| abstract | - The Jade class comprised a pair of passenger ships intended to be converted into auxiliary aircraft carriers by the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. The two ships were launched as Gneisenau and Potsdam in 1935 and operated in peace time by Norddeutscher Lloyd. After the outbreak of war, the ships were requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine as transports, and in May 1942, plans were drawn up to convert them into aircraft carriers. The ships were not identical, but were similar enough in size to allow identical outfitting. Gneisenau and Potsdam were to be renamed Jade and Elbe, respectively. Once converted, the ships were intended to operate twelve Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers and twelve Bf-109 fighters. Work on Jade was not started and the conversion project was abandoned in November 1942. She returned to service as a troopship, only to be sunk by a mine in the western Baltic. Elbe actually began the conversion process in December 1942, but only her passenger fittings were removed by the time work was halted in February 1943. She was converted into a barracks ship in Gotenhafen and seized by Great Britain after the end of the war. She remained in use until 1976, when she was broken up for scrap
|
