Grossflugzeugkreuzer A IV

A IV followed one day after A III and retained the same displacement, speed and aircraft capacity. Reducing the main battery from six to four 28 cm guns altered the balance between surface armament and aviation without making the immense design practical.

Project A combined battleship-scale protection and heavy guns with a flight deck. It was intended to provide its own air cover while operating as an independent commerce raider.

No construction order followed. The proposal remained one of several preliminary hybrid studies produced during 1942.