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6. Germany’s only aircraft carrier was discovered in 2006 after being lost for over 60 years
German Grand Admiral Erich Raeder had plans for a great German navy to rival that of the British in the years before World War 2, but Adolf Hitler was not particularly interested in naval affairs beyond the use of U-Boats. In 1938 Raeder informed the Fuhrer that Germany’s new aircraft carrier, named Graf Zeppelin, was nearing completion and would be finished the following year. By 1943 it was not, and growing pressure from Herman Goering to end the project – he did not want to surrender the control of any air forces to the navy – ensured that the ship would not be finished. In 1943 work on the ship was suspended, and the unfinished vessel was towed from one port to another, at one point used as a store ship.
When the war ended the hull was still incomplete, though the vessel could be towed and finishing the ship was a distinct possibility. The Soviets took the vessel, and other German warships which fell into their hands, and several reports of its ultimate fate were issued. Some claimed that it was sunk off Peenemunde, others that it sank after striking a mine while being towed to Leningrad. Still another claimed it was sunk on August 16, 1947, following a series of planned detonations. In July 2006 a wreck was discovered by a research vessel owned by the Polish oil company Petrobaltic, and subsequent surveys conducted by the Polish Navy identified the wreck as the remains of the Graf Zeppelin, to a degree of certainty, according to the Poles, of 99%.