By early 1942, the German navy had recognized the value of aircraft carriers, particularly following the British attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto in 1940 and the loss of the German battleship in 1941. The Navy therefore selected several vessels to be converted into auxiliary aircraft carriers in May 1942, including the passenger ship , operated by Norddeutscher Lloyd. As designed, the proposed conversion project would have been larger than even the purpose-built "Graf Zeppelin" class. She would have had a complement of 42 fighters and dive bombers. But serious stability problems and structural weaknesses hampered the project and ultimately proved to be insurmountable. No work had begun on the conversion before the project was cancelled in late 1942.