Manfred von Richthofen ClassCV

Edit: Uploaded the final versions of the ships.

Ahoy there, fellow deviants!

Here we have the "Three Sisters" - the three German aircraft carriers of the Manfred von Richthofen class. In case you don't already know, these ships only exist in an alternate-history universe that I'm working on for a novel.

As a bit of history:

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The Manfred von Richthofen is Germany's first purpose-designed aircraft carrier, which incorporated lessons learned from the Peter Strasser (a conversion from the incomplete Ersatz Scharnhorst) and the preceeding Emden class.

The ship was designed in 1928-29 at the same time as the Emdens were being built, and she basically looked like an enlarged version of them. When completed and commissioned in 1932, the Manfred von Richthofen appeared similar to the just converted HMS Glorious and Courageous, with a lower "flying off" deck, although this was removed and replaced with a full-length flush deck in 1936. The Richthofen became known as the "Grey Queen of Helgoland", after rescuing the shipwrecked crews of several trawlers during a storm in 1935.

The Manfred von Richthofen was quickly damaged in a collision after the Second World War broke out, and when she was repaired she participated in both the Battle of Dogger Bank and Battle of the Irish Sea. After these actions, she was sent to reinforce the naval base of Rabaul in mid-1941 with the SMS Nassau. The Richthofen was sunk off Dingat in 1944, after coming under severe attack by US bomber planes.

The Ernst Udet and Werner Voss were laid down when the Richthofen was launched, but unlike their older sister they were completed with full-length flight decks and slightly modified engines. Launched a year apart (in 1935 and 1936, respectively) the two participated in many of the major naval engagements in World War II. The Ernst Udet was positioned in the Baltic until 1940, while the Werner Voss served in the North Sea.

The Ernst Udet's career came to an end in late 1944, when she was torpedoed by the HMS Triton. Just barely making it back to port, she was quickly patched up, but her damaged fuel tanks and boilers couldn't be repaired. After enduring multiple air raids through 1945, she was towed away to be scrapped in 1947.

The Werner Voss, dspite being severely damaged early in the war, was able to serve up until the final months of the conflict. She was in good enough condition to sail to Scapa Flow for inspection in 1947, and was used as a repatriation ship before being broken up in 1951.

The Ernst Udet and the Werner Voss are notable for being the only heavy carriers in Germany which survived the war.

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The ships, the picture and the ideas are all the (c) of moi. ^^

Anyway, I hope you guys like these; any comments are appreciated!

Until next time,
~Dawley