Widar_Thule

Although I can appreciate the sarcasm of the OP (Xinyue) it does make me wonder if the OP has ever used one of the GZ TEST ships in order to get a look from the "other side of the hill"? The Armour Piercing Bombs which are used by the 1939-era PRE-WAR Ju 87 C-1 bomber that the GRAF ZEPPELIN up till now has been "stuck" with (compared to all other Tier 8 Carriers in WOWS which have 1942-to-1946 era Aircraft) not only are dropped from the slowest bomber with the lowest amount of hit points at Tier 8, 9 and 10 BUT these AP Bombs can give some interesting random results. The GRAF ZEPPELIN AP Bombs can do from 0 to 840 to about a maximum 6500 damage per bomb hit. Some matches the hits average about 1000 damage, some matches they average higher than 1000 damage, which I admit is not nice for the target being bombed. Then of course sometimes in GRAF ZEPPELIN you get no hits at all even if the (battleship) target is fully stationary, you can get those fine 0x hit bombing results in GRAF ZEPPELIN against fully stationary targets both with and without using manual attack. If you like that sort of thing, then it is really a pleasure to use! One can highly recommend that to the OP once he/she tires of his/her TIRPITZ. And a specially pleasurable experience is attacking a MONTANA, IOWA or MISSOURI with GRAF ZEPPELIN since scoring an AP Bomb hit on these ships on average will yield you about 1000 to 2000 damage per AP Bomb with AT BEST on average x7 Bomb hits scored per attack by 18x Ju 87 C-1. And as a bonus most of the time a solitary sailing MONTANA, IOWA or MISSOURI shoots down about at least 12x out of 18x bombers when you attack them, unless of course when they are setup for AAA then they will shoot all 18x Ju 87 C-1 bombers down before they can even drop a single bomb/torpedo. That is always a nice fireworks thing to watch, although you can only do that about 2x times before all the Ju 87 C-1 bombers aboard GRAF ZEPPELIN are shot down. In the average Tier 8, 9 or 10 match you can at best make about 3x full strength attacks (with 3x6 = 18 Ju 87 C-1) per match with GRAF ZEPPELIN, that means that you get to enjoy the results described above every 7 or so minutes. And that only if the enemy Carrier commander is so kind as to sit back and let you make your attacks without him interfering with them. It is nice that there are still a few good sport battleship commanders around in matches from time to time who are kind enough to sail fully alone and in a nice straight line while you bomb them in GRAF ZEPPELIN, that way you have some nice targets to practice on with your GRAF ZEPPELIN. After bombing them these good sport battleship commanders usually will thank you kindly with fully appropriate four letter words in text chat, that too is something which I am sure the OP will learn to appreciate. On the other hand there are those bad sport battleship commanders who all sail together within the 2+ Quadrant protective AAA fire of friendly AAA cruisers preventing a single bomber from even dropping a single bomb/torpedo on them, it is always a pleasure to see such an enemy battle fleet that sails stightly together for a full 20-minute match, that tactic gives the GRAF ZEPPELIN commander some time to make a cup of coffee and calmly wait till the match time is over, unless of course he wants to use his aircraft for the nice fireworks display they give as they are all shot down helplessly by the combined fleet massed enemy AAA. Still not convinced? An example, of a best possible result. TIRPITZ - 12x AP Bomb hits = 76,566 damage (versus a good sport TIRPITZ commander, sailing solitary and in a nice straight line) Then an example of what you see more often than not, in this case 3x attacks by about 3x6 = 18x Ju 87 C-1 attacks (so about 54x Ju 87 C-1 in total) on an enemy GRAF ZEPPELIN, the same results can easily be achieved against any enemy destroyer, cruiser, battleship or other carrier fortunately. GRAF ZEPPELIN - 27x AP Bomb hits = 27,110 damage After those three airstrike attacks on the enemy GRAF ZEPPELIN the best course of action seemed to be to engage the enemy Carrier ship-to-ship, the gunnery hits and the gunnery related fires they started eventually managed to sink her. That is not to be recommended versus enemy Battleships and Cruisers alas.

EDIT: FEEDBACK PHASE 2 GZ TEST 1 with DEEP WATER TORPEDOES SUMMARY FACEBOOK AND FORUM FEEDBACK CONCERNING PHASE 1 AND PHASE 2 TESTING OF GZ TEST VERSIONS So what did we actually get after that apology on the WOWS forum up to today? A Phase 1 - GZ TEST 1 and GZ TEST 2 version and now a Phase 2 GZ TEST 1 version which DO STILL NOT ADDRESS THE MAIN COMPLAINTS!!! So what can we, the customers, continue to conclude from that? WOWS DEVELOPMENT STILL DOES NOT GIVE A DAMN ABOUT WHAT THE PAYING CUSTOMERS WANT, INSTEAD THEY JUST KEEP ON SHOVING THEIR BAD IDEAS CONCERNING THE WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN ONTO THE PAYING CUSTOMERS NO MATTER WHAT FEEDBACK THEY GET. And what does that continue to mean? THAT IT IS STILL ABSOLUTELY USELESS TO GIVE ANY KIND OF FEEDBACK TO WOWS DEVELOPMENT BECAUSE THEY SIMPLY IGNORE THEIR PAYING CUSTOMERS AND SIMPLY KEEP DOING WHATEVER THEY WANTED TO DO WITH GRAF ZEPPELIN IN THE FIRST PLACE. Having said that, it is still remains an exercise in futility for me or any other paying customer to give any feedback concerning this mess called GAMESCOM GRAF ZEPPELIN, Phase 1 - GZ TEST 1 and GZ TEST 2 and Phase 2 – GZ TEST 1 since whatever I or any other paying customer writes has about 100% chance of being ignored completely by the WOWS developers. I nevertheless will continue to give my feedback right up till the last round of testing to be sure that I from my side offer constructive authentic suggestions to make the ship authentic, fun to play and balanced to fit in Tier 8. I for my part want to be sure that I made very clear to the WOWS Developers what I, a paying customer who bought that GAMESCOM GRAF ZEPPELIN, think of the GAMESCOM version and the Phase 1 GZ TEST 1 and GZ TEST 2 versions and the latest Phase 2 GZ TEST 1 version. Although, based on what I have seen so far from WOWS Development and their Management, I am sure that all of the customer feedback will be ignored fully when it does not fit into the obvious WOWS Development Agenda of making the GRAF ZEPPELIN the worst possible Tier 8 Carrier in WOWS. Rest assure that if things remain as they are that I will be done with the WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN and also WOWS after they finalize their intentionally weak designed WOWS Tier 8 GRAF ZEPPELIN. It has not escaped my and other Customer's attention that other Carriers in WOWS have 1942-1946+ Aircraft with good stats and with which they were never equipped in real life. For example the Tier 8 SHOKAKU has the 1945-designed N1K5-A Fighter-Aircraft which in real life never went beyond prototype stage and thus never went into production. For example the Tier 9 TAIHO is also equipped with a 1942-designed Fighter which has good stats in WOWS while in real life it also never went beyond prototype stage and which in real life also never went into production. The WOWS Tier 9 TAIHO Fighter in real life amazingly did not go into production because it was quite inferior to even pre-1942 Japanese Fighters but in WOWS this fantasy Aircraft is both introduced and amazingly even rewarded with good fantasy stats. The WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN however does not get the 1942-designed Me 155 A-1, which was the naval (or Carrier) version of the Me 109 G-6 which was the most produced Me 109 version and also the most successful version of this mass produced Me 109 Aircraft. So there is an obvious bias at work here, giving some nations fantasy Aircraft with good stats (for example Japan) while at the same time other nations are on purpose not given Aircraft with good stats (Germany) which were naval versions of actually produced Aircraft. So Germany in WOWS is given a Premium Carrier with bad stat old outdated 1939-era Aircraft to face new superior stat 1942+ designed Japanese and USA Aircraft. The real life German 1942-designed Carrier Aircraft for GRAF ZEPPELIN were simply the naval (or Carrier) versions of the most mass produced Fighter Aircraft of all time (the Me 109) and one of the most mass produced Dive Bombers in Europe (Ju 87). The same can be said about the Bombers in general, the Tier 9 TAIHO for example gets Bombers in WOWS which she never was equipped with in real life, but the GRAF ZEPPELIN does not get the 1942-designed Ju 87 E-1 which was developed and tested up till prototype stage and which was simply the naval (or Carrier) version of the most successful version of the mass produced Ju 87 Aircraft version (Ju 87 D-5). So in WOWS only GRAF ZEPPELIN is forced to use inferior 1939-designed Aircraft in WOWS instead of the 1942-era Me 155 A-1 (naval Me 109 G-6) and 1942-era Ju 87 E-1 (naval Ju 87 D-5) while the USA and Japan get 1942-1946 Aircraft in WOWS, some of which have total fantasy stats in WOWS since they never went into production. LEXINGTON in WOWS get 1944-era Fighters and ENTERPRISE in WOWS gets 1942-era Fighters both of which have far superior stats in WOWS compared to the 1939-era Me 109 T-1 which the WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN is stuck with. The same applies to the 1942-1944 Bomber Aircraft which ENTERPRISE, LEXINGTON and SHOKAKU get in WOWS. The result of all this is the GRAF ZEPPELIN quite INTENTIONALLY being stuck with very bad stat 1939-era Fighters and Bombers in WOWS which are no match for those of other Tier 8 Carriers or the strong AAA of Tier 8-10 Ships in WOWS. All of this is not only very, very unfair but it betrays a persistent and quite obvious nasty bias at work here. It is not that difficult to intelligently speculate on the possible reasons WOWS Management can have for persistently and intentionally making a 50 to 100 Euro Premium German Carrier the absolutely weakest possible Carrier with weak stat 1939-era Aircraft in the Arcade game that WOWS is. A logical and also quite obvious conclusion one can draw form all of this is that since all the USA and Japanese Carriers in WOWS are so clearly all-round superior with modern good stat 1942-1946 era Aircraft compared to the quite intentionally weak-made WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN, that a likely reason for that quite persistent and intentional weakness by design for the 4x (four) WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN versions presented so far seems to be some sort of latent anti-German sentiment and bias being at work at WOWS Development and/or Management. Whatever the latent motives are for intentionally and persistently equipping the WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN with the weakest stat Carrier Aircraft at Tier 8, this whole state of affairs is really both petty and pathetic. Not to mention being bad for business.

@Tuccy Since I am most interested in this subject from a military history and military technology point of view I really would like to know what sources you base your statements on. I asked you this earlier and I would really appreciate you having the courtesy to answer my question regarding these statements you made: "Ordering 102 planes does not mean planned air complement of 102" "(the) Kriegsmarine still insisted on a 2.5 meter clearance between parked planes and hanger walls" "a 42 plane air group with 140% reserves" "The 1942-designed Me 155 A-1 and Ju 87 E-1 were cancelled in favour of the 1939-designed Me 109 T-1 and Ju 87 C-1" I would really appreciate it if you could provide primary source documentation regarding these statements. All the sources which I have read on the subject (Wilhelm Hadeler (1935-1945 Chief Designer of German Carrier Projects), Paul Küchler (1935-1945 Chief Designer GRAF ZEPPELIN), Primary Source Researchers and Naval Authors Ulrich Israel, Gerhard Koop, Siegfried Breyer et al) do not mention any of this. In fact from these sources comes the opposite information of that which is in your statements (such as 220x new Me 155 A-1 ordered and designed in 1942, 115x new Ju 87 E-1 designed and ordered in 1942, 102x Air Complement (48x Me 155 A-1 and 54x Ju 87 E-1) ordered in 1942 for GRAF ZEPPELIN to use on operations in 1943-1944, rejection by the Air Force of the 1939-era Me 109 T-1 and Ju 87 C-1 in 1942 because they were too outdated by 1942 and no production facilities existed any more for the old 1939 airframes, engines, weapons etc.). If you Tuccy have access to primary source documentation from State Archives which backs up your statements and which is used by the WOWS Development team working on GRAF ZEPPELIN then please be so kind for history's sake to share that with me and this forum. An electronic copy of that information would surely no longer be a state secret in 2017 regarding the 1935-1947 GRAF ZEPPELIN.

FEEBACK SHORT VERSION CONCERNING GAMESCOM GRAF ZEPPELIN, GZ TEST 1 and GZ TEST 2 All of the current 3x (three) WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN versions are still the weakest Tier 8 Carriers in WOWS both in terms of Fighters and Bombers and thus inferior overall to SHOKAKU, LEXINGTON and ENTERPRISE. Of the current 3x (three) WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN versions the 2017 GAMESCOM GRAF ZEPPELIN with HE Bombs is the most versatile and useful version of the three due to the all round targeting capability (against Destroyers, Cruisers, Battleships and Aircraft Carriers), all three versions still however are the weakest Tier 8 Carriers by far and in fact inferior overall to the other Tier 8 Carriers. The 8 Carrier SHOKAKU, LEXINGTON and ENTERPRISE in WOWS have superior performance 1942 to 1946 era Aircraft, some of which never even used at all in real life. The current 3x (three) WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN versions however are still being handicapped by being equipped with outdated 1939-era Aircraft while the competitive 1942-era Aircraft which GRAF ZEPPELIN would have used in 1943-1944 (Ju 87 E-1 and Me 155 A-1) are still unavailable to the WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN. The Air Complement for GRAF ZEPPELIN is also unauthentic and as a result still too weak in terms of Aircraft per Squadron and Squadrons in total. For AUTHENTIC suggestions on making the WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN decent I refer the WOWS Developers to my extensive and detailed WOWS Forum topic found here: https://forum.worldofwarships.eu/topic/86678-authentic-graf-zeppelin/ The 2017 GAMESCOM GRAF ZEPPELIN with HE Bombers can semi-reliable attack Destroyers, Cruisers, Battleships and Aircraft Carriers and is therefore overall more useful than GZ TEST 1 and GZ TEST 2 with AP Bombs which is only useful against Battleships. The authentic Torpedo Bombers which GRAF ZEPPELIN which the German Armed Forces Supreme Commander and Supreme Commander of the War Navy ordered her to operate with by 1943-1944 are still missing. The current Bombers with the Circle Drop Bombing Pattern are the best ones because they can attack from any angle, spend the shortest amount of time inside enemy Anti-Aircraft-Artillery (AAA) range and also can attack a target in a HURRICANE, something which the Ellipse Drop Bombing Pattern cannot do. Fighters are still the weakest and worst aspect of all current 3x (three) WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN versions, completely surrendering Air Dominance to all other Tier 8 Carriers at match start. None of the current 3x (three) WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN versions are fun to play and neither are competitive against a skilled enemy Carrier Commander, they all rely on facing unskilled and weak opponents to have any hope of having success with both the Fighters and the Bombers. If things remain as they are I will ask for a refund with a 100% certainty. FEEDBACK LONG VERSION CONCERNING GAMESCOM GRAF ZEPPELIN, GZ TEST 1 and GZ TEST 2 My feedback concerning the 2017 GAMESCOM GRAF ZEPPELIN after extensively testing her My feedback concerning the GZ TEST 1 version after extensively testing her My feedback concerning the GZ TEST 2 version after extensively testing her Some remarkable Test Results EDIT: Added these further remarkable test results

Thanks, I hope the data I have provided will be made use of by WOWS. My earlier proposal posted above I have since then re-worked and adjusted so that it is now a better compromise between authenticity, game play balance and the other Tier 8 Carriers in WOWS. After my above earlier post I spent some time to translate the authentic GRAF ZEPPELIN data and characteristics into a format that is still workable game-play wise in WOWS and which will also allow for a re-designed GRAF ZEPPELIN to be both authentic and a game play balanced Tier 8 Carrier. The details of my GRAF ZEPPELIN proposal and the data on which it is based I have made available in a topic aimed at the WOWS Developers and Graphical Artists who are working on the GRAF ZEPPELIN re-design, the topic can be found here: https://forum.worldofwarships.eu/topic/86678-authentic-graf-zeppelin/ I am not all going to repeat here what is in that massive topic, but in short the total number of Aircraft for GRAF ZEPPELIN would still be 102x Aircraft (the smaller Tier 8 ENTERPRISE Carrier has 96x Aircraft, and Tier 7 KAGA Carrier has x85 Aircraft) , but the IN-AIR Aircraft will be a minimum of 27x Aircraft and a maximum of 33x Aircraft (with AIR SUPREMACY Captain's Skill). That fits in with the other Tier 8 Carriers, since the Tier 8 Carriers currently have these max. number of IN-AIR Aircraft Carrier Air Groups: - SHOKAKU has 4x5+2x4= 28 max. IN-AIR Aircraft - LEXINGTON has 4x7= 28x max. IN-AIR Aircraft - ENTERPRISE 6x4+2x5= 34 max. IN-AIR Aircraft I propose that the re-designed GRAF ZEPPELIN will be equipped with 3x4= 12x Me 155 A-1 Fighter Aircraft and 3x5= 15x Ju 87 E-1 Torpedo-Bomber and Ju 87 E-1 Dive-Bomber Aircraft giving a default IN-AIR strength in WOWS of 12+15= 27x Aircraft. The maximum number of Aircraft in the Air with the Level 4 "AIR SUPREMACY" Captain skill would then increase the IN-AIR strength of the re-designed GRAF ZEPPELIN to 3x5= 15x Me 155 A-1 Fighter-Aircraft and a maximum of 3x6= 18x Ju 87 E-1 Torpedo/Dive-Bomber Aircraft, making 33x max. IN-AIR Aircraft. So summing that up, the re-designed WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN would then have: - Minimum number of IN-AIR Aircraft of 27x Aircraft - Maxumum number of IN-AIR Aircraft of 33x Aircraft The proposed authentic Carrier-Air-Group for the re-designed WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN is: - 3x Fighter-Squadron / 3x Torpedo-Bomber-Squadron - 3x Fighter-Squadron / 2x Torpedo-Bomber-Squadron / 1x Dive-Bomber-Squadron - 3x Fighter-Squadron / 1x Torpedo-Bomber-Squadron / 2x Dive-Bomber-Squadron - 3x Fighter-Squadron / 0x Torpedo-Bomber-Squadron / 3x Dive-Bomber-Squadron On 13 April 1942 the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces (Hitler) and on 11 April 1942 the Supreme Commander of the War Navy (Raeder) both stated and ordered that the GRAF ZEPPELIN was to mainly use Aircraft armed with Aerial Torpedoes and that the ship would be useless without them. The 1942-era Ju 87 E-1 was specifically developed to be able to use Aerial Torpedoes on GRAF ZEPPELIN, something the 1939-era Ju 87 C-1 could not do. Since the Supreme Commander of the German Armed Forces and the Supreme Commander of the German War Navy in 1942 both ordered that the GRAF ZEPPELIN in 1943+ was to use Torpedo Bombers on anti-shipping operations and they both stated that she would be useless without them, at least ONE setup for the re-designed GRAF ZEPPELIN should have Ju 87 E-1 in the Torpedo Bomber role (so at least 3/3/0 or 3/2/1). The WOWS unit data on the new 1942-era Carrier Aircraft Me 155 A-1 and Ju 87 E-1 Aircraft that I propose can also be found in that topic as well as a detailed data comparison with the current Tier 8 Carrier Aircraft. The short version: the proposed new Me 155 A-1 and Ju 87 E-1 will be faster versions of the earlier Me 109 T-1 and Ju 87 C-1 and they will have more hit points and better air-versus-air capabilities, the Ju 87 E-1 torpedo and dive bomb damage data will remain equal to that of the PRE-GAMESCOM and GAMESCOM GRAF ZEPPELIN Ju 87 C-1 in my proposal.

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Instead of conventional torpedoes I propose the "Bomben Torpedo" for the German Carriers, at least for all German Carriers from at least Tier 8 and 10. BOMBEN TORPEDO Here is some data on the "Bomben Torpedo". The late 1944/1945 torpedo weapon of choice would have been the "Bomben Torpedo 1400" or BT 1400 for short. Fw 190: Some sources state that the BT was used by Fw 190 F-8 of 11. Staffel (Squadron) / Kampfgeschwader 200 (Bomber Wing 200) against Remagen Bridge and against shipping. Some sources state that Fw 190 F-8 / R-16 equiped with BT 700 flew night attacks against British ships from Stavanger airfield in Norway. Me 110: Data on the "Bomben Torpedo" Purported source: German Explosive Ordnance Vol. 1: Bombs, Rockets, Grenades, Mines, Fuzes & Igniters Data can be found here: http://ww2data.blogspot.com/2019/05/german-explosive-ordnance-concrete.html "BT (Bomben Torpedo) General: The aircraft torpedo is an expensive, complicated weapon. The proportion of explosive weight is low. Mass production is lengthy and expensive. In addition, present day performance of torpedo engines limit the speed and range of the projectile. Both of these items are essentials for accuracy and safety from anti-aircraft fire. A relatively simple weapon would result were the torpedo engine and the control gear omitted. If this simplified weapon were launched so that the greater portion of the distance to the target was covered through the air, as with an ordinary bomb, the initial speed of the launch would be retained over nearly all the range. The projectile would enter the water just short of the target and carry on in the direction of its flight in air by reason of its momentum in the same was as does a torpedo. To prevent it from going too deep before detonation, a relatively flat angle of entry into the water is necessary. Such a weapon was developed in Germany during the closing months of the war, and it was called the Bomben Torpedo. It combines the characteristics of the bomb to travel a long distance in a short time interval with the characteristics of a torpedo in that underwater travel eliminates range errors. Details: The BT was developed in four sizes: 200kg, 400kg, 700kg, and the 1400kg. They all incorporated the same general shape and construction, and were entirely of steel. They were constructed in three pieces; the warhead (two sections) and the tail section. The forward section of the warhead was in the shape of a truncated cone, and the after section of the warhead was cylindrical. The transverse fuze pocket was located in the cylindrical section just aft the point where the two sections were welded together. The suspension lug T-type, was secured to the warhead just forward of this weld at the center of gravity. Tail Section: The tail section was also in the shape of a truncated cone. There were three very large fins placed 120 degree apart at the after end of the section. This type of tail provided excellent stability for the bomb while it was in the air. The tail section was secured to the after section of the warhead in such a manner that when the missile struck the water, it was jettisoned. Early in the experiments, a BT 1000 was worked on and this missile had a rocket motor inside the tail section. This idea was soon dropped as it proved impractical for the missile. Underwater Behavior: The bomb must in no event ricochet off the water, not even in flat angles of entry, but must continue without deviation of its path of entry. It is known that with ogival noses, as seen in the illustration of the BT 1400, a bomb will ricochet off the water when it strikes at a flat angle. By using a flat nose, as seen in the illustration of the BT 700, or better yet by using a spoiler plate, this ricochet at flat angles is definitely avoided. The front surface of the spoiler plate is made in the form of a section of a sphere of radius, equivalent to the distance between the surface of the spoiler plate and the bomb's center of gravity. As the flow of force is practically perpendicular to the upper surface of the body when it is awash, the resulting flow of force must go through the center of gravity and thus it causes no turning moment. A spoiler plate with the same diameter as the bomb, however, has a high water drag. The ideal situation is to have the size of the plate less than the greatest caliber of the bomb body and so shaped that only the spoiler plate and no other part strikes the surface of the water at flat angles of entry." -------------------- Purported source Luftwaffe document: L.Dv. 4200. "Dreamk" partly and roughly translated the document. Data can be found here (in German): http://michaelhiske.de/Wehrmacht/Luft/Luft/LDV_4200/SERIE_S/INDEX_S.HTM "L.Dv. 4200 (July 1944) Vormerkblatt Preliminary note: In contrast to those of the BT 200, 400 and 700, the body of the BT 1400 consists of thin-walled sheet steel. In order to ensure that the explosive in the BT body detonates properly before being smashed, a deformation head with built-in special tip holder connects to the baffle plates. The air tail is blown off electrically-pyrotechnically when it hits the water. ...... Usage The BT 700 will initially be used by the Fw 290 against aircraft carriers, merchant ships, light and heavy cruisers, etc. No direct, but special underwater hits should be achieved under the ship. The BT 400 is used against sea point targets such as light cruisers, merchant ships, etc. by the Fw 190. No direct, special underwater seam hits should be achieved with it, if possible under the ship. The BT 200 is used against small sea point targets such as landing craft, submarines etc. first by the Fw 190. No direct, but special underwater seam hits should be reached, if possible under the ship. ...... The BT is a mine bomb made of cast iron without self-propulsion and is used over a long airway and a short underwater path. It consists of the bomb body with the detonator socket and the tail unit to stabilize the BT during the airway. The requirements, high willingness to enter at angles of impact of 10 - 90 ° and straight line continuation of the direction of movement when water enters through a water path of 60 - 80 m, are met by the special shape of the BT and the baffle plate attached to the front of the truncated cone. The air control unit consists of 3 guide surfaces offset by 120 ° to each other, of which the one pointing downwards can be folded up sideways in order to gain sufficient ground clearance for loading and take-off. The tail surfaces protrude beyond the caliber diameter. The air control unit is attached to the support arm of the BT body with a predetermined breaking screw made of aluminum. When the water enters, the breaking screw breaks so that the tail unit detaches from the BT body and does not affect the watercourse. Raising the BT on the air tail is prohibited! The rear centering ring of the BT, on which the tail unit is pushed, must be kept rust-free by greasing. [For the BT200 and BT400,] the support arm for the tail assembly is initially available in two versions. In the BT 200 C1/ BT 400 C1 (older version), it is welded to the base plate of the BT body, stiffened by three angle plates. In the new, final version of the BT 200 C2/ BT 400 C2, the support arm is housed in the tail unit. Operation If the BT 200 C2 enters the water approx. 20 m before the destination, "mV ignition" takes place via the mV ignition circuit of the AZ (28) C / 0.35 after 0.12 seconds under the ship . In the event of unwanted direct ship hits, "oV ignition" occurs immediately via the break ignition circuit of the AZ (28) C / 035 If the BT 400 C2/ 700 C2 enters the water approx. 25 m before the destination, "mV ignition" takes place via the mV ignition circuit of the AZ (28) C / 0.35 after 0.18 seconds under the ship , In the event of unwanted direct ship hits, "oV ignition" occurs immediately via the break ignition circuit of the AZ (28) C / 0.35. 4th identification The BT body is painted beige gray. BT 200 C or BT 200 C2, BT 400 C or BT 400 C2, BT 700 C or BT 700 C2 is stenciled on the body in black. 5th packaging A BT 700 is packaged for transport on the BT 700 carriage. The air control units are delivered separately from the BT bodies in triangular slatted frames and stored there until they are attached. " How it was to be delivered can be seen in the image underneath: The caption under the above image reads: "Hit situation/location when dropping a total of five BT (Bomben Torpedos) at a 10 Degree Angle at a longitudal spread of 100 meters." "Wasserlaufbahn" means direction of travel through the water (after delivery of the BT). The BT could be used both against ground and sea targets, when used against sea targets it was both effective when it hit the target ship above the water and under water, greatest damage and effect of course was under water. As you can see from the drawing underneath the BT 200 could easily detonate beneath a 25 meters wide ship at 11 meters of depth where it would do the most damage when coming in at an angle of 10 degrees. The above image shows key data of the BT 200, BT 400, BT 700 A, BT 700 B, BT 1000, BT 1400, BT 1850. The BT 1850 was reportedly used against Remagen bridge. "Länge" means length, "Durchmesser max." means maximum diameter, "Sprengstoff" means explosive and "Gewicht" means weight. --- The BT has several key advantages over a conventional torpedo: 1.) It was much easier and faster to produce and required less rare materials than a conventional aerial torpedo, one key thing in this respect is that the BT did not need the whole complex propellor propulsion system that was used in conventional aerial torpedoes. 2.) The BT had a much larger warhead than a conventional aerial torpedo, and thus had considerably more explosives than a conventional aerial torpedo. The reason for that was because the space normally taken up by the whole complex propellor propulsion system in a conventional aerial torpedo was free to be filled with explosives in the BT because the BT did not have propellor propulsion. The BT relied solely on kinetics for delivery and target impact. 3.) A conventional aerial torpedo required the aerial torpedo delivery aircraft (the Torpedo Bomber) to fly in a predictable straight line at a comparatively low airspeed compared to a dive bombing or glide bombing attack. That made the conventional Torpedo Bomber not only a fairly easy target for enemy Fighter Aircraft but also for Flak gunnery which became increasingly more automated and effective towards the end of the war. The BT however offered the BT delivery aircraft (the BT Bomber) much better protection because the BT delivery aircraft could come in fast and from a dive or glide bombing attack angle and even taken evasive maneuvers up to the last seconds before delivery of the BT. That made the BT delivery aircraft a more difficult and unpredictable target for enemy Flak and Fighter Aircraft and offered the BT Aviator and the BT delivery aircraft better chances of survival and as a corollary diminished the chance of the target (ship) to evade or prevent the attack by the BT delivery aircraft. 4.) The delivery of the BT was more or less akin to a conventional glide/dive bombing attack, and as a result it was markedly easier for an aviator to learn how to deliver, and actually deliver a BT than it was for conventional aerial torpedo. Additionally, due to the comparatively short range at which the BT was dropped from the target (ship), the chance of a BT hit on the target (ship) was greatly increased, especially compared to much lower chance to hit of a conventional aerial torpedo. 5.) The target (ship) of a BT attack could not easily evade a BT attack because of the speed of the BT delivery aircraft, the speed of the BT, the comparatively short range at which the BT was dropped from the target (ship) and the unpredictable and fast approach run of the BT delivery aircraft. Evading conventional aerial torpedoes was comparatively easy as the record of WW2 shows. Most conventional aerial torpedoes dropped missed their target ship in WW2. Not only were the conventional aerial torpedo aircraft comparatively slow and locked into a dangerously predictable straight line attack pattern, but the aerial torpedoes could be fairly easily spotted and evaded before they reached the target ship. Conventional aerial torpedo attacks had most chance of hitting the target when at least six or more Torpedo Bombers came in from two or more different directions at the same time on the same target, the so-called cross pattern torpedo attack. This required time to setup and a lot of training and co-ordination which translated in increased training times for Naval Aviators before they even had a chance to become proficient in aerial torpedo attacks. Additionally the conventional aerial torpedo first had to reach the required depth after being dropped and then the propellor propulsion had to propell the aerial torpedo to the ship. The BT did not have that problem, it came in very fast due to kinetic energy and there was not enough time and space for the target (ship) to take evasive action to prevent being hit by a BT that was correctly released on target. The BT attack could be executed by an individual aircraft attacking from almost any angle and as a result the BT did not require a complex co-ordinated cross attack pattern by six or more BT delivery aircraft all coming in at the same time on the same target like was necessary with a conventional aerial torpedo attack. 6.) The BT could purportedly be dropped in such a way that it detonated underneath the enemy ship (keel) where the damage done due to the nature of an underwater explosion would be much larger and where the armour of most battleships was weakest. The effectiveness of a BT detonating underneath a target ship was quite considerable due to the much larger warhead of the BT compared to that of a conventional aerial torpedo. The keel of a ship is both its spine and its achilles heel and the BT could purportedly be used to target it. 7.) The BT could purportedly be used against both ground and naval targets without the need to change either the detonator or the warhead in flight or on the ground. That gave the BT delivery aircraft a flexibility (due to being able to target both ground and naval targets, as well as being effective when hitting a ship both above and under the waterline) and made the BT all-round capable, something the conventional aerial torpedo was not because that could only be used against naval targets (ships) and only under the waterline. 8.) The conventional aerial torpedoes used during WW2 have a limited maximum speed that is more or less dictated by the propulsion system with which a conventional aerial torpedo is equipped. The BT however purportedly does not have this limitation because its speed is the result of kinetics. The speed of the BT is purportedly decided by the speed of the BT delivery aircraft and the weight of the BT. So the faster the BT delivery aircraft flies when dropping the BT and the heavier the BT it delivers is (BT 200, 400, 700, 1000, 1400, 1850), the faster the BT will be. So for example a BT 700 dropped by a Fw 190 F-8 flying at top speed will be slower than a BT 700 dropped by a Ta 152 C-1 flying at top speed, because the Fw 190 F-8 has a lower top speed than the Ta 152 C-1. Based on German wartime official documentation regarding the real world ordnance available to and used by the Me 109, Ju 87, Fw 190 and Ta 152 series, I propose to use these Aircraft and this ordnance setup for the new German Carriers in WOWS from Tier 6 upwards: Tier 6 Carrier WESER (1941 era equipment) · Me 109 T-1 (See VI below) with 2x2 HE 210 mm "Wurfgranaten 42" (Projector Grenades 42) (See I below) · Ju 87 C-1 (See VII below) with 1x 500 kg AP Bomb (See II below) and 4x 50 kg HE Bombs (See III below) · Ju 87 C-1 (See VII below) with 1x "LT 5" (See V below) Tier 8 Carrier PARSEVAL and the Tier 6 Premium Carrier LOEWENHARDT (1943 era equipment) · Me 155 A-1 (See VI below) with with 2x2 HE 210 mm "Wurfgranaten 42" (Projector Grenades 42) · Ju 87 E-1 (See VII below) with 1x 500 kg AP Bomb (See II below) and 2x 250 kg HE Bombs (See IV below) · Ju 87 E-1 with 1x "LT 5" (See V below) Tier 10 Carrier RICHTHOFEN and the Tier 8 Premium Carrier GRAF ZEPPELIN (1945 era equipment) · Ta 152 C-1/R11 (See VIII below) with 2x6 = 12x "Panzerblitz 2" Armour Piercing 88 mm rockets that could penetrate 180 mm of steel armour · Ta 152 C-1/R11 (See VIII below) armed with 1x 500 kg AP Bomb (See II below) and 2x 250 kg HE Bombs (See IV below) As for the 1944/1945 torpedo bomber armament there are two options based on official wartime Luftwaffe documentation: · Ta 152 C-1/R14 (See VIII below) armed with a 780 kg "LT IB" short torpedo or an 850 kg "LT IB" long torpedo, this torpedo was fielded in early 1944 · Ta 152 C-1/R15 (See VIII below) armed with a "BT 1400" (1400 kg "Bomben Torpedo", or Bomb Torpedo) (See IX below) I propose the BT 1400 for the Tier 10 Carrier RICHTHOFEN and for the Tier 8 Premium Carrier GRAF ZEPPELIN as an ordnance variant. Notes (I) 2x1 or 2x2 rockets in the 21 cm "BR-Gerät" ("Bord-Raketen-Gerät", or on-board rocket device) or R-2 ("Rüstsatz 2", or Ordnance set 2). These devices allowed the firing of the 21 cm "Wurfgranaten 42" (Projector Grenades 42) of the 21 cm "Nebelwerfer 42"' (Nebel Rocket Launcher 42). On the Me 109 Aircraft series these devices were first mounted on the 1943 Bf 109 G-6 Aircraft. Rudolf Nebel was a WW1 fighter pilot, rocket and space pioneer/engineer that invented the Nebel Rocket Launcher that was named after him. (II) 1x 500 kg "PC" ("Panzersprengbombe, Cylindrisch") "Paulina" - Armour Piercing High Explosive Bomb, Cylindrical (III) 4x 50 kg "SC" ("Sprengbombe, Cylindrisch") - High Explosive Bomb, Cylindrical (IV) 2x 250 kg "SC" ("Sprengbombe, Cylindrisch") - High Explosive Bomb, Cylindrical (V) A 650-kg 450-mm Torpedo. This is either the German torpedo "Typ F 5 b" (40 knot speed/2000 meter range) or the Italian "Typ F 5 W" (W for Whitehead-Fiume) (40 knot/3000 meter range). The main practical differences between the two torpedoes types were mostly Torpedo drop speed and Torpedo drop height. (VI) The Carrier Aircraft Me 109 T was produced in limited numbers up till 1941. The Me 155 A-1 was the Carrier version of the 1943 produced Me 109 G-6 Aircraft. Knowledgeable researchers have suggested that it is highly likely that the 1943 Me 209 V5 prototype Aircraft was the 1942/1943 Me 155 A-1 design. The Me 209 V5 bore no resemblance whatsoever to the earlier Me 209 V1 till V4 prototype Aircraft and the Me 209 V5 was presented in 1943 without any prior work having been done on it, making it highly likely that it was in fact the cancelled 1942/1943 designed Me 155 A-1 that was being presented as the 1943 Me 209 V5 instead. The Me 209 V5 design and its specifications have remarkable similarities with the Me 155 A-1 design specifications. (VII) The Carrier Aircraft Ju 87 C was produced in limited numbers up till 1941. The Ju 87 E-1 was the Carrier version of the 1943 produced Ju 87 D-5. At least one Ju 87 E-1 prototype has been confirmed to have been built and tested. (VIII) The Ta 152 C-1 was a medium altitude fighter and fighter bomber equipped with the Daimler Benz DB 603 L engine, it was not equipped with a pressurized cockpit and could operate up till 11.5 km, it had the same wings and wingspan as the Fw 190 series but considerably superior performance. The Ta 152 C-1 was designed in such a way that it could use all ordnance that was used by the Fw 190 series. About nine Ta 152 C prototypes were built and tested from 1944 onward. Ta 152 C-1 production was scheduled to start in February 1945 and mass production in March 1945 in four factories. Photographic evidence makes clear that Ta 152 C-1 production was started but to date it has not been possible to determine how many were actually produced. Production of at least two series Ta 152 C-1 has been confirmed. The Ta 152 C-1 aircraft is not to be confused with the Ta 152 H-1 high altitude fighter equipped with a Junkers Jumo 213 A engine, that was equipped with a pressurized cockpit and could operate up till 13.9 km, it had a different wing and a considerably larger wingspan than the Ta 152 C and Fw 190 series. About twelve Ta 152 H prototypes were built and tested from 1944 onward. Ta 152 H-1 production was scheduled to start in November 1944 and mass production in January 1945 in three factories. Production of at least 35 production Ta 152 H-1 has been confirmed. There is no publicly available evidence that the Ta 152 was ever designed to be used as a Carrier Aircraft. The Ta 152 C-1/R14 and R15 were designed however to carry aerial torpedoes. The Ta 152 C-1/R-14 was designed to carry either a 780 kg "LT IB" short torpedo or an 850 kg "LT IB" long torpedo. The Ta 152 C-1/R-15 was designed to carry a "BT 1400" (1400 kg "Bomben Torpedo", or Bomb Torpedo). (IX) The BT 1400 was a 1400 kg passive torpedo weapon called "Bomben Torpedo" ("BT", or Bomb Torpedo). The BT was airdropped from a low height and relative short distance from the target, would enter the water and travel the short remaining distance through the water solely driven by its kinetic energy. It was designed in 1943, developed and tested in 1944 and found to be considerably more effective than conventional torpedoes of WW2. It was as a result chosen as replacement for all conventional torpedoes. Mass production of the BT started in late 1944 but was disrupted when allied troops occupied BT production facilities in Molsheim (Elsass). Suggested sources for the above information are: - "Der Flugzeugträger" (1968) by Wilhelm Hadeler (unique book written by the lead designer of the Aircraft Carrier GRAF ZEPPELIN that also covers her design) - "Flugzeugträger Graf Zeppelin" (1994) by Ulrich H.J. Israel (the best and most complete single book on all aspects of the Aircraft Carrier GRAF ZEPPELIN and her Aircraft) - "Flugzeugträger Graf Zeppelin" (2007) by Richard Wagner and Manfred Wilske (contains rare valuable primary source data on the GRAF ZEPPELIN, her Aircraft and unique rare comparative Carrier Aircraft data) - "Freedom of the seas" (2010) by Stephen Burke and Adam Olejnik (contains rare valuable primary source data on the GRAF ZEPPELIN, but alas also some errors and useless superfluous theories and speculations) - "STUKA" (1993) by Helmuth Mahlke (a book by a WW2 veteran and ranking naval aviation officer in the WW2 GRAF ZEPPELIN Ju 87 Air Group) - "Focke-Wulf Fw 190 / Ta 152" (1997) by Manfred Griehl and Joachim Dresssel (a book on the Fw 190 series and the Ta 152 series by experts on the subject) - "Focke-Wulf Ta 152" (1999) by Dietmar Harmann (a book on the Ta 152 series by an expert on the subject) - "Messerschmitt Bf 109 T" by Francis Marshall (2002) (the most detailed book on all aspects of the Me 109 T) - "Die deutsche Luftfahrt" Volume/Band 1 (1980) by Wolfgang Wagner (a book on all Focke Wulf Aircraft designed by Kurt Tank et al) - "Die deutsche Luftfahrt" Volume/Band 4 (1983) by Rüdiger Kosin (a book detailing German Fighter Aircraft from 1918 till 1982) - "Die deutsche Luftfahrt" Volume/Band 17 (1992) by Hans Ebert, Johann B. Kaiser and Klaus Peters (a book on all Messerschmitt Aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt et al) The book on the Ta 152 series written by Dietmar Harmann as well as his other earlier two books on the Fw 190 series includes official documentation on all the ordnance that the Fw 190 series up till the Ta 152 used, this book: Some example of primary source data from that book. The whole Ta 152 series (note the Ta 152 C-1 / R15 with the BT 1400): Data on the single-engined fighters dated 1 October 1944, the Ta 152 listed are the pre-production series (the C-0 with DB 603 L and C-0 with DB 603 E engine, H-0 and E-0 with Jumo 213 E engine), the C-1 and H-1 production versions had better performance data: Focke-Wulf design drawing for torpedo armed Fw 190 F 16 / R-14 and Ta 152 C-1 / R-14: 

The choice of aircraft for the German Carrier line in WOWS is not authentic. The impression is that the WOWS historical research department had great difficulty in ascertaining both the German Carrier Aircraft that were designed in Germany and the actual German Carrier designs that were made. Fortunately there is no need to reinvent the wheel because good books have been written by authors that have spent decades researching this subject. The impression is that the WOWS research department missed these sources and it is greatly advised that the WOWS research department consults these sources to create an accurate representation of German Carrier Aircraft from 1926-1945. These two sources described the German Carrier Aircraft in detail and I advise the WOWS Development team to take note of them: - "Flugzeugträger Graf Zeppelin" (1994) by Ulrich H.J. Israel (the best and most complete single book on all aspects of the Aircraft Carrier GRAF ZEPPELIN and her Aircraft), this book: The professional historian and author Ulrich Israel spent close to ten years of research on this subject, using the unique primary source data he had access to as a high ranking naval officer in the navy of former Communist Germany. - "Flugzeugträger Graf Zeppelin" (2007) by Richard Wagner and Manfred Wilske (contains rare valuable primary source data on the GRAF ZEPPELIN, her Aircraft and unique rare comparative Carrier Aircraft data), this book: The authors Wagner (a naval aviatior and officer in the West German Navy) and Wilske (a naval propulsion engineer) of the latter book have spent almost 30 years of research on this subject. They have collected an impressive amount of many primary source documents, and even met and interviewed Wilhelm Hadeler (arguably THE key lead designer of the real world GRAF ZEPPELIN) during the course of their research and collected and used 1:300 and 1:100 original design blueprints of the GRAF ZEPPELIN in order to create a near-perfect 1:100 scale model of the GRAF ZEPPELIN. The origins of German Carrier Aircraft The GRAF ZEPPELIN was designed in 1935-1936 and at that time no German Carrier Aircraft actually existed that were going to be used aboard the GRAF ZEPPELIN Aircraft Carrier class. The design team behind the GRAF ZEPPELIN rightly assumed that the Carrier Aircraft that existed in Germany in 1935-1936 were considered to be going to be obsolete by the time the GRAF ZEPPELIN would be completed in 1941 and even more so for the seven sister ships of the GRAF ZEPPELIN that were going to be built and completed after the GRAF ZEPPELIN based on the latest and final version of the naval shipbuilding "Z Plan". Naval engineer and designer Wilhelm Hadeler and the design team of which he was part were given the task to create a Fleet Aircraft Carrier design that would be able to modernized and used at least over a 20 to 25 year period after completion. The GRAF ZEPPELIN was scheduled to be completed in 1941 so that means the design had to be able to modernized at least until 1960 to 1965. In order to do that a large "reserve" was built into the design by Wilhelm Hadeler based on his documentation. The "reserve" came in the shape of building the largest purpose-built Aircraft Carrier in the world by 1935/1936 standards with the largest hanger capacity of any Carrier then in existence anywhere. There was a major reason for that: the Carrier Aircraft that were going to be used in 1941 on the GRAF ZEPPELIN did not yet exist, their dimensions and weight had to be estimated. Hadeler rightly assumed that they would continu to greatly increase in dimensions and weight. And as a result everything, from the two huge hangers to the elevator size to the maximum catapult size and the maximum elevator lift weight, was increased by a huge amount in order for the GRAF ZEPPELIN design to be able to handle large and heavy aircraft that at the time did not even exist and to allow for substantial modernizations of the "island" on the Flight Deck. That foresight turned out to be spot on. Germany had only started to seriously reconstruct the military and the military industry in 1935-1936 from a more or less totally disarmed state due to a long period of military inactivity that had started in 1918/1919 when Germany had disarmed. Wilhelm Hadeler in his design studies dating back to 1933 wanted the GRAF ZEPPELIN Aircraft Carrier class to be able to be equipped with at least 60 Aircraft, all with foldable wings like the later Fi 167. The design, development, production and testing of Carrier Aircraft started in earnest in 1935 and lasted right up till 1945. The effort invested in German Carrier Aircraft was decreased but not stopped in 1940 but interestingly from 1941 onwards till the end of the war the development and testing of both Carrier Aircraft and their armament continued unabated! Author Ulrich Israel lists these German Carrier Aircraft for the period of 1926-1935: - Heinkel HD 23 as Carrier Fighter (1926) - Heinkel HD 38 al as Carrier Fighter (1929) - Heinkel He 50 B as Carrier Dive Bomber (1935) The dimensions of these early German Carrier Aircraft as well as of contemporary Japanese, British and USA Carrier Aircraft were used as a basis by Wilhelm Hadeler et al and extrapolated to what they would most likely be in 10 to 20 years (so heavily increased in dimensions, weight etc.). And these German Carrier Aircraft for the period of 1938-1939: - Arado Ar 195 as Carrier Multi-Purpose Aircraft (1938) - Arado Ar 197 as Carrier Fighter Aircraft (1938) - Fieseler Fi 167 as Carrier Multi-Purpose Aircraft (1939) (Torpedo Bomber, Level Bomber, Mine Layer, Smoke Layer, Reconnaissance) And these German Carrier Aircraft for the period of 1941-1942: - Junkers Ju 87 C-1 as Carrier Dive Bomber (1941) - Messerschmitt Me 109 T-1 as Carrier Fighter (1941) And these German Carrier Aircraft for the period of 1943: - Junkers Ju 87 E (naval Ju 87 D-5) as Carrier Multi-Purpose Aircraft (1942) - Messerschmitt Me 155 A as Carrier Fighter (1943), (several authors have reached the conclusion that the Me 155 A was redesignated Me 209 V5 in 1943 after Admiral Dönitz had ordered that GRAF ZEPPELIN was not to be completed) The Naval Aviation Arm of the Luftwaffe was composed of veteran naval aviators and naval officers that had transferred to the Luftwaffe on 1 January 1935 when all naval aviation personnel and equipment became part of the Luftwaffe. These now former Naval Aviators had no animosity towards the Navy and worked together well together with their Naval officer colleagues right up till 1945. GRAF ZEPPELIN would have been completed in 1941, a second completion date would have been 1943. In 1939-1940 the Luftwaffe Naval Aviation Arm had selected the Ju 87 and Me 109 for use aboard GRAF ZEPPELIN in 1941 and rejected the Fi 167 biplane for use aboard the GRAF ZEPPELIN. The Navy preferred the Fi 167 in the role of Reconnaissance, Smoke Layer and Torpedo Bomber over the Ju 87 C, but the Luftwaffe Naval Aviation Arm had the final say in the matter and preferred the Ju 87 C, so the Ju 87 C-1 was chosen to equip the GRAF ZEPPELIN in 1941 together with the Me 109 T-1 when she was to be commissioned. Authors Wagner and Wilske have divided the German Carrier Aircraft designs into four phases. Phase I: Definition, from 1935-1937 Phase II: Design, development and construction, from 1937-1939 Phase III: Testing, from 1939-1942 Phase IV: Reorientation, from 1942 till 1945 These Carrier Aircraft adaptations were part of Phase I: Definition, from 1935-1937 The Luftwaffe considered Carrier Aircraft of such importance that of all the prototypes that were in existence of land base Aircraft from 1935-197 at least two Aircraft had to be adapted for use on Carriers! These Aircraft were adapted for Carrier Aircraft use: - He 50 (three were adapted with Carrier arrester gear) - Ar 197 (2 prototypes, one of which was in Rechlin) - Ar 195 (3 prototypes) - He 112 (two prototypes) - He 118 (2 Aircraft of the pre-production 0 series) - Bf 109 / Me 109 (6 prototypes) - Fi 167 (3 prototypes) - Ju 87 (2 prototypes of the B-0 pre-production series) - Avia B.534 (3 Aircraft) The Carrier Aircraft had to be selected to fill these roles: - Carrier Trainer - Carrier Fighter / Fighter-Escort - Carrier Dive Bomber - Carrier Level Bomber / Torpedo Bomber / Reconnaissance Aircraft / Smoke Layer / Mine Layer The Luftwaffe had determind that for each role at least two and a maximum of three competitor designs were to be selected. The Carrier Aircraft adaptations listed under Phase I were selected for Phase II: Design, development and construction, from 1937-1939 By 1938 the very large purpose built Naval Aviation Test Center at Travemünde (Erprobungsstelle SEE Travemünde, or E-Stelle SEE Travemünde for short) as well as the production of Carrier adapted Aircraft had reached the level of completion required for trials and tests to be commenced in detail of all the aircraft listed in Phase I. These Carrier Aircraft adaptations were part of Phase III: Testing, from 1939-1942 At the end of 1938 the Luftwaffe had selected these Aircraft for Carrier related use: Carrier Trainer: He 50 T-1 and He 50 T-2 A downgraded export version of the He 50 was made and designated He 66, this was sold to Japan including the right to build it under license. The Japanese firm of Aichi then started construction of the He 66 under the designation D1A1, followed by the D1A2 which were used on Japanese Carriers up till 1940. Carrier Trainer: Ar 197 Carrier Fighter: Bf 109 T-1 (redesignated Me 109 T-1 on August 1938) Carrier Torpedo Bomber / Level Bomber / Reconnaissance: Fi 167 Carrier Dive Bomber: Ju 87 C-1 Carrier Aircraft for general testing and trials: Ar 195 with arrestor gear Carrier Aircraft for general testing and trials: Fi 165 with arrestor gear (interestingly the Fi 165 actually landed on a British Aircraft Carrier after WW2) By 1939-1940 the Luftwaffe had selected these Carrier Aircraft for the GRAF ZEPPELIN: - Junkers Ju 87 C-1 as Multi Purpose Carrier Aircraft (1941) (Dive Bomber, Torpedo Bomber, Level Bomber, Reconnaissance, Smoke Aircraft) - Messerschmitt Me 109 T-1 as Carrier Fighter (1941) (Fighter and Escort Fighter) Note: the Ju 87 C did not yet have mountings for a torpedo in 1940, these were developed and tested in 1941-1942. These Carrier Aircraft adaptations were part of Phase IV: Reorientation, from 1942 till 1945 Carrier Trainer: Ar 96 T Carrier Fighter: Me 155 A (several authors have reached the conclusion that the Me 155 A was redesignated Me 209 V5 in 1943 after Admiral Dönitz had ordered that GRAF ZEPPELIN was not to be completed) Carrier Torpedo Bomber / Dive Bomber / Level Bomber / Reconnaissance: Ju 87 E (naval version of the Ju 87 D) By 1942 the Luftwaffe had selected these Carrier Aircraft for use aboard GRAF ZEPPELIN: - Junkers Ju 87 E-1 as Multi Purpose Carrier Aircraft (1942) (Dive Bomber, Torpedo Bomber, Level Bomber, Reconnaissance, Smoke Aircraft) - Messerschmitt Me 155 A-1 as Carrier Fighter (1943) (Fighter and Escort Fighter), (several authors have reached the conclusion that the Me 155 A was redesignated Me 209 V5 in 1943 after Admiral Dönitz had ordered that GRAF ZEPPELIN was not to be completed) In 1939/1940 the Aircraft companies of Fieseler and Arado were contracted to develop Carrier Aircraft that were to replace the Ju 87 C in 2-3 years. There are indications that Junkers (JFW) was also contracted for this purpose. These Carrier Aircraft were developed by Arado, Fieseler and arguably Junkers from 1939/1940 onwards: - Arado E 240 V3 (Torpedo Bomber, Dive Bomber) The third prototype of the Ar E 240, called Ar E 240 V3 (V3 for "Versuchsmaschine 3" which can be roughly translated as Prototype 3 in english) was used for the Ar E 310. For all intents and purposes the Ar E 310 was equal to the Ar E 240 V3, the main difference being that the Ar E 310 was the designation for the Carrier Aircraft adapted variant of the Ar E 240 V3. - Arado E 310 (Torpedo Bomber, Dive Bomber) - Fieseler P19 (Torpedo Bomber, Multi Purpose Aircraft) - Fieseler P 22C (Torpedo Bomber, Multi Purpose Aircraft) - Junkers EF 82 (Dive Bomber) Next to that the German Luftwaffe had developed and built the world's first production series helicopters. A German Navy order is on record that states that Flettner Fl 282 helicopters were to be stationed aboard GRAF ZEPPELIN to be used in the anti-submarine role. At that time the Fl 282 were already being used in the anti-submarine role. The following helicopters existed and were tested for Luftwafe Naval Aviation purposes: - Flettner Fl 265 The Fl 265 helicopter was first tested for naval purposes aboard the Light Cruiser KÖLN on a helicopter platform mounted on an aft main gun turret on 18 June 1941 and served as a testbed for helicopter technology. - Flettner Fl 282 The Fl 282 was for all intents and purposes a modern helicopter, in September 1942 the E-Stelle SEE in Travemünde started the first tests aboard the ship GREIF which was fitted with a helicopter platform. Thereafter more tests were done aboard the mine-layer ship DRACHE in the Mediterranean. North of Crete from the middle of November 1942 till the end of January 1943 more tests were conducted that focused on locating submarines. On 30 June 1943 a total of 14 ships were selected that were to be equipped with the Fl 282, most of them were submarine hunter ships. In March 1944 the ship ELSASS was adapted for helicopter use, the ship operated in the Baltic Sea from Pillau in eastern Germany. In 1943 the Italian Navy ordered one Fl 282 for use aboard the Italian Aircraft Carrier AQUILA. The Flettner Fl 282 Kolibri (Humming Bird) as well as the much larger Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 Drache (Dragon) helicopter entered series production during the war and formed the basis for all post-war helicopters. The most likely 1944-1945 Carrier Aircraft for the GRAF ZEPPELIN are: - The Carrier version of the Arado E 240 V3 which was designated Ar E 310 (as Multi Purpose Carrier Aircraft (Dive Bomber, Torpedo Bomber, Level Bomber, Reconnaissance, Smoke Layer, Mine Layer) and replacement for the Ju 87 E-1 The third prototype of the Ar E 240, called Ar E 240 V3 (V3 for "Versuchsmaschine 3" which can be roughly translated as Prototype 3 in english) was used for the Ar E 310. For all intents and purposes the Ar E 310 was equal to the Ar E 240 V3, the main difference being that the Ar E 310 was the designation for the Carrier Aircraft adapted variant of the Ar E 240 V3. - Messerschmitt Me 155 A-1 as Carrier Fighter (Fighter and Escort Fighter), (several authors have reached the conclusion that the Me 155 A was redesignated Me 209 V5 in 1943 after Admiral Dönitz had ordered that GRAF ZEPPELIN was not to be completed) - Flettner Fl 282 Kolibri as Carrier Helicopter (Anti Submarine Helicopter)

EDIT 2020: This whole topic was published in response to the "GRAF ZEPPELIN rework" that took place from late 2017 to early 2018 and many of the remarks posted refer to the "RTS Carrier" version of the GRAF ZEPPELIN that was replaced by the "Action Carrier" version of the GRAF ZEPPELIN that was released in February 2019 as a result of the Carrier rework that was implemented with version 8.0. As such this topic is in need of a serious rewrite which I might undertake if I time permits. Until then I will post some data in this topic that I have posted in other topics on the EU/NA forum on the subject of the current German Carriers and which one way or another impact on the GRAF ZEPPELIN or the WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN.

EDIT 2020: AUTHENTIC GRAF ZEPPELIN MOD FOR WOWS When the "Carrier Rework" and the resulting "Action Carriers" were introduced in February 2019 my earlier "RTS Carriers" mod titled AUTHENTIC GRAF ZEPPELIN (of which version 2.0 was the latest version, which can still found in this archived post below) became defunct. I thoroughly reworked the mod but have until now not published it anywhere. Due to some requests about the updated version of the mod I recently published the "Carrier Rework" version of the AUTHENTIC GRAF ZEPPELIN mod on the NEXUS. The much improved AUTHENTIC GRAF ZEPPELIN mod can as a result now be found here on the NEXUS: https://www.nexusmods.com/worldofwarships/mods/1 The THULE AUTHENTIC GRAF ZEPPELIN MOD FOR WOWS is an artistic and authentic/historical mod for the game World of Warships. The mod files have been created by the mod author ONLY for the purpose and reason of study, historical interest/accuracy and authenticity and the mod is NOT intended for any other reason or purpose than that. The default ("vanilla") presentation of the German Aircraft Carrier GRAF ZEPPELIN in the game World of Warships (WOWS) is unauthentic/wrong in several key aspects. The THULE AUTHENTIC GRAF ZEPPELIN mod corrects some of those aspects and generally follows the authentic (historical) data provided by credible authors/historians on the subject. The THULE AUTHENTIC GRAF ZEPPELIN mod replaces some of the default WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN files with more authentic/historically accurate files that are based on data from credible authors/historians. The mod shows the GRAF ZEPPELIN as she would have looked in late 1943 had she been stationed in Norway in the Faettenfjord near Drontheim (Trondheim). One of the reasons for this mod, is to assist WOWS Developers in adding the authentic Flight Deck Markings and Lights, Squadron Aircraft Emblems and Individual Identification Markings to their default ("vanilla") WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN ship model in order to make their default ("vanilla") ship model more AUTHENTIC. The mod files have been created by the mod author ONLY for the purpose and reason of study, historical interest/accuracy and authenticity and the mod is NOT intended for any other reason or purpose than that. If you do NOT like study and authenticity/historical accuracy then this mod is NOT for you and do NOT download it. The "RTS Carrier" version 2.0 - as well as even lower numbered versions - of the AUTHENTIC GRAF ZEPPELIN mod are defunct and archived below. EDIT 2018: AUTHENTIC GRAF ZEPPELIN MOD FOR WOWS (Archived)

IMAGES CONCERNING TEXTURES FOR THE RE-DESIGNED GRAF ZEPPELIN The following images are part of an authenticity based proposal for the unique camouflage pattern which is going to be supplied by WOWS to the original buyers and keepers of the GAMESCOM GRAF ZEPPELIN. The proposal is based on what an authentic GRAF ZEPPELIN would have looked like in 1943 based on data from credible authors on the subject of camouflage (Robert Gehringer, Dieter Jung, Arno Abendroth, Norbert Kelling et al) and specifically on the GRAF ZEPPELIN (Ulrich Israel et al). PROPOSED GRAF ZEPPELIN CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN - FAETTENFJORD, NORWAY GRAF ZEPPELIN MODEL - EXAMPLE BRIGHT YELLOW FLIGHT DECK BARS GRAF ZEPPELIN MODEL - EXAMPLE BRIGHT YELLOW FLIGHT DECK BARS AND NATIONAL FLAG EDIT: IMAGE OF 1./I./186 (T) EMBLEM FOR 1943 GRAF ZEPPELN CARRIER AIRCRAFT EDIT: PHOTOGRAPHS OF EMBLEM AND MARKINGS ON Ju 87 OF 1./I./186 (T)

GAMEPLAY AND AUTHENTICITY Well NO gameplay, does NOT trump all Tuccy, you shot yourself in the foot there. The WOWS GAMESCOM GRAF ZEPPELIN has lousy gameplay which is the whole reason for the first post in this topic. Something can have both, good gameplay and be authentic, the two are not mutually exclusive. In any event I prefer AUTHENTICITY over FANTASY, and not something vague as "play balance", which is like beauty in the eye of the beholder. What is AUTHENTICITY? That means that something has the ESSENTIAL features of the real thing. Essential features like Aircraft Ordered, Air Complement Size, Strike Force Size, Number of Squadrons, Top Speed etc. USING SOURCES As is obvious from your statements you have not read the "Flugzeugträger Graf Zeppelin" book by Ulrich Israel, which is fine by me but that kind of limits your perspective and frame of reference on this subject. So your frame of reference is different. I cannot speak intelligently on let us say gardening because I have not studied the subject in detail and because I have at best a vague interest in it. I can have an opinion on gardening and might even have some good remarks and observations concerning it, but my level of knowledge would not be on par with those of a qualified gardener who has both theoretical and practical experience. By itself reading a book means nothing, what one does with what one has read however is important. And if the GRAF ZEPPELIN book by Ulrich Israel was used by WOWS developers then obviously little to nothing has been done with the contents of that book by the WOWS developers. They did not even get the deck colours right which are described in detail by Ulrich Israel. GRAF ZEPPELIN's 1942+ FIGHTER WAS THE Me 155 A-1 The Me 155 A was NOT abandoned in fact it was THE 1943 Fighter Aircraft for GRAF ZEPPELIN without a shadow of a doubt. your really are very wrong there to put it nicely. The full War Diary of the Sea War Command (Kriegstagebuch der Seekriegsleitung) which has survived and was published years ago contains all the information on the command decisions of the aircraft for GRAF ZEPPELIN that WOWS developers should have read. And Ulrich Israel has published key parts of that War Diary which pertain to the GRAF ZEPPELIN in his book. Thanks to Ulrich Israel his study we know quite a lot about the aircraft setup for a 1943+ GRAF ZEPPELIN: the Me 155 A (which started first under the name Me 109 ST, then renamed Me 409 and then renamed Me 155 A and which was totally unrelated to the high altitude Me 109 H, Me 155 B and BV 155) was started after 30 May 1942, because on that date the order was given by the Supreme Commander of the War Navy (Ob.d.M., Raeder) to equip GRAF ZEPPELIN with 48x naval Me 109 G, those naval Me 109 G became the Me 155 A project which ran at least until 02 February 1942 when the new Supreme Commander of the War Navy (Dönitz) ordered completion of the GRAF ZEPPELIN to halt. NO Me 109 T, Ju 87 C (T) AND Fi 167 FOR GRAF ZEPPELIN IN 1942+ In the War Diary it is recorded that in 1942 the RLM (Reich Air Ministry, who was in charge of Aircraft design, production and the establishment of Air Units for GRAF ZEPPELIN) stated to the War Navy Supreme Commander that the Engine and the Airframe production lines for the Ju 87 C-1 (also named T), the Me 109 T-1 and Fi 167 were no longer in existence and that they would also not be setup for old 1939-era Aircraft which by 1942 were hopelessly outdated. The Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces (Hitler), according to the same War Diary, also stated that the GRAF ZEPPELIN Aircraft should at least be equal to the Carrier Aircraft of other nations. So production of the 1939-era Me 109 T-1, Ju 87 C-1 and Fi 167 A-1 was out of the question and no such order was ever given, quite the contrary in fact. What the RLM did report on 06 February 1942 to the Supreme Commander of the War Navy was that of the originally built Me 109 T, Ju 87 C, Fi 167 the Air Force still had available: - 50x Me 109 T (5x Me 109 T-1 in storage in Erling, 15x Me 109 T-2 under repair at Fieseler in Kassel, 30x Me 109 T-2 operationally deployed by Luftflotte 5 (=Air Fleet 5)) - 4x Ju 87 T (= Ju 87 C) - 13x Fi 167 GRAF ZEPPELIN AIRCRAFT FOR 1942+ The RLM (Reich Air Ministry) also reported that the Me 109 T, Ju 87 C (T), Fi 167 would NOT be used by the GRAF ZEPPELIN on operations, since the aircraft were too outdated and were impossible to replace, instead they were to be used ONLY for testing and training. The GRAF ZEPPELIN belonged to the War Navy but the Aircraft and Aviators on GRAF ZEPPELIN belonged to the Air Force, so they had the final say on Aircraft and Aviators. The RLM reported that they could and would develop adapted versions of the then current Ju 87 D and Me 109 G and deliver them on time for operational use on GRAF ZEPPELIN by 1943. At NO point did the RLM in 1942 ever state or consider operationally deploying the old 1939-era Me 109 T, Ju 87 C (also named T) and Fi 167 on GRAF ZEPPELIN in 1943+. To underline the obvious, the Supreme Commander of the heavily outnumbered German Air Force made clear in 1942 that the Air Force would not put their precious few Carrier landing trained pilots into old outdated 1939-era Aircraft on board of GRAF ZEPPELIN in 1943 to then fight superior performance 1943-era enemy Aircraft. The RLM instead in 1942 stated that they would also develop fully new and dedicated Carrier Aircraft, but that these would not be ready before 1946. Until 1946 the German Carriers, those which were ordered to be completed in 1942 (4x Auxiliary Carriers and 1x GRAF ZEPPELIN), were to make do with specially adapted naval versions of the existing production lines of the Me 109 G and Ju 87 D, in other words the Me 155 A-1 and Ju 87 E-1. Both Ulrich Israel and Manfred Griehl mention that the Me 155 A and Ju E were developed after 30 May 1942, when GRAF ZEPPELIN was ordered to be completed. As was standard practice in Germany, Aircraft Engineers would take older left-over aircraft and use their airframes and engines to rebuild them to the standards of the aircraft they were then designing for trials and tests. Author Manfred Griehl mentions that at least 1x Ju 87 E-1 prototype was definitely built in 1942 by adapting an earlier Ju 87 D prototype. A earlier Ju 87 D-4 prototype was fitted with the new torpedo launching equipment developed for the new Carrier Ju 87 E-1 and the Air Force kept testing this equipment from 1942 at least up till 1944, in case GRAF ZEPPELIN was to be completed again. So no, you are VERY VERY wrong, no Me 109 T and Ju 87 C in 1943+ for GRAF ZEPPELIN to be used operationally. The Me 155 A-1 (= naval Me 109 G-6) and Ju 87 E-1 (= naval Ju 87 D-5) projects and their designs and prototypes were a reality in 1942 and their production would have been a reality in 1943. It is not that difficult for WOWS to implement Tuccy, the WOWS developers only need to use the specifications of the Me 109 G-6 and the Ju 87 D-5 which is what the naval Me 155 A-1 and Ju 87 E-1 were fully based on. NO RE-ANIMATION OF Me 109 T, Ju 87 C (T) IN 1942+ There was never a "re-animation" of the Me 109 T or Ju 87 C (also named T) in 1942+ Tuccy, you are just plain wrong there. Check the books by Manfred Griehl, the many volumes of "Die deutsche Luftfahrt" (volume 17 for example) etc. The series "Die deutsche Luftfahrt" is especially interesting since that series was started on the initiative of the Aircraft Designer Dr. Ludwig Bolkow and for the series as many German wartime designers and their documentation etc. were consulted as possible. Dr. Ludwig Bolkow was a key wartime Messerschmitt designer who during the war among other things worked on the Me 109 H (high altitude fighter), the Me 409 and Me 155 B (high altitude fighter) as well as the Me 262. From that book (and also reported by Ulrich Israel) it can be learned that the new 1942 Carrier Fighter Aircraft naval Me 109 G project was first started under the name Project Name Me 109 ST (Spezial Träger Flugzeug), after which the Messerschmitt firm also received the order for a new High Altitude Fighter. The Me 109 H High Altitude Fighter Aircraft project and the new Me 109 ST were then both combined under the same Project name Me 409, even though this project had two totally separate and totally dedicated designs teams which continued working on the two totally different aircraft. Both design teams used the then current Me 109 G as the base model to create their new designs. Then the Project named Me 409, with its two different designer teams, was again renamed and the Carrier team project was renamed the Me 155 A Carrier Fighter Aircraft and High Altitude part became the Me 155 B High Altitude Fighter Aircraft. The firm of SNCAN in Paris was then also hired by Messerschmitt to work on the Me 155 A project. Dr. Bolkow meanwhile worked on the Me 155 B until it was handed over to Blohm and Voss who turned it into the BV 155. Bolkow together with Messerschmitt and Blohm after 1945 started the MBB Aviation company which today is called Airbus (Germany). I find Bolkow a more credible source on this than your statements. NO FEET DRAGGING There was no "feet dragging" by the Luftwaffe, quite the opposite actually looking at the special Travemünde Carrier Trial, Test and Training center setup in 1937, the scheduled design and production orders and the establishment of Carrier Air units in 1938+. In early 1942 the RLM ordered the Air Force to collect all the Carrier pilots who had belonged to former Trägergeschwader 186 in 1939 (when that fully raised Trägergeschwader 186 in 1939 had 3x Dive Combat Squadrons with Ju 87 and 3x Fighter Squadrons with Me 109 and 2x Group Staff Flights) and concentrate all the former Carrier Aircraft built (Me 109 T, Ju 87, Fi 167, Ar 96, Ar 195, Ar 197, He 50) at Travemünde where in an 11-month period alone from 1942 to 1943 over a 1,000 Carrier landings were carried out. The "Eprobungs-Stelle See" (Trial Center Sea) in Travemünde was built in 1937 by the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) specifically for naval aviation testing and training for the 8x planned Fleet Aircraft Carriers (so including GRAF ZEPPELIN) and the planned 4x Auxiliarry Carriers of the German War Navy. The Trial Center had several catapult test installations including the KL 5/1-4 catapults which were installed on board of GRAF ZEPPELIN. The Catapults at Travemünde could be swung in different directions, with no-wind, side-wind, back-wind, front-wind etc. for testing. At Travemünde there was a 5000 m2 large circular concrete airfield which was mounted on a turn able platform which itself had a 5.4 meters diameter. The 5000m2 airfield runway on the turnable platform was divided into five areas the size of the flight deck of GRAF ZEPPELIN (the outline of the 24 meter wide GRAF ZEPPELIN flight deck was painted on the five runways which each angled at 30 degrees) and equipped with the same landing cables and equipment which were installed on GRAF ZEPPELIN in order to test and train for carrier landings and establish the timing and procedures for such. Since the platform on which the five runways rested was turnable the runways and the landings could be tested under all wind conditions (front, side, rear etc.), meaning the runways could be swung into the wind, sideway to the wind, rear to the wind etc. The Air Force kept on testing the Carrier Aircraft, Carrier Ordnance, Compressed Air Catapults, Carrier landings and processing, Arresting Equipment etc. etc. for the German Carriers at the E-Stelle in Travemünde up to 1945, so even after all work on the German Carriers had long been halted by the Navy on 02 February 1943. COMPOSITION AIR COMPLEMENT GRAF ZEPPELIN 1942+ The Air Complement ordered for use on board GRAF ZEPPELIN on 30 May 1942 by the Supreme Commander of the War Navy was 102x Aircraft (including reserves), the War Diary is quite specific on that. The 102x Aircraft were intended to be used on board of GRAF ZEPPELIN. It is also documented that on July 1942 the RLM (Reich Air Ministry) scheduled the production of 220x Ju 87 E and Me 155 A up till 1943. So that is an initial production order of 2x OR TWICE the Aircraft Complement and then some for GRAF ZEPPELIN. Here is how the authentic GRAF ZEPPELIN Carrier-Group would operate in 1943: Every squadron has 12x Aircraft + 6x Reserves (mentioned by Ulrich Israel). There were 3x Multi-Purpose Squadrons on 1943 GRAF ZEPPELIN and 2x Fighter-Squadrons AND there was also the Group Staff Flight (the Carrier-Group Commander with his personal flight of Fighters) which had 6x Aircraft + 6x Reserves. That makes 5x12 = 60 + 1x6 = 66 Flight ready Aircraft and 6x6= 36 Reserves = 102x Aircraft as the total Air Complement for GRAF ZEPPELIN. The Strike Force would consist of 1x6 Me 155 A-1 of the Group Staff Flight and 2x8 Me 155 A-1 and 3x8 Ju 87 E-1 making 46x Aircraft total IN THE AIR (22x Me 155 A-1 and 24x Ju 87 E-1). In WOWS terminology they would be organized in an IN AIR strenght of 3x Fighter-Aircraft-Squadrons and 3x Multi-Purpose-Aircraft-Squadrons. If we further translate the authentic GRAF ZEPPELIN Air Group into WOWS Terminology that makes a WOWS IN-AIR Strike Force of: 3x7= 21x Me 155 A-1 Fighters and 3x8= 24x Ju 87 E-1. The remaining 27x Me 155 A-1 and 30x Ju 87 E-1 would remain on board. The 2x Compressed Air Catapults on the front of the GRAF ZEPPELIN Flight Deck each could launch 8x Aircraft (=one Squadron-Flight) in 3.5 minutes, so all 46x Aircraft in the Strike Force could be launched in about 10.5 to 11 minutes. The German Air Force used a special starter fuel mixture which allowed them to start Aircraft Engines and have the Aircraft ready for launching in about 3 minutes, this saved both valuable time and fuel, since USA and other nation Aircraft had to run their engines for 20+ minutes before they could take off. And while the Aircraft were being launched on GRAF ZEPPELIN other Aircraft could still be landed and processed (for example Ju 87 E-1 returning from reconnaissance or mine laying missions) since GRAF ZEPPELIN was designed to be able to launch, land and process Aircraft at the same time. This was possible due the dual (2x) 21-meter long Compressed Air Catapults and the large three (3x) 6.5 ton capacity Aircraft Size Elevators 2x of which were so placed that they could still process Aircraft during the launching and landing procedures. No Aircraft Carrier in the world could launch, process and land aircraft at the same time. Catapults with the capabilities of those on GRAF ZEPPELIN were only introduced by other navies in the 1950s (GB and USA). Additionally 8x Fighter-Aircraft would always be kept ready on the Hanger Decks for immediate launching in case of an Emergency, which could all be in the air within 3.5 minutes since their engines would be at start temperatures via the use of a special starter fuel mixture which allowed them to be launched without warming up their engines for 20+ minutes like on USA and other nations Carriers. EDIT: RLM ORDERED FIRST PRODUCTION SERIES OF 335x NEW CARRIER AIRCRAFT IN 1942 In July 1942 the RLM scheduled 335x total Carrier Aircraft to be built and ready in 1943 for GRAF ZEPPELIN. Of that number 102x Aircraft would be part of the GRAF ZEPPELIN Air Complement (including reserves). So doing the math, that makes 335-102 = 233x Aircraft left ashore in 1943. Now those 335x were the FIRST scheduled production batch. It is not so that no more than these 335x Aircraft would be built for GRAF ZEPPELIN, this was only the first scheduled production series ordered by the RLM. Of that first production series of 335x Carrier Aircraft for 1943 Ulrich Israel reports that of that number 115x were going to be a Ju 87 E pre-production series since that was ordered in July 1942 (as it was a pre-production series they would probably have gone into service as Ju 87 E-0 and the first "real" series would be named Ju 87 E-1, just as had been the case with the Ju 87 C-0/1 and Me 109 T-0/1). So 335-115= 220x Me 155 A-1 were ordered to be built by the RLM in July 1942, they probably too would have been a pre-production series called Me 155 A-0 after which the first "real" production series would be named Me 155 A-1. In other words, the 335x Carrier Aircraft were the pre-production series of Aircraft ordered for 1943, the first "real" production series would follow after that. To sum it up, in July 1942 the RLM ordered a series of 335x pre-production Carrier Aircraft, consisting of 115x Ju 87 E and 220x Me 155 A Carrier Aircraft which were to be completed and delivered in 1943 for use by GRAF ZEPPELIN. Since 102x Carrier Aircraft (including reserves) were ordered to be the GRAF ZEPPELIN Air Complement on 30 May 1942 that left a total of 233x Carrier Aircraft ashore in 1943. EDIT and CORRECTION: The above section has been edited and corrected because further research has meanwhile made clear that a total of 335x Carrier Aircraft were in fact ordered in 1942 by the German Air Force for GRAF ZEPPELIN. In 1942 it was 220x Me 155 A-1 which were ordered to be built and delivered in 1943, and 115x Ju 87 E-1 were also ordered in 1942 to be built and delivered in 1943. So the total Carrier Aircraft ordered in 1942 to be built and delivered in 1943 was 220 + 115 = 335x Carrier Aircraft. Of that total 48x Me 155 A-1 and 54x Ju 87 E-1 were to be the Air Complement of GRAF ZEPPELIN for 1943-1944 (so 102x Aircraft in total). The rest (233x Carrier Aircraft, about 70% of the total number of 1943 Carrier Aircraft) would be strategic reserve and training aircraft. IN 1942 AIR FORCE ORDERS ORGANIZATION AND ESTABLISHMENT OF GRAF ZEPPELIN AIR UNITS The War Diary of the Sea War Command (KTB der Skl) records that: On 25 August 1942 "Luftwaffe" (Air Force) Generalmajor Hans Ritter who was "Befehlshaber der Marineflieger" (=Commander of Naval Aviators) and also "Inspekteur der Seeflieger" (=Inspector of Sea Aviators) and also the "Gen.d.Lw." (General der Luftwaffe) who was detached to the Ob.d.M. (Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine, Supreme Commander of the War Navy) ordered that until 01 March 1943 at the latest for use on board GRAF ZEPPELIN there was to be formed a "Trägergruppe" (Carrier-Group) consisting of: - 1x "Gruppenstab" (1x Group-Staff with 6xFlight + 6xReserve = 12x naval Me 109 G-6 Fighter-Aircraft (Me 155 A-1)), - 3x "Träger-Mehrzweckstaffeln" (3x Carrier-Multi-Purpose-Squadrons with 3x 12xFlight + 6xReserve = 54x naval Ju 87 D-5 Multi-Purpose-Aircraft (Ju 87 E-1), - 2x "Träger-Jagd-Staffeln" (2x Carrier-Fighter-Squadrons with 2x 12xFlight + 6xReserve = 36x naval Me 109 G Fighter-Aircraft (Me 155 A-1), - a "LT-Betriebszug" ("Lufttorpedo-Betriebszug" meaning Aerial Torpedo Operations Platoon for maintenance, service and loading of Aerial Torpedos). That makes 102x Aircraft total for GRAF ZEPPELIN (= 6+36+24 = 66x FLIGHT-Aircraft and 6+18+12 = 36x RESERVE-Aircraft, 66+36 = 102x Aircraft TOTAL). On 25 August 1942 Ritter also ordered that until 01 May 1943 at the latest a "Trägerergänzungsgruppe" (Carrier-Supplementation-Group) was to be formed. The "Trägerergänzungsgruppe" (Carrier-Supplementation-Group) was to consist of: - 1x "Gruppenstab" (1x Group-Staff), - 1x "Träger-Mehrzweckstaffel" (1x Carrier-Multi-Purpose-Squadron), - 1x "Träger-Jagd-Staffel" (1x Carrier-Fighter-Squadron). Additionally a "Trägerfliegerkommando" (Carrier Aviator Command) was ordered to be formed by Ritter to command and control the GRAF ZEPPELIN "Trägerfliegergruppe" (Carrier-Aviator-Group) from the ship. When it came to the Aircraft, the Aircrew, the Aircraft maintenance etc. the Air Force was in the driver seat concerning GRAF ZEPPELIN, and not the War Navy. Having said that, the whole Air Force staff working on these GRAF ZEPPELIN naval matters and most of the initial naval Aviators were former War Navy personnel who had transferred to the Air Force, so the inter-service cooperation on that level was excellent according to those involved. GERMAN AND JAPANESE NAVAL COOPERATION After the signing of the Tri-Power Pact (Axis Berlin-Rome-Tokio) on 27 September 1940 the Japanese Navy permanently kept a staff of 20-30 Naval Officers in Germany to study German Technology in the War Industry etc. and to take part in Trials. Germany supplied Japan with high technology, like radar, blue prints for high performance engines etc. and in return Japanese Naval Officers were made available to the German War Navy to answer questions with regard to Japanese Aircraft Carrier Construction and the Organization of Flight procedures on board Japanese Carriers. JAPANESE NAVY WANTS TO BUY GRAF ZEPPELIN The War Diary of the Sea War Command (KTB der Skl) on 16 June 1942 records that the German Naval Attache in Tokio reports that the Japanese War Navy requests to buy the GRAF ZEPPELIN. The Sea War Command (Skl) informs the Japanese liaison officer attached to the Skl that the GRAF ZEPPELIN will not be ready for operations before the middle of 1943 and that she is to be used by the German Sea War Command on operations, without giving further details than that (to the Japanese liaison officer). AIRCRAFT CARRIERS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE IN THE 1940s Aircraft Carriers of the 1940s were not as technologically complex as say rocket science, inventing computers, inventing and building jet and rocket aircraft, smart bombs and cruise missiles or splitting atoms (see what I did there). And building Aircraft Carriers and coming up with Aircraft Carrier Flight Procedures and estimates and calculations for expected losses and replacements (reserves) is not so difficult a problem that Germans Engineers and Naval and Air Force professionals were incapable of grasping or solving that as seem to you imply. DIFFERENCES PACIFIC AND NORTHERN NORTH ATLANTIC CARRIER OPERATIONS Compare Apples with Apples, not Oranges. Comparing Fleet Carrier Operations in the generally nice weather and calm seas Pacific with the almost always rough weather and heavy seas North Atlantic is like comparing the Air War on the Eastern Front with the Air War over Western Europe. A totally different "war" with a set of totally different circumstances. The USA Navy permanently stored Aircraft on board the Flight Deck in the Pacific, that would be out of the question in the North Atlantic due to the prevailing bad weather conditions and the heavy seas. The USA Carriers could not in the northern North Atlantic have used the exact same Carrier Flight Deck procedures that they used in the Pacific. Also the reserve Aircraft aboard USA Carriers were disassembled, hanging from the Hanger ceiling. In a short and sharp naval battle they could not use them. So in the North Atlantic the USA Aircraft Carriers could not use a Flight Deck full of Aircraft and they could also not get their reserve Aircraft into the kind of short sharp fight that GRAF ZEPPELIN would have fought against them. In other words the USA Carriers in the North Atlantic (especially in the Norway region) would have had far fewer Aircraft on operations than they could have in the Pacific. So forget about the inflated USA Carrier Aircraft numbers that are listed for USA Carriers that operated in the Pacific also being applicable in the North Atlantic, the Pacific numbers of Aircraft they could not have hoped to use if they had been forced to operate in the rough northern North Atlantic. And if GRAF ZEPPELIN and an USA Carrier would have met, it would have been in the North Atlantic, not in the Pacific. So forget about using data from the generally calm sea nice weather Pacific area Carrier Battles and thinking that whatever Carrier Aircraft processing procedures and Aircraft IN-AIR numbers were used in the Pacific would also apply to the North Atlantic for USA Fleet Carriers. WOWS WITH UNLIMITED AIRCRAFT PER AIRCRAFT CARRIER It might be well worth for WOWS to give all aircraft carriers unlimited aircraft in WOWS, after all the guns and torpedo launchers on all ships in WOWS also have unlimited ammo. And the aircraft are the "ammo" of the Carriers. In that way WOWS could also avoid the nasty aircraft strength comparisons of Carriers in the Pacific and North Atlantic. It would also be more fair in terms of game play. GRAF ZEPPELIN, LEXINGTON, ENTERPRISE HANGER DECKS COMPARISON As to Hanger Deck space and Hanger Deck capacity the real world data leads me to different conclusions than you have reached. The GRAF ZEPPELIN was by any standards a very large Aircraft Carrier (262.5 meters long, 31.5 meters wide, displacement of 33,550 tons). As stated GRAF ZEPPELIN was easily the largest purpose designed and built aircraft carrier in the world up till 1942 and arguably up till 1945. The LEXINGTON, SARATOGA, AKAGI and KAGA were also very large Aircraft Carriers, but they were not purpose designed and built as Aircraft Carriers like GRAF ZEPPELIN was, instead they were converted Battle Cruisers except for KAGA which was a converted Battleship. The GRAF ZEPPELIN had quite large hangers but the planned Air Component to be stationed on the ship was kept relatively small in 1935-1939, leading many to believe that the ship could not house many aircraft. The huge dimensions of the hangers make clear that this is in fact not true. The small aircraft numbers in the 1935-1936 design specifications were due to the fact that the 1935-1936 GRAF ZEPPELIN designers had NO dimensions for the future German Carrier Aircraft that the Air Force was going to supply because these Aircraft did not exist when the ship was being designed. Also the production of Carrier Aircraft was something which did not have top priority, again forcing the designers to build a large ship that was about to be used and modernized over a 20 to 25 year period and house as many aircraft as possible. In order to be on the safe side they made a VERY conservative estimate of the aircraft that the ship would actually have on board. Looking at the hard data it becomes clear just how large the ship was. GRAF ZEPPELIN had these minimum Hanger dimensions: - Upper Hanger Deck: about 6.5 meters high, about 15.5 to 16 meters wide, about 185 meters long. - Lower Hanger Deck: about 6.5 meters high, about 15.5 to 16 meters wide, about 170 to 172 meters long. Taking the most conservative figures that gives the following minimum square meters of Hanger Deck space for GRAF ZEPPELIN: - Upper Hanger Deck: 15.5 meters width x 185 meters long = 2876.5 square meters - Lower Hanger Deck: 15.5 meters width x 170 meters long = 2638 square meters In total GRAF ZEPPELIN had a minimum of 5514.5 square meters of Hanger Deck space divided over two Hanger Decks. Comparing GRAF ZEPPELIN's two Hanger Decks with the LEXINGTON Aircraft Carrier, which had only ONE Hanger Deck as was the design practice on USA Aircraft Carriers, is insightful. LEXINGTON when built in 1927 had these Hanger Deck dimensions: - Hanger Deck: minimum height about 6.4 meters high, about 20.7 meters wide, about 129.2 meters long. That gives LEXINGTON the following minimum square meters of Hanger Deck space: - Hanger Deck: 20.7 meters width x 129.2 meters long = 2674.44 square meters. Comparing the totals is insightful: - GRAF ZEPPELIN has 5514.5 square meters of Hanger Deck space divided over two Hanger Decks. - LEXINGTON has 2674.44 square meters of Hanger Deck space on one Hanger Deck. That means that the 33,550 tons GRAF ZEPPELIN had more than 2x or DOUBLE (206.19%) the Hanger space of 36,000 tons LEXINGTON. Even when one accepts a purported claim of 3114.9 square meters of Hangar space on LEXINGTON that is still substantially less than the minimum 5514.5 square meters of Hanger Deck space on GRAF ZEPPELIN. LEXINGTON and her sister ship SARATOGA were the two largest USA Aircraft Carriers in WW2. The 1945 MIDWAY was larger than GRAF ZEPPELIN and also larger than the LEXINGTON and SARATOGA, but MIDWAY was commissioned on 10 September 1945 so she was too late to actually participate in WW2. The YORKTOWN-class USA Aircraft Carriers when built in 1937 had these Hanger Deck dimensions: - Hanger Deck: minimum height about 5.25 meters high, about 19.2 meters wide, about 166.42 meters long. That gives the YORKTOWN-class the following minimum square meters of Hanger Deck space: - Hanger Deck: 19.2 meters width x 166.42 meters long = 3195.26 square meters. Comparing the totals is insightful: - GRAF ZEPPELIN has 5514.5 square meters of Hanger Deck space divided over two Hanger Decks. - YORKTOWN, HORNET, and ENTERPRISE had 3195.26 square meters of Hanger Deck space on one Hanger Deck. That means that the 33,550 tons GRAF ZEPPELIN had 1.72x or 172.58% of the Hanger space of the three 25,500 tons YORKTOWN class USA Aircraft Carriers (YORKTOWN, HORNET, and ENTERPRISE). In other words the YORKTOWN-class had a Hanger Deck space of only 57.94% that of GRAF ZEPPELIN.

Hold on, we just a few days ago had a whole Silver ship line with 8x new British Battleships released, as well as the "Mighty Hood" and the "Nelson", a ship bearing the name of arguably Britain's greatest naval hero. There also recently was the "Dunkirk" WOWS mission including a British unique Commander "Jack Dunkirk", who in fact was the second unique Commander in WOWS after Steven Seagal. And then you are "insulted" because you also did not get a British Aircraft Carrier? You also might want to consider that pre-1950s British ships might not in 2017 be such top sellers in today's world as let us say the ships of some other nations? Do not be so easily insulted. As an Englishman should say "a gentleman will not insult me and anything less cannot insult me". There is not one ship in the game which has the flag of "my" nation and "our" maritime history is quite a rich one. But that does not entitle "us" to "claim" anything in WOWS since it is a game made in Russia to my knowledge. Now maybe if the game was intended to showcase the might and glory of the pre-1950 British Royal Navy and if the game was made in Britain by the British government than your statement would be in place. Meanwhile remember that WOWS Staff have stated that the next British line in WOWS will be an Aircraft Carrier line. Do not be so easily insulted, instead keep a stiff upper lip and enjoy all the many fine looking British ships which have been released in WOWS in 2017 so far.

I understand what you are saying. There used to be a mod which allowed you to change rank descriptions and the first and last names of all nationalities in the WOWS. I used that mod to give the Commanders of several ships historical names combined with a historical Commander images mod. The commander images mod is still usable, but the renaming mod sadly has not been outdated for a long time as far as I know. As to GRAF ZEPPELIN, the buyers and keepers of her currently are the losers not the winners. We have no guarantee that GRAF ZEPPELIN will be either authentic or a good ship in WOWS. Do not consider the buyers and keepers some privileged group of people you need to join, some describe the buyers and keepers in not too positive terms and objectively speaking that is not without merit. To give you an update, on that GRAF ZEPPELIN Facebook group so far there is no serious discussion at all. It seems WOWS developers are "listening" to some key Carrier players who are vaguely informed as to the actual authentic GRAF ZEPPELIN but who have an idea how they want GRAF ZEPPELIN to be represented. That idea has little to do with what she actually would have had in 1943-1944 if one looks at what was actually ordered and planned to have in 1943+. If you want to study the GRAF ZEPPELIN I can really recommend the (out of print) 1994 book "Flugzeugträger Graf Zeppelin" by Ulrich Israel as the definitive book on the subject. Of the many books, magazines and articles which have been published about the GRAF ZEPPELIN over the years only Ulrich Israel his study covers all aspects of the ship and focuses on primary source documentation in his in-depth study of the ship. Almost anything you can think of regarding the ship and her armament is in that book. One thing is sure, WOWS developers have fully missed that book and they did not even get the colours and lighting of the Flight Deck, the Camouflage and Colours of the GRAF ZEPPELIN Aircraft, the Aircraft Emblems on the Fighters, the GRAF ZEPPELIN Carrier-Wing Aircraft Markings, the 1943 Aircraft types and Armament, NOT EVEN the maximum speed of the ship (33.80 knots) in 1943 etc. right. If all that is matters is what some WOWS key players want then I am refunding my GRAF ZEPPELIN. Not giving a Carrier the Aircraft with which with she would have deployed in 1943 (102x Aircraft were ordered for her on 30 May 1942 by the Supreme Commander of the German War Navy Erich Raeder, 48x naval Me 109 G-6 (called Me 155 A-1) and 54x naval Ju 87 D-5 (called Ju 87 E-1) is like taking 40 cm guns from the IOWA in WOWS and replacing them with 20cm guns. That might please some players, but I want ships to be authentic. So the way things seems to be going you are missing nothing. The GAMESCOM GRAF ZEPPELIN received 1939-era ME 109 T-1 and Ju 87 C-1 Aircraft which the German Air Force refused to build in 1942 because they were outdated, a 1943 GRAF ZEPPELIN would therefore never have gone to sea with them. Another key thing of GRAF ZEPPELIN was that she was able to launch and land aircraft at the same time. Her aircraft would not take-off on their own power from the Flight Deck like on most WW2 Carriers, but they would be launched from 2x Compressed Air Catapults which would each launch 8x Aircraft in 3.5 minutes, that is 16x Aircraft in 3.5 minutes and at the same time aircraft could land and be processed with the strategically placed 3x 6.5 ton load elevators. The catapults could launch Aircraft from 0 to 140 or 155 Km/h in 3 seconds depending on the aircraft weight, the aircraft could weigh up to 5800 kg max . Another key characteristic of the 33,550 tons GRAF ZEPPELIN is that she had 2x Hanger Decks with a combined Hanger Deck space of 5515 m2, the 36,000 tons LEXINGTON had only one Hanger Deck with 2674 m2 and the 25,500 tons ENTERPRISE only one Hanger Deck with 3195 m2. Yet in WOWS the LEXINGTON gets 72x Aircraft, the ENTERPRISE gets x96 Aircraft and the much larger GRAF ZEPPELIN gets only x72 Aircraft even though she would have been equipped with 102x Aircraft in 1943. Some people who are really vaguely informed about the 33,550 tons GRAF ZEPPELIN think that she was designed to only have 40, 43, 60 or 72 Aircraft not knowing that when GRAF ZEPPELIN was designed in 1935-1936 there were actually no German Carrier Aircraft in existence, so the ship designers had to guess the dimensions of the Carrier Aircraft that the Air Force was going to supply for GRAF ZEPPELIN. As a result the designers made a pessimistic estimate of what the huge ship, the largest purpose designed and built Aircraft Carrier up till 1942 and even arguably in WW2, could carry and that is where the 40 to 60 estimate comes from. The reason no German Carrier Aircraft existed in 1935-1936 was because Anglo-French weapon inspectors from 1918 to 1932 had been seeing to the dismantling of German Military Aviation and Military Aviation Engine Factories. The factories which were to supply the aircraft for GRAF ZEPPELIN were busy being created from 1935-1936 and Carrier Aircraft were not their top priority. The way things seem to be going now, it looks as if what some key players want is more important than simply incorporating key characteristics of the unique real world ship. I would not keep an unauthentic IOWA with 20cm guns and I will not keep a GRAF ZEPPELIN with a fantasy aircraft setup just become some key players think that is the way to go. So you might as well wait until everything is finished and then decide before you spend your money.

The sale did not "end" she was pulled from sale because the WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN was not finished and very underpowered and unauthentic at that. You did not miss anything. WOWS is asking us original owners to keep 50 to 100 real world money invested in a currently really underpowered unfinished product. There is no time line, which currently is fine with me, when GRAF ZEPPELIN will be redesigned and no guarantee that WOWS will make her "great". So the money already spent by the original buyers and keepers is a sign of "trust" and also an investment into WOWS for an indefinite period. So in return getting a unique Camouflage pattern and one-of-a-kind Commander for a ship which will never be part of a German Carrier line is really a minor gesture to these investors in "trust". As for me personally I do NOT care if WOWS take 6+ months to get GRAF ZEPPELIN right and AUTHENTIC (= having her essential features) AS LONG AS THE END RESULT IS AUTHENTIC (= having the ESSENTIAL features of the real world GRAF ZEPPELIN). That means that during this time WOWS will have my money and I will have an expensive faulty GRAF ZEPPELIN product. I am willing to make that investment IF WOWS developers really listen to everybody who has invested in the ship and not just some expert Carrier players like Farazelleth et al, since I do not have to be a Formula 1 race winner to have an qualified opinion on the kind of car I would like to drive. There is a good reason why real world formula 1 race winners are not all also race car developers, builders, engineers and maintenance personnel although their opinion is quite valuable for sure. Now if during this redesign period of the WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN we original buyers and keepers of GRAF ZEPPELIN get a different looking camouflage pattern and a unique Commander authentically named after the designated first Commander of the GRAF ZEPPELIN, Helmuth Brinkmann, is really a minor thing and not something for you to get upset about. Instead I have a better idea, how about WOWS setting up a system for crowd funded ships? So suppose WOWS setup a system where customers can sign up for a ship which is not in WOWS and where they can have a say in how the ship is developed. Would I advise WOWS to also do that for GRAF ZEPPELIN? No not right now, because at the moment getting the ship right is far more important than adding more things to the project which could go wrong. A crowd funded Italian Aircraft Carrier AQUILA would definitely be interesting though! The AQUILA used many design concepts of GRAF ZEPPELIN including the powerful 2x compressed air catapults which were originally built for the sister ship of GRAF ZEPPELIN (called Aircraft Carrier "B" and rumored to be named PETER STRASSER). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_aircraft_carrier_Aquila Would I Crowd Fund invest in a WOWS AQUILA? Probably yes, but ONLY If they release a good and AUTHENTIC redesigned WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN.

Although a special camouflage for the original buyers and keepers of GRAF ZEPPELIN is a nice gesture it would be an even better gesture to also give the original GRAF ZEPPELIN owners a unique Commander of the ship, the man chosen (according to author Ulrich Israel in his GRAF ZEPPELIN study) to command the GRAF ZEPPELIN was Captain (Kapitän zur See) Helmuth Brinkmann who was commander of the PRINZ EUGEN. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmuth_Brinkmann

I think implementing one-trick-pony specialized anti-something ships is a bad idea for several reasons. Currently two such weapons have been implemented or are being considered: - The AP bombs are intended to mostly to cripple German battleships only. - The Deep dive/running torpedoes are intended to mostly cripple battleships, and those which WOWS development gave the worst torpedo protection are the German battleships. If this approach is taken to the extreme you will see two things likely happening: 1. German battleship fans will stop playing the game over time and they will not move to other ships or ship classes because of their preferences. Less players is a bad thing for any game. 2. Aircraft Carriers will be unable to deal with the biggest threats to them: Destroyers and Cruisers. The Carriers will not be able to help the fleet deal with the Destroyers other than via spotting, and Destroyers are the ship class most responsible for capturing zones and thus winning matches. So we currently have popular ships, German battleships, and then someone at WOWS development comes up with the idea to develop specialized weapons to hurt specifically these popular ships to move players from these ships to other ships. Suppose that all works, then what will those players then go to? The Amagi, the Izumo? Or the look-alike-USA tier 8-10 battleships? Will we then get special anti-Japanese and USA battleship bombs and torpedoes too? If you start to implement measures which hurt the majority of your player base you are hurting your game. Simply acknowledge the fact that many players are mostly drawn to the Battleships, do not punish them for it but WORK with it. I seriously doubt that people which installed WOWS to use a BISMARCK will settle for an USSR destroyer because they can have more success with that ship in WOWS. If players are more likely to be Battleship fans in the same manner that people are more likely to be Ferrari fans than delivery van fans then do not try and herd them like cattle into the direction of a delivery van. If you take that approach you will not only get people out of their Battleships but also out of WOWS in the long term. Battleships inspire people more than a rowing boat. In like manner Battleships are to many people more impressive than a Destroyer. No matter what WOWS development does one of the key attractions to WOWS are the impressive looking Battleships. If you try and force people out of them, you take away the one thing which attracts them to this game. If you want to promote non-German Battleship, Aircraft Carrier, Cruiser and/or Destroyer game play then make the other ships more fun and interesting to play, do not make German Battleships more vulnerable unless you want to lose players. Common sense actually. As to Aircraft Carriers, their biggest non-Carrier threat comes from Destroyers which can both overtake them and spot them while they remaining hidden. The second biggest non-Carrier threat are Cruisers since they too are fast and from Tier 8-10 can have devastating Flak/AAA. If Aircraft Carriers are being equipped with anti-German-battleship bombs and torpedoes which will not help them combat the two ship classes which are the most difficult to spot and which are best at capturing zones then the value of Aircraft Carriers to the fleet they support is relatively minor except for spotting. Spotting however is NOT something which is a lot of FUN to do with an Aircraft Carrier however, it is not exactly rewarding or exciting to put it mildly. If WOWS starts making Aircraft Carriers which cannot fight off an enemy Destroyer or Cruiser which is hunting them then these Aircraft Carriers will not be really fun to play, the Carrier then becomes nothing more than an easy target for a Destroyer or Cruiser. So equipping Aircraft Carriers with weapons which prevent them from defending themselves from enemy Destroyers and Cruisers is just a bad idea since in game you will have to fight off more than just German battleships when in an Aircraft Carrier.

Being one of the first buyers of GRAF ZEPPELIN I welcome the statement made by WOWS Management on the ship. WOWS Management made a good apology and statement which is a good starting point, however the proof is in the actions which have to follow up on this apology and statement. If the words are not followed up by the appropriate actions then it will be remembered and will again backfire for the WOWS Management. Currently GRAF ZEPPELIN is a showcase of everything an Aircraft Carrier and above all a PREMIUM Aircraft Carrier should NOT be. So above all, hopefully the WARGAME Management will make sure that what their GRAF ZEPPELIN redesign statement promises will turn into reality. That reality will have to be a redesigned superb PREMIUM Aircraft Carrier which should be all-round (no one-trick-pony like AP-Bombs or Deep Running/Dive Torpedoes which are only good against German battleships for example), well balanced and the best PREMIUM Aircraft Carrier sold by WOWS to date. If the redesigned GRAF ZEPPELIN is not going to be the best PREMIUM Aircraft Carrier sold to date then the words of the WOWS Management will turn out to mean nothing. I for the time being will not spend a single cent on WOWS until I see that the redesigned PREMIUM Tier 8 GRAF ZEPPELIN turns into an Aircraft Carrier which is at least equal if not better than SILVER free-to-play Tier 8 SHOKAKU, which currently is the best Tier 8 Aircraft Carrier. I did not spend 50 real world currency to get a PREMIUM Aircraft Carrier which is in every way which matters INFERIOR to ALL other Tier 8 Aircraft Carriers as GRAF ZEPPELIN is now. I also do not WANT to buy for 50 real world currency a redesigned PREMIUM Aircraft Carrier GRAF ZEPPELIN which is STILL INFERIOR to a free-to-play SILVER Tier 8 Aircraft Carrier called SHOKAKU. If the redesigned GRAF ZEPPELIN in a couple of months from now is still inferior to SHOKAKU, as the current GRAF ZEPPELIN clearly is, then again what is the point of buying her? Why on earth would anybody spend 50 or more real world currency to get a ship which is outclassed by the Tier 8 SILVER free-to-play Aircraft Carrier called SHOKAKU. Pay-to-lose is not the way to go when releasing expensive PREMIUM ships WOWS Management, and that is especially so for the upcoming redesigned GRAF ZEPPELIN. To make the GRAF ZEPPELIN the best PREMIUM Aircraft Carrier yet a lot of work and above all good communication and GOOD EXPECTATION MANAGEMENT will be required. If the WARGAME management is smart then they will use the GRAF ZEPPELIN debacle and turn it from a disaster in a showcase public relations success story. A redesigned GRAF ZEPPELIN CAN become a public relations success story on several levels, by: 1.) Making the redesigned GRAF ZEPPELIN one of the most FUN and BEST if not THE best PREMIUM carrier to USE in WOWS. A place currently held by the SILVER free-to-play Aircraft Carrier SHOKAKU. 2.) Making sure that the redesigned GRAF ZEPPELIN is NOT inferior to ANY other Tier 8 Aircraft Carriers, which GRAF ZEPPELIN quite clearly is at the moment. 3,) Turning the redesigned GRAF ZEPPELIN into the PREMIUM Aircraft Carrier benchmark to which other WOWS Aircraft Carriers will be compared, this position is currently held by the SILVER free-to-play Aircraft Carrier SHOKAKU. 4.) Using the announced WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN Facebook group to effect a real collaborative redesign approach and to use that as a showcase to demonstrate not only the WOWS Management good will towards their customers but also how WARGAME is a game company that works WITH customers. In other words, to win back trust and prestige the WOWS Management will have to back up their statement with actions that actually make sure that the redesigned GRAF ZEPPELIN performs very well AND that the WOWS Management listens to feedback from paying customers and incorporates that into the redesign of the ship in WOWS. The one downside to the above WOWS Management statement is that the only customers which are included in the upcoming WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN Facebook group are the ones who will not ask for a refund. That means that the customers have to invest 50+ real world currency without ANY guarantee that their feedback and opinions will be actually listened to and that the redesigned WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN is any better. It would be nice if WOWS would incorporate some MEASUREMENT system in the GRAF ZEPPELIN Facebook group, to show what the proposed customer solutions are and what is actually done with them. For example: 1.) Let one person (developer) collect all proposals into a bullet point format and then have a vote and/or discussion on them in the GRAF ZEPPELIN Facebook group. 2.) Let developers explain why some proposals would be bad or good and do not just implement changes without communicating them before informing the customers in the WOWS GRAF ZEPPELIN Facebook group, after all they each invest at least 50+ real world currency. 3.) The 50+ real world currency is an investment in trust by the customers, above all else. Make sure that this trust is properly rewarded in both communication, collaboration and finished product (a very well redesigned GRAF ZEPPELIN). If the above is not done, then the Public Relations damage for WOWS Management will be greater than what happened the past few days the GRAF ZEPPELIN debacle.