the Italian shipping company for whom the ship was originally built, declined to purchase her. The vessel was therefore sold to shipbreakers and dismantled in 1922.
Design
Ausonia began her existence as a turbine-powered passenger steamer, ordered by Italian Sitmar in 1914. The ship was built in the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, under construction number 236. At the time, the only German seaplane carrier was the armored cruiserArmored cruiser
The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like other types of cruiser, the armored cruiser was a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship, and fast enough to outrun any battleships it encountered.The first...
, which carried two planes. The leadership of the German Navy believed that zeppelin
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on 14 March 1899...
s were much more effective than seaplanes, both for reconnaissance and attack. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz
Alfred von Tirpitz
Alfred von Tirpitz was a German Admiral, Secretary of State of the German Imperial Naval Office, the powerful administrative branch of the German Imperial Navy from 1897 until 1916. Prussia never had a major navy, nor did the other German states before the German Empire was formed in 1871...
, the architect of the German Navy, was particularly unimpressed by the performance of fixed-wing aircraft. Nevertheless, the Navy developed several naval aircraft before and during the war, including a pair of seaplane fighters, the W.12
Hansa-Brandenburg W.12
|-See also:-External links:* *...
and the W.29
Hansa-Brandenburg W.29
|-See also:Hansa-Brandenburg W.33-References:*Gray, Peter and Thetford, Owen. German Aircraft of the First World War. London: Putnam, 1962.-External links:* *...
, both built by Hansa-Brandenburg
Hansa-Brandenburg
Hansa und Brandenburgische Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturing company that operated during World War I. It was created in May 1914 by the purchase of Brandenburgische Flugzeugwerke by Camillo Castiglioni, who relocated the factory from Libau to Brandenburg am Havel...
. Twin-engined torpedo-floatplanes were also designed.
Regardless of the preference toward airships, several small merchant vessels were converted into seaplane carriers during World War I. They carried only two to four aircraft each, however, and were too slow to operate with the High Seas Fleet
High Seas Fleet
The High Seas Fleet was the battle fleet of the German Empire and saw action during World War I. The formation was created in February 1907, when the Home Fleet was renamed as the High Seas Fleet. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz was the architect of the fleet; he envisioned a force powerful enough to...
. The light cruiser , which was fast enough to steam with the Fleet, was converted into a seaplane carrier in 1918. She too, though, only carried two seaplanes. It was decided to convert the liner Ausonia into a flight-deck carrier for wheeled aircraft as well as floatplanes. The plan for the conversion was drawn up by naval architect J. Reimpell in 1918 at the request of the Commander, Naval Pilots.
General characteristics
Once converted, I was to have been 158 meters long overall and 149.6 m long between perpendiculars. The ship had a beam of 18.8 m and a draft of 7.43 m, and displaced 12,585 metric tons. The ship was powered by two sets of Blohm & Voss geared turbines that drove a pair of screws, the diameter of which is not known. The details of the boiler system and electrical power plant are unknown.The ship was to have been equipped with two 82 m-long hangar decks for wheeled aircraft and a third 128 m-long hangar deck for seaplanes; all of the hangars were 18.5 m wide. The flight deck would have been 128.5 m long and 18.7 m wide. All three of the hangars and flight deck were intended to have been mounted above the main structural deck. The ship's designers intended to mount a take off deck on the bow, which would have been 30 m long and 10.5 m wide. According to naval historian Erich Gröner, the ship was designed to carry either 13 fixed-wing or 19 folding-wing seaplanes, along with around 10 wheeled aircraft. Rene Greger estimated the ship to carry eight to ten fighter aircraft and a combination of fifteen to twenty bombers and torpedo-floatplanes.
Conversion
I was launched as the passenger ship Ausonia on 15 April 1915. While the ship was still being fitted out, the German navy decided to convert the ship into an aircraft carrier. The proposed design was completed by 1918, but by then, the majority of naval construction efforts were diverted to building new U-boatU-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s. The demands on labor and resources the war imposed on the German economy reduced the shipbuilding industry to barely being able to cover the maintenance and repair needs of the High Seas Fleet
High Seas Fleet
The High Seas Fleet was the battle fleet of the German Empire and saw action during World War I. The formation was created in February 1907, when the Home Fleet was renamed as the High Seas Fleet. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz was the architect of the fleet; he envisioned a force powerful enough to...
. What resources were left over were by 1918 funneled into U-boat production. As a result of the growing importance of U-boat construction and a moratorium on new surface ships imposed by the Reichsmarineamt (RMA— the Imperial Navy Office), the conversion project was abandoned.
The design influenced the planned conversion of the armored cruiser
Armored cruiser
The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like other types of cruiser, the armored cruiser was a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship, and fast enough to outrun any battleships it encountered.The first...
into a seaplane carrier. This plan too, however, was scrapped. In 1920, the Italian shipping company canceled its order for Ausonia because the post-war inflation in Germany substantially increased the price of the ship. As a result, she was sold to ship breakers in 1922 and broken up for scrap.