German battleship Tirpitz
Tirpitz was a battleship of the German Kriegsmarine, a sister ship to the German battleship Bismarck, and named for Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz. She was launched after Bismarck but was deployed in a similar manner, being sent against Allied merchant shipping in the North Atlantic.
As a result of the Arctic convoys and the Commando raid on Vaagso Tirpitz was sent to Norwegian waters where she spent most of World War II in the fjords. She only made two sorties, an abortive attempt to interdict PQ12 in March 1942 and a raid on Spitzbergen in September 1943. The threat that she might put to sea, tied down Royal Navy resources and the decision was taken to sink her while she was in port. The first attempt was a very risky operation. British X class midget submarines planted explosive charges beneath Tirpitz in September 1943. This succeeded in disabling Tirpitz. After she was repaired she was attacked by carrier born aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm, which only did superficial damage. She was finally sunk in Tromsų fjord on 12 November 1944 by Avro Lancasters of RAF 617 and 9 Squadrons equipped with the Barnes Wallis tallboy bombs on their third attempt, the first of which had been launched from Russia.
External link
- Battleship Tirpitz (http://www.bismarck-class.dk/)
da:Slagskib Tirpitz de:Tirpitz fr:Tirpitz nl:SMS Tirpitz ja:ティルピッツ (戦艦)