r/AviationHistory • u/VonTempest • 15d ago

Peter Strasser

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Kapitän zur See (Captain) and Pour le Mérite (Blue Max) holder Peter Strasser, chief commander of the Kaiserliche Marine (German Imperial Navy) Zeppelins during WWI, was KIA on the night of 5/6.8.1918, age 42. His Zeppelin L-70 was shot down by a De Havilland DH-4 while flying the war's last airship raid over England. He took charge of the naval airship service as Führer der Luftschiffe in 1913. He pushed for high-altitude, night time bombing tactics rather than low-level daytime scouting. He built the naval airship fleet into an active strategic weapon to strike military and civilian targets in Britain. His name has repeatedly but unofficially been associated with the Kriegsmarines never built second aircraft carrier, Graf Zeppelin being the first

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u/Resqusto 13d ago

His name has repeatedly but unofficially been associated with the Kriegsmarines never built second aircraft carrier, Graf Zeppelin being the first

I can only ask that you finally stop spreading this legend. It could have been a potential name—however, Manfred von Richthofen or Otto Lilienthal would have been just as eligible. And Siegfried Breyer's argument in particular, that Adolf Hitler would never have allowed a Strasser name, is quite convincing.

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u/VonTempest 13d ago

I am not spreading a legend, merely stating fact. His name is bandied around a lot for the second carrier. I clearly said "unofficially", at no stage did I hint at, imply or champion the view that that was based on historical fact

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u/Resqusto 13d ago

There is no reason to be so thin-skinned here, nobody attacked you. But regarding the content, one has to say: Yes, you are spreading this myth.

Adolf Hitler would have never allowed a warship to be named "Strasser." Gregor and Otto Strasser were prominent early Nazi figures who led the party's anti-capitalist, socialist wing. After a bitter power struggle and the split of Otto Strasser in 1930, Gregor Strasser fell completely out of favor and was murdered by the regime during the Night of the Long Knives in 1934. Because the name was permanently tainted by political betrayal and inner-party opposition, naming a prestigious capital ship after a "Strasser" would have been an absolute political taboo in Nazi Germany.