TIRPITZ

Tirpitz was the second of two Bismarck class battleships built for the Kriegsmarine during World War II. She ship was laid down in Wilhelmshaven in November 1936 and launched two and a half years later in April 1939. Work was completed in February 1941, when she was commissioned into the German Fleet. Like her sister ship Bismarck, Tirpitz was armed with a main battery of eight 15 ins guns in four twin turrets.

In 1941, Tirpitz briefly served as the centre piece of the Baltic Fleet and in early 1942, the ship sailed to Norway to act as a deterrent against an Allied invasion. While stationed in Norway, Tirpitz could also be used to intercept Allied convoys to the Soviet Union; two such missions were attempted in 1942, but both failed. Despite her inability to attack the convoys directly, Tirpitz forced the Royal Navy to retain significant naval forces in the area to contain the battleship.

In September 1943, Tirpitz, along with the Scharnhorst, bombarded Allied positions on the island of Spitzbergen. Shortly thereafter, the ship was damaged in a mini submarine attack and subsequently subjected to a series of large-scale air raids. On 12 November 1944, British Lancaster bombers equipped with 12,000 pounds "Tallboy" bombs destroyed the ship; two direct hits and a near miss caused her to capsize rapidly. A deck fire spread to the ammunition magazine for one of the main battery turrets, which caused a large explosion. Figures for the number of men killed in the attack range from 950 to 1,204. The wreck was broken up by a joint Norwegian and German salvage operation after the war, with work lasting from 1948 until 1957


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