Which German aircraft carrier was laid down but never completed?

The German aircraft carrier laid down but never completed was Graf Zeppelin. She was the lead ship of Germany’s planned Graf Zeppelin class and the only German aircraft carrier ever launched, although she never entered service.

Her keel was laid down at Deutsche Werke in Kiel on 28 December 1936, and she was launched on 8 December 1938. By the outbreak of World War II, construction was about 85 percent complete. Progress was repeatedly disrupted by changing naval priorities, shortages, design revisions, and disagreement between the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe over aircraft and carrier operations.

Work was suspended in 1940, resumed in 1942, and stopped permanently in early 1943 after Adolf Hitler ordered major surface-ship construction curtailed. Graf Zeppelin was later scuttled at Stettin in April 1945 to prevent its capture. The Soviet Union raised the ship after the war and ultimately sank it during weapons tests in 1947.

The names in the wrong options can cause confusion. Flugzeugträger A was Graf Zeppelin’s provisional designation before launch, while Peter Strasser was a possible name for the unfinished second carrier, Flugzeugträger B. Seydlitz was a separate unfinished cruiser conversion project.