A completed Graf Zeppelin would present Britain with a serious counterfactual problem because even an inefficient carrier would enlarge a German task force's options. The Royal Navy might have to concentrate Furious, Ark Royal, and, depending on timing, Victorious to find and defeat it. A fast capital ship would likely accompany those carriers against the German surface force. One carrier would therefore change the force required to contain the entire raider group.
Notable Point · 1:16:30-1:17:31
Graf Zeppelin could force a North Atlantic carrier hunt
A completed Graf Zeppelin could make a German Atlantic task force dangerous enough to draw several British carriers and a fast capital ship into a dedicated hunt.