Graf Zeppelin just after launch from the Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel, Germany, 1938. Construction on the German aircraft carrier began in 1936 when her keel (main structural element) was laid down. Named in honour of Graf (Count) Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the ship was launched on 8 December 1938. By the time World War II broke out in September 1939, the ship was 85% complete. Ultimately, construction was never completed due to shifting construction priorities from the war. The ship would have carried a complement of 42 fighter aircrafts and dive bombers. The ship remained in the Baltic for the duration of the war and was eventually sunk as a target ship by the Soviet Navy in 1947.