Tirpitz

Type

Battleship

Period

20th Century

Nation

Germany

Overview: Tirpitz was the second of two Bismarck-class battleships built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine, and operated for most of her career as a "fleet in being" in Norwegian fjords, where she tied down significant British naval resources by threatening Arctic convoys to the Soviet Union rather than through direct combat. Specifications: She displaced 42,900 t standard and 52,600 t at full load, with an overall length of 251 m, beam of 36 m, and a draft of around 9.3–10.6 m depending on load. Her main battery comprised eight 38 cm guns in four twin turrets, supported by twelve 15 cm secondary guns; her belt armor was 320 mm thick and turret faces 360 mm. Uniquely among her class, Tirpitz was later fitted with two banks of quadruple 53.3 cm torpedo tubes carrying 24 torpedoes, and after wartime modifications she became roughly 2,000 tonnes heavier than Bismarck, making her the heaviest battleship built by a European navy. Service History: Laid down at the Kriegsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven in late 1936 and commissioned in February 1941, Tirpitz briefly served with a Baltic Fleet formed to deter a Soviet breakout before deploying to Norway in January 1942 to threaten Allied convoys and deter invasion. She conducted sortie attempts against convoys in 1942, bombarded Allied positions on Spitzbergen in September 1943 (her only offensive use of the main battery), and was damaged later that month by the Operation Source midget-submarine raid, which disabled her for roughly six months. Further air attacks culminated in Operation Tungsten (April 1944) and subsequent Tallboy bombing raids that progressively crippled the ship. Notable Facts: Tirpitz was finally destroyed on 12 November 1944 in Operation Catechism, when RAF Lancasters dropped Tallboy bombs that capsized her near Tromsø with heavy loss of life among her roughly 1,700-man crew that day. Relics from the wreck — including a crew-painted bulkhead section — are preserved at the RAF Museum Hendon, and other artifacts are displayed in Norwegian museums including the Tirpitz Museum near Alta.