Graf Zeppelin
105 mm/65 SK C/33 on a Dop. L. C/31 mount6 х 2 pcs. |
Firing Range6.25 km. |
Rate of Fire17.91 shots/min. |
Reload Time3.35 sec. |
HE Shell105 mm Spr.Gr. Kz. |
Maximum HE Shell Damage1,200 |
Initial HE Shell Velocity900 m./s. |
Chance of Fire on Target Caused by HE Shell5 % |
150 mm/55 SK C/28 on a Dop. MPL C/36 mount8 х 2 pcs. |
Firing Range6.25 km. |
Rate of Fire8 shots/min. |
Reload Time7.5 sec. |
HE Shell150 mm Spr.Gr. L/4.5 |
Maximum HE Shell Damage1,700 |
Initial HE Shell Velocity875 m./s. |
Chance of Fire on Target Caused by HE Shell8 % |
105 mm/65 SK C/33 on a Dop. L. C/31 mount6 х 2 pcs. |
. . . Average Damage per Second99.6 |
. . . Firing Range4.5 km. |
37 mm/69 Flak M42 on an LM/42 mount11 х 2 pcs. |
. . . Average Damage per Second113.3 |
. . . Firing Range3.51 km. |
20 mm/65 C/38 on a Flak 35 Vierling L/38 mount7 х 4 pcs. |
. . . Average Damage per Second44.8 |
. . . Firing Range2.01 km. |
Maximum Speed32 knot |
Turning Circle Radius1 140 m. |
Rudder Shift Time13.7 sec. |
Surface Detectability Range15.71 km. |
Air Detectability Range11.06 km. |
Graf Zeppelin — German special premium Tier VIII aircraft сarrier.
A high-speed aircraft carrier armed with numerous secondary and dual-purpose guns. She had the most powerful propulsion among all German Navy ships. The carrier was never completed because Germany's shipbuilding program priorities changed during the course of World War II.
Graf Zeppelin was first released for sale worldwide on 21 August 2017. She was not well-received by the player base, and Wargaming removed her from sale after only five days. After Update 0.8.0 reworked the aircraft carrier class, Graf Zeppelin was re-balanced and placed back on sale for the first time in nearly 20 months on 15 April 2019.
Modules
Speed (knot) | IDS_SHIP_PARAM_SQUADRON_MED_DAMAGE (HP/min) | IDS_SHIP_PARAM_SQUADRON_AMMO_AMOUNT | Hit Points (HP) |
Research price (exp) |
Purchase price () | ||
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Me 155A | 136 | 1,320 | 0 | 0 |
Maximum Torpedo Damage (HP) | Speed (knot) | Hit Points (HP) |
Research price (exp) |
Purchase price () | ||
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Ta 152C-1/R14 | 5,333 | 181 | 1,710 | 0 | 0 |
Compatible Upgrades
Slot 1 |
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Slot 2 |
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Slot 3 |
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Slot 4 |
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Slot 5 |
Player Opinion
Performance
Refer to the in-game Port screens for more useful data.
Graf Zeppelin is the only German aircraft carrier available in World of Warships until the release of Update 0.9.6. As such she differs greatly from all the other carriers present and gives her own unique flavor in-game. She currently sits at Tier VIII.
Graf Zeppelin's hull is worth a special mention. For one she boasts a threatening amount of secondary armament, which makes her a risky target for destroyers that can not avoid getting spotted. This also opens up the opportunity to use her late-game as a platform which engages through her secondaries and planes, but such maneuvers need to be carefully calculated or else the destruction of the ship will be imminent. Secondly, she features a reinforced hull plating which makes her immune to non-IFHE guns with a caliber of up to 128mm. Destroyer captains engaging her with artillery should be aware of that and switch to AP-shells in these cases.
The most potent planes of Graf Zeppelin are her torpedo bombers. Being able to fly at speeds of up to 227 knots they are capable of traveling far distances with ease, and can do quick “boom and zoom” attacks even against vessels with stronger AA defenses. Their torpedoes however are not hitting particularly hard, and the planes are rather fragile, so it should be kept in mind that several runs will be required to deal notable damage and that ships with high continuous dps are a big threat. Every attack run can drop up to three torpedoes, which will be dropped in a wedge shape. As every squadron consists of nine planes, Graf Zeppelin can make three attack runs with three planes each. However, the flooding chance for these torpedoes is quite low, making DoT stacks difficult with this German carrier.
Being the only viable plane type on Graf Zeppelin against destroyers, her attack aircraft will satisfy the player with good hitting power and rocket penetration (40mm), but unlike the torpedo bombers they do not possess a superior speed and are in fact on the slower side of T8 aircraft. Every attack run will release up to eight rockets, so timing the drop for a narrow reticle is highly recommended. With eight planes in total per squadron that results in four attack runs.
The remaining plane type are the dive bombers, which while they offer a faster diving approach, are lacking in terms of striking power and penetration. However, using the same plane as the torpedo bombers they are fast enough to travel across the map quickly. Each attack run will consist of two dive bombers with one bomb each, and the entire squadron will consist of eight planes in total. Unfortunately, some ships are completely immune to these weapons, and while the circular reticle means you can approach from any angle, it also means that even the best aimed drops can result in no hits.
In terms of playstyle, Graf Zeppelin's greatest assets are her torpedo bombers. Their exceptional speed allows them to repeatedly strike enemy ships with a short downtime between strikes, somewhat compensating for their low alpha strike. Attack aircraft should be saved for isolated targets or more agile ships such as destroyers and cruisers. Dive bombers lack reliability, but they can serve well as spotters thanks to their speed. Lastly, the carrier herself can be surprisingly effective at dealing with enemy surface ships thanks to her accurate secondary guns, but doing so offensively can be extremely risky.Pros:
- Fastest torpedo bombers and dive bombers in the game
- Good rocket damage, penetration and fire chance
- Torpedo bombers drop three (3) torpedoes per attack run
- Bombs dropped by dive bombers have good accuracy
- Outstanding secondary armament, a serious threat when properly upgraded
- Citadel is fairly difficult to hit as it sits below the waterline
Cons:
- Attack aircraft are fragile and very slow
- Torpedo bombers and dive bombers have poor agility
- Aerial torpedoes are slow
- Poor AP bomb damage, with only two (2) bombs per drop
- Fairly weak AA suit for a heavy carrier
- Worst concealment among all aircraft carriers
Research
Optimal Configuration
Upgrades
The recommended upgrades for Graf Zeppelin are as follows:
- Slot 1: Air Groups Modification 1
- Slot 2: Aircraft Engines Modification 1
- Slot 3: Secondary Battery Modification 1
- Slot 4: Torpedo Bombers Modification 2
- Slot 5: Flight Control Modification 1
Upgrade Slot 3 also offers the usage of Attack Aircraft Modification 1 , which could be viable if the player deems the aiming time for the attack aircraft to be too short.
Commander Skills
The prime focus of skills should lie on improving the performance of Graf Zeppelin's torpedo bombers and aircraft in general. Additional skills distributed to her secondary performance are however an option, but should not shift the priority away from Graf Zeppelin's strengths.
Consumables
Like other aircraft carriers, Graf Zeppelin can not control the consumables of the ship.
Graf Zeppelin can equip the following consumables:
- Slot 1: Damage Control Party unlimited
- Slot 2: CAP Fighter
Graf Zeppelin's aircraft can equip the following consumables: Attack Aircraft:
- Slot 1: Engine Cooling (3 charges by default)
- Slot 2: Patrol Fighter (3 charges by default)
Torpedo Bombers:
- Slot 1: Engine Cooling (2 charges by default)
- Slot 2: Patrol Fighter (3 charges by default)
- Slot 3: In-flight Repair (3 charges by default)
Dive Bombers:
- Slot 1: Engine Cooling (2 charges by default)
- Slot 2: Patrol Fighter (3 charges by default)
Camouflage
As a premium ship, Graf Zeppelin comes with Default permanent camouflage and a set of permanent combat bonuses.
Signals
Recommended Signal Flags | |||||
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Combat | |||||
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★★★ |
★★★ |
★★★ |
★ |
★★ |
★ |
★★ |
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Note: Use of the Juliet Charlie signal makes detonation impossible.
Gallery
An AP bomb from Graf Zeppelin’s air wing finds the Mogami’s citadel.
A German dive bomber returns to base after dropping its' ordinance on an enemy Yamato.
Historical Info
Historical Gallery
Video
References
- Graf Zeppelin-class aircraft carrier - Wikipedia
- Chesneau, R., Gardiner, R. (1980). Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships: 1922-1946. London UK: Conway Maritime Press.
- Breyer, S. (1989). Graf Zeppelin: The German Aircraft Carrier. West Chester. PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd.
- SANTI Expedition to Graf Zeppelin
Ship Change Log
See here for links to Update notes.
- Made available for testing in the game by supertesters starting from Update 0.6.8.
- First appeared for sale in August 2017.
- Update 0.6.10.1:
- Two versions of the ship were added to the client for testing by supertesters, developers, and special contributors.
- Update 0.6.14:
- The action time of the Damage Control Party consumable was increased from 5 to 30 seconds, while fire resistance coefficient was changed to 0.8.
- Update 0.6.15:
- A bonus of -10% to the cost of the post battle repair service was added to the Type 10 permanent camouflage.
- Update 0.7.10:
- The ranges of the Hydroacoustic Search consumable were unified - 3 km for detecting torpedoes, 4 km for detecting ships.
- Update 0.7.12:
- The penetration for the HE shell of the 150 mm secondary battery was increased from 36 to 37 mm.
- Update 0.8.0:
- The Fighter squadron was changed to an Attack squadron:
- Attack Aircraft per squadron: 9; Attack Aircraft per attack group: 3; Amount of rockets per aircraft: 4.
- The Dive Bombers were changed:
- Dive Bomber aircraft per squadron: 8; Dive Bomber aircraft per attack group: 2; Amount of bombs per aircraft: 1.
- The Torpedo Bombers were changed:
- Torpedo Bomber aircraft per squadron: 8; Torpedo Bomber aircraft per attack group: 2; Amount of torpedoes per aircraft: 1.
- For replacement and compensation due to the carrier rework, refer to this page.
- For consumables mounted by squadrons, refer to this page.
- For consumables mounted by Graf Zeppelin, refer to this page.
- The Fighter squadron was changed to an Attack squadron:
- Update 0.8.1.1:
- Damage per torpedo was reduced from 6,000 to 4,533.
- Update 0.8.2:
- The position of aircraft on deck was corrected.
- Update 0.8.4:
- The Dive Bombers were changed:
- Armor penetration increased by 11 mm.
- Attack time increased from 6 to 8 s.
- Bomb drop speed increased by 13%.
- Bomb normalization increased by 5 degrees.
- The inner and outer ellipses of the sight were slightly reduced.
- The Torpedo Bombers were changed:
- Torpedo damage increased from 4,333 to 5,333.
- Chance to cause flooding was increased from 25% to 29%.
- The Dive Bombers were changed:
- Update 0.8.6:
- The penetration of the 105 mm secondary batteries was increased from 18 to 26 mm.
- Update 0.8.10:
- Experience earnings when suffering a defeat were reduced by 10%.
- Update 0.9.2:
- Camera movement when viewing secondary guns was fixed.
- The Dive Bombers were changed:
- The minimum time between attacks for bomber squadrons was increased from 5 s to 8.5 s.
- Update 0.9.6:
- The Dive Bombers were changed:
- Bomb damage was reduced from 7,000 to 5,800.
- Bomb spread was increased by 15%.
- The Dive Bombers were changed:
- Update 0.9.7:
- Attack Aircraft reticle was rotated 90 degrees to appear horizontally.
- A bug that caused the post battle repair cost to be 60,000 credits instead of 52,500 credits was fixed.
- Update 0.10.0:
- Patrol fighter speed was increased to 235 knots.
- Update 0.10.5:
- Attack Aircraft now gain altitude at the start of an attack run.
- Update 0.10.8:
- The chance of two bombs hitting the center of the aiming ellipse was increased.
- Update 0.11.0:
- Animations for the launching of aircraft via the catapult were added.
- Update 0.11.1:
- Minor corrections to the geometry and textures of the ship.
Japan | IV Hōshō • VI Ryūjō • VIII Shōkaku • VIII Kaga • VIII Kaga B • X Hakuryū • ★ Sekiryu |
U.K. | IV Hermes • VI Furious • VI Ark Royal • VIII Implacable • VIII Indomitable • VIII Colossus • X Audacious • X Malta • ★ Eagle |
France | VI Béarn |
U.S.S.R. | IV Komsomolets • VI Serov • VIII Pobeda • VIII Chkalov • VIII Chkalov B • X Admiral Nakhimov |
U.S.A. | IV Langley • VI Independence • VI Ranger • VIII Yorktown • VIII Lexington • VIII Enterprise • VIII Saipan • VIII Hornet • VIII Saipan B • X Essex • X Midway • X Franklin D. Roosevelt • ★ United States |
Germany | IV Rhein • VI Weser • VI Erich Loewenhardt • VIII August von Parseval • VIII Graf Zeppelin • VIII Graf Zeppelin B • X Manfred von Richthofen • X Max Immelmann |
Pan-Asia | VIII Sanzang |
Spain | |
Europe | |
Netherlands | |
Italy | VIII Aquila |
Commonwealth | |
Pan-America |