High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Jade class comprised a pair of passenger ships intended to be converted into auxiliary aircraft carriers by the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. The two ships were launched as Gneisenau and Potsdam in 1935 and operated in peace time by Norddeutscher Lloyd. After the outbreak of war, the ships were requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine as transports, and in May 1942, plans were drawn up to convert them into aircraft carriers. The ships were not identical, but were similar enough in size to allow identical outfitting.