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HISTORY
Tirpitz was the second of two Bismarck-class
battleships built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine (navy) during
World War II. Named after Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the
architect of the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), the ship was
laid down at the Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven in November 1936
and her hull was launched two and a half years later. 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 38-centimeter (15 in) guns in four twin
turrets. After a series of wartime modifications she was 2,000
metric tons (2,000 long tons) heavier than Bismarck, making her the
heaviest battleship ever built by a European navy.
After completing sea trials in early 1941, Tirpitz briefly served as
the centrepiece of the Baltic Fleet, which was intended to prevent a
possible break-out attempt by the Soviet Baltic Fleet. In early
1942, the ship sailed to Norway to act as a deterrent against an
Allied invasion. While stationed in Norway, Tirpitz was also
intended to be used to intercept Allied convoys to the Soviet Union,
and two such missions were attempted in 1942. Tirpitz acted as a
fleet in being, forcing the British Royal Navy to retain significant
naval forces in the area to contain the battleship.
In September 1943, Tirpitz, along with the battleship Scharnhorst,
bombarded Allied positions on Spitzbergen, the only time the ship
used her main battery in an offensive role. Shortly thereafter, the
ship was damaged in an attack by British mini-submarines and
subsequently subjected to a series of large-scale air raids. On 12
November 1944, British Lancaster bombers equipped with 12,000-pound
(5,400 kg) "Tallboy" bombs scored two direct hits and a near miss
which caused the ship 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. Between 1948 and 1957 the wreck
was broken up by a joint Norwegian and German salvage operation.
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