Rhein

During the 1930s and 1940s, Germany developed several aviation-capable ship designs, including a small carrier specifically intended for serial production during wartime. Her design needed to be budget-friendly and suitable for mass production at civil shipyards. Given the ongoing war, it would have been possible to construct such a ship no earlier than 1944. German engineers envisioned a flight deck with a minimum length of 170 m and the implementation of catapults for takeoff.