Flugzeugträger B

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Career

Name:	Flugzeugträger B
Builder:	Germaniawerft, Kiel
Laid down:	1938
Fate:	Scrapped between February, 1940 and June, 1940
General characteristics
Displacement:	33,550 tonnes
Length:	262.5 m (861 ft 3 in)
Beam:	31.5 m (103 ft 4 in)
Draft:	7.6 m (24 ft 11 in)
Propulsion:	Geared turbines, 200,000 hp (150,000 kW), four screws
Speed:	35 kn (65 km/h)
Range:	14,816 km (8,000 nmi) at 19 kn (35 km/h)
Complement:	1,720 crew 306 flight personnel
Armament:	16 × Sk. 15 cm guns 12 × 10.5 cm Flak 22 × 3.7 cm Flak 28 × 2.0 cm Flak
Aircraft carried:	Complement of 50: 10 × Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters 20 × Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers 20 × Fieseler Fi 167 torpedo bombers

The Flugzeugträger B (Flugzeugträger is German for aircraft carrier) was the sister ship of the Kriegsmarine's only launched aircraft carrier, the Graf Zeppelin. The Kriegsmarine never named a vessel before it was launched, so it was only given the designation "B" ("A" was the Graf Zeppelin's designation before launch).

The actual name for the aircraft carrier was Peter Strasser, as confirmed in "Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II" 1994 Edition, on page 146.

The contract to build the ship was awarded to the Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft in Kiel in 1938, with a planned launch date on July 1, 1940. The hull was never launched, however, as construction stopped on September 19, 1939. Scrapping of the uncompleted carrier was started on February 28, 1940, a process taking four months.