The inglorious death of the Tirpitz. Battleship "Tirpitz" German ship Bismarck and Tirpitz during WWII

From St. Petersburg to North Cape. Without a number. How the Tirpitz was destroyed. August 24th, 2015

I forgot to write...

On the way to Alta we drove along the shore of the Kafjord. Famous place.

During the Second World War, in the side branch of the Altafjord, Kafjord, there was a naval base for German ships. This is the place:

The battleship Tirpitz was based there in 1942-1944. Nowadays the “Tirpitz Battleship Museum” is located here.

We drove past the museum...And I really wanted to go there!

The Tirpitz practically did not participate in hostilities, but with its presence in Norway it threatened Arctic convoys in the USSR and pinned down significant forces of the British fleet.

The ship was launched on April 1, 1939. It received its name in honor of Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the founder of the modern German fleet.

In January 1942, Tirpitz was sent to Norwegian waters to hunt Arctic convoys to Russia.

Even the mere presence of the Tirpitz tied up significant forces of the Royal Navy, although during its entire stay in Norway it carried out only three offensive operations.
Despite this, the British fleet took into account the potential danger of the battleship and did not stop efforts to destroy it.

It was not only the British who tried to destroy it.

In July 1942, the German command planned to use the Tirpitz and the heavy cruisers Admiral Scheer and Admiral Hipper to attack the PQ-17 convoy (Plan Rösselsprung - “Knight's Move”).

On July 5, the battleship was attacked by the Soviet submarine K-21 under the command of N. A. Lunin.

The boat fired a salvo of four stern torpedo tubes. The crew of the boat did not directly observe the result of the attack, but heard 2 strong explosions and a series of weaker explosions.
Lunin in his report suggested that the explosions were explained by torpedoes hitting the battleship, while at the same time admitting the possibility that the torpedoes hit one of the escort destroyers; at the headquarters of the submarine brigade, his report was interpreted as a report about the sinking of the destroyer and damage to the battleship.

In Soviet and Russian memoirs, popular and journalistic literature, there are repeated statements about the damage to the Tirpitz during the K-21 attack, but these statements do not have documentary evidence: the explosions heard by modern researchers are explained by the detonation of torpedoes when they hit the ground or distant explosions of deep bombs dropped by convoy ships.

The British did not stop their attacks on the Tirpitz until they sank the battleship.

On October 30-31, 1942, there was an attempt to destroy the Tirpitz using guided underwater vehicles codenamed "Chariot", which were human-controlled torpedoes. The vehicles were to be delivered to the Tirpitz anchorage by covert towing in an underwater position using the fishing boat "Arthur" (captain - Leif Larsen).

On October 30, a boat with torpedoes in tow managed to enter the Trondheim fjord. When there were no more than 15 miles (24 km) left to the Tirpitz anchorage, a strong headwind and a wave arose. On October 31, at 22:00, a loud grinding noise was heard astern. "Arthur" entered the nearest harbor, where a diver discovered the loss of both torpedoes. At this point, Tirpitz was less than 10 miles away. The boat was flooded and the team left on foot to the Swedish border.

The Germans later discovered the sunken boat and, after examination, came to the conclusion that it was intended for a special operation.

September 1943: first successful operation against Tirpitz.

Ex-class mini-submarines were used for the attack. Most of the way the mini boats were towed by conventional submarines. Of the six midget submarines, three were to attack the Tirpitz: X5, X6 and X7.

The X5 boat was discovered and sunk, but X6 and X7 dropped four 2-ton mines filled with ammotol under the battleship. After this, the boats were also discovered, and their crews were captured.

Despite the detected danger, the Tirpitz was unable to leave the parking lot before the mines exploded. The explosion caused serious damage to the battleship. As a result of the damage received, the battleship was out of action for six months and its maximum speed was significantly reduced.

For the successful conduct of the operation, the captains of the mini-submarines X6 and X7 were awarded Victoria Crosses - the highest military awards of the British Empire.

By April 1944, the Tirpitz had been repaired and could again pose a danger.
In response to this threat, the British Navy launched Operation Tungsten. The attack involved a significant fleet force, including: two battleships, two attack aircraft carriers, two escort aircraft carriers, two cruisers and sixteen destroyers. The attack began on April 3, on the eve of the Tirpitz entering sea trials after repairs.

The raid consisted of two waves of Fairey Barracuda torpedo bombers accompanied by fighter escorts. The attacking planes, however, carried not torpedoes, but bombs of various types: armor-piercing, depth, high-explosive and fragmentation.
The first wave struck at 05:30.
By 08:00 the attack was completed: three aircraft had been lost. Tirpitz lost 123 people killed and 300 wounded. The armored hull was not damaged, but the superstructure suffered noticeable damage, requiring three months to repair.

Tirpitz remained a threat, so the British Admiralty continued to plan operations against it.

The next attack using aircraft carriers (Operation Mascot) took place in July 1944. However, by this time the Germans had organized an air defense, especially a smoke screen system, as a result of which the attack ended in failure: the attacking aircraft scored no hits.

In August 1944, the Tirpitz finally passed sea trials. Shortly afterwards, the British carried out further raids (Operations Goodwood I and Goodwood II), which ended in vain due to bad weather.

Operation Paravane was launched by the British Royal Air Force on September 15 from the Yagodnik base near Arkhangelsk.

Avro Lancaster aircraft were armed with 5-ton Tallboy bombs and experimental 500-pound (230 kg) underwater "walking" mines. Despite the smoke screen set up to protect Tirpitz, one of the bombs still hit the bow of the ship, rendering it unseaworthy.

The Germans had practically no opportunity to drydock Tirpitz for repairs, so in October the battleship was transferred to Tromsø as a floating artillery battery in case of the expected Allied invasion of Norway.

The ship's new location was already within range of the air fleet from Scotland, and the British continued to attack it, unaware of the German decision not to restore the ship.

On October 28, another raid on Tirpitz was launched from the Lossiemouth base in Scotland, called Operation Obviate, but at the last moment the ship was hidden by clouds, and only one Tallboy bomb, exploding not far from the ship, bent the propeller shaft.

But the next time, on November 12, 1944, during Operation Catechism (English catechism; interrogation), there was no smoke screen or clouds over Tirpitz.

The ship was hit by 3 Tallboy bombs: one bounced off the turret armor, but two others penetrated the armor and blew a 200-foot (61 m) hole in her port side and caused a fire and explosion in the gunpowder magazine.

As a result, the Tirpitz sank west of Tromsø, in Håkøybotn Bay, a few minutes after the attack, taking with it 1,000 of its crew of 1,700.

For reasons not fully understood, the Luftwaffe was unable to prevent the bombing. German air defense only managed to damage the engine of one of the planes participating in the raid, but its crew escaped with a “hard” landing in Sweden. As a result of this failure, the commander of the Luftwaffe in Norway, Major Heinrich Erler, was accused of neglect of duty and sentenced to death, commuted to three years in prison and sent to the front.

The destruction of Tirpitz eliminated the last serious threat to the Allies on the surface of the North Atlantic. This made it possible to transfer the main forces - battleships and aircraft carriers - from the European region, where they were kept as deterrent forces, to the Indian and Pacific oceans, where they took part in hostilities against Japan.

After the war, the wreckage of the Tirpitz was sold and broken up on site by a Norwegian company. Almost the entire ship was cut up and taken away. However, much of the Tirpitz's bow remains where it sank in 1944.

In addition, the ship's power generators were used as a temporary power station, supplying electricity to the fishing industry around the town of Honningsvåg.

Not far from the site of the sinking of the Tirpitz, there are artificial lakes that appeared in the craters from the explosions of Tallboy bombs (weighing more than 5 tons) that hit the Tirpitz. Currently, some parts of the battleship are used by the Norwegian Road Department as a temporary road surface during repair work.

Some parts of the battleship were melted down to make brooches and other jewelry. In addition, a significant part of the armored plating is stored at the Royal Naval Museum "Explosion!" in Gosport, Hampshire.

Well, to Hammerfest)

Information about the ship here.

In 1944, in late autumn, citizens of the USSR learned good news from messages from the Sovinformburo. British bombers sank the German battleship Tirpitz in a little-known Norwegian fjord near the port of Tromso. The history of the battle was not described in detail, but it was clear that this did not happen on the first attempt; the hunt for the ship lasted a long time and was finally crowned with success. The death of the Kriegsmarine combat unit that was annoying the Allies brought the hour of common victory closer and freed up the Royal Navy for operations in other naval theaters of war.

Sea giant

Germany has never built anything like this - neither before nor later. The battleship Tirpitz was not the largest ship in the world, but it is difficult to call it small either. The declared displacement was 35 thousand tons, but in reality it exceeded 50,000. Three propellers rotated by a power plant with a capacity of over 138 thousand liters. s., pushed this colossus. It was a raider, that is, a ship designed to hunt individual ships and convoys within a radius of 10 thousand miles. The speed exceeded 30 knots. A dozen boiler-turbine units loaded the turbo-gear units, one per propeller. The length of the ship is 251 meters, the width at the maximum section is 36 m with a draft of 10.6 m. The crew is almost 2,100 sailors and officers. The giant battleship Tirpitz personified the doctrine of Admiral Raeder, according to which success in the naval theater of operations was determined by the power of the surface fleet. Chancellor Adolf Hitler, hypnotized by the enormity of the dreadnought, held the same opinion at the time. Later it turned out that the Fuhrer was mistaken, but it was too late.

About the name

The ship was named after Alfred von Tirpitz, an outstanding figure in German politics and a prominent naval leader. The future rear admiral received the title of nobility in 1900, at the age of 50, as a reward for his many works for the benefit of his native state. He proved himself to be a prominent theorist and geopolitician by developing a plan for the reconstruction of the German Navy, which, however, did not involve its excessive expansion. At the outbreak of the First World War, the Kriegsmarine forces, in addition to other ships, had seven dreadnoughts, twenty-five cruisers, twenty battleships and four dozen submarines (about 2.5 times less than the British Navy, but enough to actively resist it) . It was on the submarines that the author of the plan had special hopes, but he was unable to convince the then German leadership that he was right. Ironically, the battleship Tirpitz also did not correspond to the late rear admiral's vision of the future of naval forces and the nature of the coming battles. It should also be noted that this extraordinary figure in every sense died in 1930, before the National Socialists came to power. Despite his militaristic beliefs (quite natural for a military man), von Tirpitz was not a fascist.

How did Tirpitz come about?

In fact, if Germany, led by Hitler, had adhered to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, it would not have built ships of this class. The country did not have the right to launch military vessels heavier than 10 thousand tons. Typically, cruisers, usually armed with 203 mm caliber guns, corresponded to this displacement. It was this inaccuracy, carelessly written into the treaty, that allowed the Germans to build completely atypical combat units that turned the tide. The class of “pocket battleships” was characterized by a small displacement (just over 10 thousand) and heavy-duty weapons (6 guns of 280 mm caliber). There were three of them: “Admiral Graf Spee”, “Admiral Scheer” and “Deutschland”, they were laid down in 1934, and even then it became clear that Hitler was not going to comply with the conditions of Versailles, since the ships’ displacement exceeded the established limit of 10 thousand tons , although still insignificant. In the spring of 1939, the battleship Tirpitz entered service. And the battleship Bismarck too. These were ships of the same type, they were preparing for the war that would start soon.

Tirpitz shell

Like a real Teutonic deity, the ship was clad in a strong shell. Its hull was surrounded by armor that protected the cellars of the towers for more than two-thirds of its total height with a thickness of 170 to 350 mm. There were also two armored decks (50 and 80 mm). The extremities were also covered (bow 50 mm, stern 80 mm). Barbets (tower protection) with a thickness of 340 mm ensured the invulnerability of the crews during the battle. The medium caliber also had armor, including sloped armor, up to 20 mm. At 5 m 40 cm, the steel sheets went below the waterline to reduce the risk of possible torpedo attacks. In general, the newest and largest German battleship Tirpitz had rational and powerful protection against all possible types of anti-ship weapons of its time. Looking ahead, we can state that this did not affect his sad fate in any way.

Weapon

In terms of firepower, the battleship was significantly superior to most of its world counterparts. Main caliber guns (380 mm) were mounted in pairs on four turrets located at the bow and stern. In addition to them, the artillery was represented by auxiliary firing points: six 150 mm guns, eight 105 mm, and the same number of anti-aircraft guns (37 mm). The armament was changed several times, this was facilitated by a significant degree of unification of mounting dimensions.

The battleship Tirpitz also had an air wing, represented by six seaplanes launched from a twin ejection platform. The planes carried out maritime reconnaissance, searched for enemy submarines, and, if necessary, could attack them with depth charges and heavy machine guns (if the submarine was on the surface).

In terms of its armament, the ship could compete with any ship of the anti-Hitler coalition. But the fate of the battleship Tirpitz was such that it had very little opportunity to fire from its main caliber and only at coastal targets.

Situation in the Atlantic

In the spring of 1941, the German command made great efforts (not without success) to the naval blockade of the British Isles. The 24th of May became a dark date in the history of the Royal Navy. The battleship Bismarck, with well-aimed fire (perhaps by accident), managed to destroy the cruiser Hood, the pride of the English fleet. In the battle, the German raider received damage that worsened its performance characteristics, as a result of which it was overtaken by a British squadron, fired upon, attacked by torpedoes and sunk. Success accompanied the British, but after realizing the danger that German battleships posed, they began to treat them cautiously, avoiding direct clashes, but constantly trying to destroy them.

The Germans, having lost the Bismarck, also experienced a certain stupor. For fear of losing the last dreadnought, they protected the battleship Tirpitz, hiding it in the Norwegian fjords. But weapons were created for war, and the end inevitably had to come, sooner or later.

Annoying Battleship

After an unsuccessful and practically useless campaign against Spitsbergen (September 1942), during which the coastal part of the island and coal mines were subjected to artillery bombardment, the raider stood almost idle in Nazi-occupied Norway. The British knew about this and were preparing a secret mission, which was tasked with sinking the battleship Tirpitz. The ship also annoyed Soviet sailors: it made forays that impeded the passage of convoys carrying military cargo from the United States to Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. During these raids, the German ship was attacked by British aircraft and Allied submarines, but without success.

The essence of the operation planned by the British Admiralty was to sink the battleship with special submarines of the X-6 and X-7 types of very small tonnage.

Operation Title

Actually, this was not the first plan; attempts had been made before. For example, at the very end of October 1942, Operation Title entered its final phase, during which two submarine-controlled torpedoes were supposed to hit an enemy ship. A tug disguised as a trawler delivered these shells to a minimum distance, and then they followed to the target, led by special pilots who risked their lives no less than the Japanese kaiten suicide bombers.

The boat was able to penetrate into the Trondheims fjord, but the operation was unsuccessful - bad weather prevented it. A strong wave tore the torpedoes from the cable at a distance of only ten miles from the battleship. The tug had to be scuttled, the Germans discovered it a little later and understood, if not the whole plan, then at least that something was being planned against the Tirpitz.

"Source"

In September 1943, an operation called Source was much more successful. Three mini-submarines, which had "X" codes from 5 to 7, were towed by conventional submarines to the Tirpitz home base (Alten Fjord). The Germans managed to discover and sink the first of them, the other two completed the task: they fired mines weighing 2 tons at the very bottom of the battleship. The results of the explosions were disastrous for the ship; it received numerous damages. The third tower, having received a colossal impulse, lost the ability to rotate, one turbine fell off its frame, and the frames were bent. Many important fire control and navigation devices stopped working. After the inspection, the practical irreparability of the ship became obvious. German technical services spent a lot of effort and resources trying to restore the battleship Tirpitz. The characteristics could no longer be the same. The British did not know about this.

Other attempts

Attempts to finish off the largest German ship continued in 1944. During Operation Tungsten, naval forces were involved. The air strike coordinated with them led to additional damage and the death of part of the crew (123 people), but did not achieve the final goal. Several other promotions with scary names (“Tiger Claws”, “Talisman” and others) turned out to be even less effective. The Goodwood plan was generally unsuccessful due to poor visibility in the operational area. The use of the Yagodnik airbase (Arkhangelsk region), as well as the use of special five-ton “Tallboy” bombs, increased the capabilities of British aviation. At that time, the Tirpitz was actually already a stationary floating artillery battery, occupying an insignificant position near the Norwegian city of Tromsø. The ship was bombed frequently, and was eventually finished off on November 12th. The last battle of the battleship Tirpitz took place in Hockeybotn Bay, where it sank. Of the 1,700 crew members, seven hundred were saved, the rest sank to the bottom.

Lunin version

The events that took place near the island of Rolvsø on July 5, 1942 are interpreted ambiguously today. The Soviet submarine K-21, under the command of captain third rank N.A. Lunin, attempted to destroy a large sea surface target with four torpedoes. The conditions of the attack were difficult; the crew could not verify the effectiveness of the launches. Acoustics detected two explosions, but whether they occurred as a result of hitting an enemy ship, or whether the torpedoes detonated from a collision with a rocky bottom is not known for certain. Documents that became the property of the Allied powers after the collapse of Hitlerism do not confirm the damage caused to German ships by the K-21 submarine. These are the bare facts.

Fiction is another matter. The famous writer Valentin Pikul wrote about how Lunin attacked the battleship Tirpitz. According to his version, it was the actions of the Soviet submariners that became the decisive factor in the death of the Kriegsmarine flagship.

The job of historians is to analyze documents. This work seems boring to many, but it is precisely this work that provides answers to most questions regarding the past. For example, when asked who sank the Tirpitz. The battleship sank to the bottom after an air raid by British aircraft, this fact is undeniable. Our heroic submariners do not need other people's glory; their own is enough for them.

A little later, the battleship was discovered by the British submarine Ansheikn. By this time it became known that the convoy had already been disbanded and the Tirpitz had turned back. Convoy PQ-17, disbanded and left unguarded due to the Tirpitz threat, suffered greatly from air and submarine attacks.

Operation Sizilien

For the successful conduct of the operation, the captains of the mini-submarines X6 and X7 were awarded Victoria Crosses - the highest military awards of the British Empire.

Operation Tungsten

Wreckage of the Tirpitz

After the war, the wreckage of the Tirpitz was sold and broken up on site by a Norwegian company. Almost the entire ship was cut up and taken away. However, much of the Tirpitz's bow remains where it sank in 1944. In addition, the ship's power generators were used as a temporary power station, supplying electricity to the fishing industry around the town of Honningsvåg (Norwegian: Honningsvåg).

Not far from the site of the sinking of the Tirpitz, there are artificial lakes that appeared in the craters from the explosions of Tallboy bombs (weighing more than 5 tons) that hit the Tirpitz. Currently, some parts of the battleship are used by the Norwegian Road Department (Vegvesenet) as temporary road surfaces during repair work. Some parts of the battleship were melted down to make brooches and other jewelry. In addition, a significant part of the armored plating is stored at the Royal Naval Museum "Explosion!" ("Bang!") in Gosport, Hampshire.

Command staff

• Construction instructions: Captain zur See Friedrich Karl Topp (German) Friedrich Carl Topp), January 15 - February 25
• captain zur see Friedrich Karl Topp, February 25 - February 24
• Captain zur see Hans Karl Meyer (German) Hans Karl Meyer), February 24 - May 1
• Captain zur See Wolf Junge (German) Wolf Junge), May 1 - November 4
• Captain zur See Robert Weber (German) Robert Weber), November 4 – November 12 (killed in action)

• One of the missions in the game Hidden & Dangerous 2 is connected with the Tirpitz, where a group of English intelligence officers carry out a mission, which is clearly based on a real operation. In the game, the mission was successful, not only the Tirpitz itself was mined, but also the minesweeper Olaf, and the Enigma encryption machine was stolen from the latter.
• "Tirpitz" was also mentioned in the Call of Duty game in the British missions, where two scouts carry out sabotage on a battleship - mining the boilers and destroying the electronic components of the radar system.
• "Tirpitz" was also mentioned in the game Wolfenstein in the opening video, where Agent Blazkovich, the main character, carried out sabotage on the ship and sent it to the bottom.

Notes

Literature

• Taras A.E. Second World War at sea. - Mn.: Harvest, 2003. - 640 p. - (Military History Library). - ISBN 985-13-1707-1
• David Woodward"Tirpitz". Battleship operations in 1942-1944 = Dawid Woodward THE TIRPITZ and the Battle for the North Atlantic. - M.: ZAO Publishing House Tsentrpoligraf, 2005. - 255 p. - ISBN 5-9524-1636-5
• Tkachev A.V. Hunt for Tirpitz. M.: St. Andrew's flag, 1993.

see also

• Battleship Bismarck is the first ship of the Bismarck class.

On this day, November 12, 1944, during the Second World War, British aircraft in the Arctic sank the largest fascist battleship, the Tirpitz.

This battleship with a total displacement of 56,000 tons (length - 251 meters, width - 36 meters) had eight 380 mm and a dozen 150 mm guns, could reach a maximum speed of 30.8 knots, and its cruising range was nine thousand nautical miles. The “King of the Oceans” carried six Arado-196 seaplanes on board, with a crew of 2,340 people.

In June 1936, the Bismarck and Tirpitz, the largest warships ever built in Germany, were laid down at the shipyards of Hamburg and Wilhelmshaven. Although it was officially stated that the displacement of the new battleships was 35 thousand tons, in reality this value was almost one and a half times higher!

Structurally, the Bismarck was largely the same as the Scharnhorst, fundamentally differing primarily in its main caliber artillery. A 380mm cannon with a barrel length of 52 calibers could fire 800kg projectiles with an initial speed of 820 m/s. True, by reducing the maximum elevation angle to 30°, the firing range compared to the 11-inch gun was reduced to 35.5 km. However, this value was considered excessive, since fighting at such distances then seemed impossible.

The armor differed from the Scharnhorst mainly by increasing the height of the main belt and thickening the upper belt to 145 mm. The deck armor, as well as the width of the torpedo protection, remained the same. Approximately the same can be said about the power plant (12 Wagner boilers and 3 four-case turbo-gear units). The relative weight of the armor has decreased slightly (up to 40% of the displacement), but this cannot be called a disadvantage, since the ratio between protection and weapons has become more balanced.

But even such giants as Bismarck and Tirpitz could not satisfy the growing ambitions of the Fuhrer.

The fact is that in the winter of 1938-39, Raeder presented Hitler with two plans for building a fleet: according to the first, submarines and battleships were to be built, whose actions would bring the enemy’s trade to its knees; according to the second option, a fleet that was not very significant, but had an exceptionally large striking force, was created, which could destroy the enemy’s trade and the forces of its navy.

Hitler approved the second version of the plan, declaring that the fleet would not be needed until 1946 to achieve his political goals.

According to the approved plan, Raeder's idea of ​​forcing the enemy fleet to disperse by striking at trade, and then destroying its units with superior forces, began to acquire the features of a theoretical development. Conceptually, this idea repeats the plans of the High Seas Fleet on the eve of and during the First World War. Then she did not justify herself.

Let us return, however, to the design and construction of heavy artillery ships designed to fulfill the adopted plan “Z”.

In any conflict with the Royal Navy, the decisive factors were the range, speed and armament of the ships. During 1937, when design work on these ships began, the German Naval Staff developed requirements for them:

standard displacement over 50,000 tons
armament: 8,406mm. guns in four turrets, 16 150mm guns in twin turrets, 105mm. guns in new “anti-aircraft” turrets (special closed installations), 37mm. anti-aircraft guns, including two “special anti-aircraft guns”, 4 seaplanes, 6,533mm. torpedo tubes
speed 30 knots
cruising range 16,000 miles at 19 knots speed
protection: Armored citadel, withstands 406mm hits. shells from normal combat distances, the PTZ must withstand the explosion of a torpedo with a 250 kg TNT warhead.

Due to Hitler's additional demands, increasing size and emerging combat experience, Project H went through five different stages. As part of our research, we will touch only on the first stage - the H39 project.
On January 18, 1939, in an event unprecedented in the Third Reich, Hitler gave the Navy unlimited powers to carry out his shipbuilding program. Only four shipyards had slips of sufficient length to build new battleships. Therefore, two battleships (“N” and “M”) were to be laid down at the Blomm und Voss shipyard in Hamburg, two (“J” and “N”) at the Dechimag concern shipyard in Bremen, one (“L” ) - at the state shipyard in Wilhelmshaven and the last one (“K”) - at the Deutsche Veerke shipyard in Kiel. Despite the rather long slips at these shipyards, it was planned to support the hulls of ships extending beyond them with headstocks. The keel of the battleship "N" was laid first on July 15, 1939, then on September 1 - "J" and on September 15 - "K", but the outbreak of the war stopped all construction. Otherwise, it is possible that, taking into account the received priority, these ships could have been built in a six-year period.

At another meeting with Raeder in 1939 regarding new warship designs, Hitler pointed out that each new German ship should have more powerful offensive and defensive capabilities than its rival in the British Navy.

When Raeder remarked to Hitler that the German Navy would not be ready to fight the Royal Navy until at least 1945, Hitler assured him that the Navy would not be needed to accomplish Germany's political objectives until 1948. Without any consultation with Raeder, Hitler terminated the Anglo-German Naval Treaty of 1935 on April 28, 1939. In May, he said that the planned shipbuilding program should be carried out as planned, and relations with the United Kingdom would be maintained on a friendly basis.

Let's return directly to the N-type battleships.

At the initial stage, design work was complicated by changing requirements for the size of the ship and its main caliber. Hitler wanted to make his new battleships the most powerful in the world. Back in 1934, work began on the 406mm. a weapon for which a whole series of tests, experimental firings and other similar events were carried out. But by 1939, only seven such barrels were produced, since the Krupp company was loaded with orders for 380 and 283 mm. guns for ships of the Bismarck and Scharnhorst types. After the signing of a mutual non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union in 1939, sixteen more 380mm barrels. guns and spare parts for them should have been supplied to the USSR. As a result, despite the pressure from Hitler, who demanded huge guns in general, the Germans decided to stop for the “H” project on the 406mm caliber, which they left on the redesigned project of 1940.

Another important decision concerned the cruising range and the type of propulsion system. Since Great Britain was now considered a potential enemy, cruising range became a decisive factor, especially given Germany’s lack of bases in the oceans and difficulties in breaking into the Atlantic. To fulfill this requirement, preference was given to diesel units. In addition to low fuel consumption, the diesel plant had the advantage that with its help it was possible to switch from economic speed to full speed in a matter of minutes, while ships with steam turbines needed at least 20 minutes. The fuel supply was calculated for 1000 hours of diesel operation at a ship speed of 19 knots.

Although the N project had a greater displacement than the Bismarck and Tirpitz, the German designers remained faithful to the principle of placing the main caliber guns in four two-gun turrets. For the High Naval Command, the advantages of such an arrangement were obvious from the experience of the World War. Three and four gun turrets were considered undesirable.

At the beginning of work on the preliminary project, any proposals to strengthen the medium artillery in comparison with the Bismarck and Scharnhorst types were rejected due to lack of space around the superstructure, which did not allow the additional turrets to be given normal firing angles. It was also difficult to find space in the hull for additional ammunition magazines, since a purely diesel power plant required more space than a steam turbine of the same power. Moreover, the requirement to have four seaplanes meant that a lot of space would be taken up by aircraft hangars and equipment for takeoff and landing operations. Due to the impossibility of combining all the intake and exhaust pipes of 12 main diesel engines and 12 diesel generators into one pipe, we had to settle on a two-pipe version. The presence of two pipes and a large number of boats did not allow the use of an aircraft hangar and catapults in the middle part of the ship, as on the Bismarck type. All this equipment had to be placed between the second pipe and tower “C”. If German designers had used three-gun main caliber turrets, they would have had more options for placing aircraft equipment and additional 150mm turrets. guns

In the spring of 1939, the project acquired the characteristics presented in the table. Beam and draft requirements forced the total displacement to be limited to 63,596 tons.

Design characteristics of the battleship - spring 1939:
Total displacement 65.592 tons
Waterline width at design load 37.00 m.
Draft at full load 11.02 m.
Armament: 8 406 mm guns. /50cal. (4 2-gun turrets), 12 150 mm guns. /55cal. (6 2-gun turrets), 16 105 mm guns. /65cal. (8 paired special “anti-aircraft” fully enclosed installations), 16 37mm guns. /83cal. (8 twin, of which 2 are closed armored and 6 are behind shields), 32 anti-aircraft 20mm. Automatic, 6,533mm. underwater torpedo tubes, 4 seaplanes "Arado196".
Speed ​​34 knots
Shaft power in normal mode 147.950 VLS
Fuel capacity 9.839 tons
Cruising range 16,000 miles at 19 knots
Protection: 150 mm. – upper belt, 300 mm. – main (lower) belt, 100 mm. – lower armored deck, 50 mm. - upper deck.

Due to numerous changes and differences of opinion among the members of the OKM, design work progressed slowly and Hitler became impatient. To avoid further delays, Admiral Raeder found it necessary to appoint a person personally responsible for the project. By his order of January 27, 1939, it was created

“Special New Designs Group” of 15 people, headed by Admiral Werner Fuchs. Since all issues regarding the construction of ships had to be coordinated with the Blom und Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Admiral Fuchs again moved his headquarters there. On July 15, 1939, after the completion of design work, completion of testing of the model in the experimental pool in Hamburg and procurement of most of the steel and armor required for the hull, the keel of the battleship “N” was laid at this shipyard.

In addition to battleships, battlecruisers were also planned for construction in Germany in the pre-war years. The most developed project was the “O” type.

Tactical and technical characteristics of the "O" type battle cruiser:
Total displacement: 35,700 tons
Dimensions: 248.15x30x8.8 m.
Armament: 6 guns 380/52, 6 guns 150/48, 8 guns 105/65, 8 guns 37/83; 8 – 20 20mm machine guns, 12 533mm deck-based guns, 4 Arado 196 seaplanes, 1 catapult.
Armor, mm: upper belt 90, main belt 190 (nose 60); upper deck 30, lower deck: in the middle part 60, at the sides 80 (slopes); GK towers (front/walls/rear/roof) 220/180/180/50, GK barbettes 180 (aft part of barbette “S” 80), SK towers (everywhere) 14; conning tower: (walls/roof/floor) 200/80/30, communication well 80 mm.
Mechanisms: 4 thin-tube high-pressure boilers of the “Wagner” system (working pressure 55 atm., steam temperature 460, 1 TZA of the “Brown Boveri” system (single-stage gearbox), 8 main 24-cylinder 2-stroke MAN diesel engines; shaft power 175,136 hp,
Maximum speed 33.5 knots; cruising range 14,000 miles at 19 knots.

The O-class battlecruisers had a powerful main gun and an unusual high-power propulsion system, but weak armor made them obsolete even before construction began. The almost complete absence of horizontal protection at a time when the destructive power of aerial bombs and high-angle projectiles fired from long ranges increased, made these ships excessively vulnerable to heavy gun fire and, without any doubt, could not be used in the battle line. The unfortunate choice of the main characteristics was based on a concept that would have been in place 25 years earlier. Apparently, responsibility for the decision to build such battlecruisers rests entirely with Hitler, who always gravitated towards large ships. He saw them as a formidable opponent to the escort forces of Allied convoys to Europe. But the Germans themselves considered the cruisers “O”, “P” and “Q” to be completely unsuccessful in concept. In professional circles, this project was known as “Ohne Panzer Quatsch” - “armorless nonsense”. At the same time, the division into compartments was designed more carefully than on all other German ships. The additional use of water-expelling material in the empty side compartments partly compensated for the weakness of the armor and anti-tank protection and was a positive step in German naval shipbuilding.

Considering the correctness of the decision to use large-caliber guns, it should still be recognized that medium and anti-aircraft weapons were clearly insufficient. Installing batteries of universal guns would significantly save weight and improve firepower. Alas, the German industry was never able to master the production of a good universal weapon, which is why the entire project of these, and not only these, ships suffered.

The absence of aircraft carriers in the German fleet resulted from an incorrect assessment of the aircraft as a factor in the war at sea. World War II showed that building any large artillery ship at the expense of building aircraft carriers was a mistake. This was especially true for ships such as the “O” type, obsolete ships that were large in size and high in cost with weak air defense systems. The conclusion suggests itself that the O-class cruisers would be very quickly disabled and ultimately destroyed by aircraft.

The outbreak of war thwarted the Nazi plans. Programs for the construction of surface ships had to be curtailed, and in September 1939, Hitler could oppose 22 English and French battleships and battlecruisers with only the 11-inch Scharnhorst and Gneisenau (“pocket battleships” do not count).

Thus, the only full-fledged battleships in the German Navy were two Bismarck-class ships. It should be noted that in maritime historical literature, Bismarck and Tirpitz are often called almost the most powerful battleships in the world. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, this is what Nazi propaganda said. Secondly, the British played along with it in order to justify the not always successful actions of their many times superior fleet. Thirdly, the rating of Bismarck was greatly increased by the generally accidental death of Hood. But in reality, compared to their counterparts, the German super-battleships did not stand out for the better. In terms of armor, armament and torpedo protection, they were inferior to the Richelieu, Littorio, and South Dakota, not to mention the Yamato. The weak points of the “Germans” were the capricious energy, “non-versatility” of 150mm artillery, and imperfect radar equipment. As for Scharnhorst, it is usually criticized, which again is not entirely fair. Although it had the same shortcomings as the Bismarck (to which was initially added poor seaworthiness, which forced the reconstruction of the bow of the hull), thanks to its smaller size, in accordance with the “cost-effectiveness” criterion, it deserves a good rating. In addition, we must take into account that this was the second project in the world (after Dunkirk) to implement a high-speed battleship project, ahead of its more powerful “class brothers” in time. And if the Scharnhorst could be rearmed with six 380mm guns, then it could generally be considered a very successful battlecruiser, superior to the British Repulse in almost all respects.

And now, in our opinion, it is necessary to determine what kind of ships the German heavy artillery ships were. There is a very clear connection between the Deutschland and Gneisenau type projects, which were trade fighters, albeit with specific features. “Scharnhorst” and “Gneisenau” by their actions proved that they are raiders unsuitable for artillery combat with enemy battleships. Although, one can make reservations about the enemy’s heavy artillery ships - the German battlecruisers could still compete on an equal footing with the Dunkirk.

But, if the Gneisenau can be called a raider with a high degree of confidence, that is, it is still more of a cruiser than a battleship, with a pair of the Bismarck class the situation is more complicated. The concept of cruising war has not been canceled; the plan adopted by Hitler at the beginning of 1939 also implied, in addition to a decisive battle with the forces of the enemy fleet, actions on communications. And if we remember that the core of the fleet should be powerful, but small, then it becomes clear, even without looking at the performance characteristics and the history of the combat use of the Bismarck and Tirpitz, who these two last battleships of the Third Reich were. During the period between the world wars, the Germans turned battleships into very large cruisers, into raiders, into trade fighters, capable of fighting on equal terms with any enemy.

Therefore, returning to the beginning of this paragraph, it seems quite appropriate to us to use another title: “The gradual evolution of the German raider”, without specifying the class of this ship, because all of them, united in spirit, are different in classification - from a heavy cruiser to a battleship, including the class of battlecruisers (with a certain degree of convention).

The battleship Tirpitz is the second battleship that was part of the naval forces of the Third Reich. This is a Bismarck-class battleship. This battleship practically did not take part in hostilities, but its presence significantly threatened the convoys in Norway for the USSR, and besides, it held a sufficient number of forces of the English fleet in an iron fist. They tried to destroy the battleship Tirpitz for a long time, but success came only in November 1944, when it was attacked from the air with super-heavy Tallboy class bombs.

The battleship Tirpitz was launched in April 1939. It was named in honor of the founder of the modern German fleet - Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz. Initially, the Tirpitz was planned to be used as a raider, which would attack merchant ships and enemy caravans in the North Atlantic Ocean. But, based on the fate of the Bismarck ship, Hitler had to be disappointed in the capabilities of the fleet over water and therefore the Tirpitz ship was used quite rarely.

At the beginning (January) of 1942, the command sent the ship Tirpitz to Norwegian waters to conduct a “hunt” for northern convoys to Russia and to counter the operation organized using British commandos on the island of Vågsøy. In the same place, the ship Tirpitz was desiccated for almost the entire WWII. But, as you know, the mere presence of the Tirpitz ship fettered the large naval forces of the British fleet with an iron chain. In other words, the fleet of Great Britain took into account the possible threat from the battleship and constantly carried out operations to destroy this battleship. As many as 14 such operations were carried out, and the battleship Tirpitz itself carried out only three offensive operations. As a result of these operations, the warship Tirpitz was sunk by the British Navy on November 12, 1944 in Tromso during an air raid in which super-heavy Tallboy bombs weighing 5 tons were used.

When the war ended, the wreckage from the ship was broken up on the spot and sold by a company from Norway. Almost the entire ship was cut into pieces and taken away. Only a significant part of the bow of the Tirpitz ship remained at the site of the sinking.

In the history of World War II, the combat interaction of the countries participating in the anti-Hitler coalition occupies a special place. Not all episodes of this cooperation are now known to the general public, including the sinking of the most powerful ship of the German fleet.

1943 The command of the British Royal Navy still fears attacks by the Kriegsmarine in the north - where the routes of the famous Arctic convoys pass, delivering weapons, military equipment, ammunition, food and much more to the USSR. At the end of August, London learns that the Germans are preparing a large-scale operation involving battleships, including the largest of them, the Tirpitz.

Damaged but still dangerous

The Tirpitz almost never left the base of Wehrmacht-occupied Norway, since Hitler feared for the fate of the battleship after the death of the same type of Bismarck. Nevertheless, it posed a significant potential threat to the allied Arctic convoys and tied down significant forces of the British Navy.

The British tried to keep their eyes on the Tirpitz. By agreement with the Soviet leadership, the 543rd air reconnaissance unit of the Royal Air Force - three Photo Spitfires, piloted by Major Robinson, Lieutenants Dixon and Kenwright - flew to the Vaenga-1 airfield, located near Murmansk - 275 kilometers beyond the Arctic Circle. The pilots reported directly to the British military mission in Polyarny. Through her, they also received reconnaissance assignments in the interests of the Northern Fleet. From September to November 1943, the flight's aircraft made 50 flights over the main German naval bases in northern Norway.

By the way, vigilant “competent authorities” have repeatedly reported to the commander of the Northern Fleet, Admiral Arseny Golovko, that the British are also taking photographs of Soviet territory. But the headquarters of the Northern Fleet did not aggravate relations with the allies.

To disable the Tirpitz, the British planned an attack by midget submarines. Operation was successfully completed. On September 22, 1943, the ship was seriously damaged as a result of the use of explosive charges by mini-submarines. The armored giant was put into repairs, which were completed only in the spring of 1944.

In November 1943, British aircraft were transferred to the 118th Reconnaissance Regiment of the Northern Fleet Air Force. English pilots returned to their homeland. However, four months later, Lieutenant Dixon had to fly to Vaenga again...

Pre-emptive raids

1944 The large-scale offensive of the Red Army on the Eastern Front required new supplies. Meanwhile, the landing of the Western allies in Normandy involved the use of a huge number of vessels engaged in transporting goods to the USSR. It would be possible to solve these problems only in stages: first, transfer the maximum amount of everything necessary for the Soviet troops to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, and then use the ships in the landing operation in Europe. When making this decision, the increase in daylight hours in the north in summer was also taken into account.

So, from January to May 1944, the largest convoys of the entire war departed along the northern route (the next convoy headed for Russia only in mid-August). But the British Admiralty, not without reason, feared that they would become prey to the Kriegsmarine, because the repair of the Tirpitz was nearing completion. This time in London they decided to try to destroy the battleship with an air strike.

In March 1944, to intensify surveillance of the Tirpitz, a flight of reconnaissance Spitfires was again transferred to Vaenga-1. Major Furnis, Lieutenant Sirg and Lieutenant Dixon, already familiar to us, regularly supplied the English mission and the headquarters of the Northern Fleet with the obtained information. And soon, during an air raid, the main ship of the German Navy was disabled for four months.

At the end of May, the British pilots were recalled home, and our 118th Air Regiment received their aircraft, as in the previous case.

In July and August 1944, the unusually tenacious armored monster of the Third Reich was attacked by British planes from “floating airfields.” Unsuccessfully. Taking these failures into account, in September a new, carefully thought-out operation was developed in London to sink the Tirpitz. It was called "Paravane".

Heading to Arkhangelsk

The plan called for the following: British Lancaster heavy bombers would fly to Soviet air bases, take off from there, head to Norway and drop super-powerful Tallboy bombs, designed by British engineer Barnes Wallis, weighing more than five tons, on the German battleship. According to the British, a strike from this direction would be a complete surprise for the enemy.

The best units of the Royal Air Force were selected to participate in the operation: the 9th squadron of Lieutenant Colonel Basin, which carried out the first raids on Berlin, and the 617th squadron, whose pilots were called dam destroyers for undermining hydraulic structures on the Rhine. They were commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Tait, a three-time recipient of the Order of Merit, one of Britain's highest honors. The air force was headed by Colonel McMullen.

There was not a single pilot in the crews who had flown over Germany less than 60 times. All pilots had awards or special incentives. There was no doubt in London: the attack was doomed to success.

On September 11, 1944, at exactly 21.00, 41 aircraft took to the skies from the Luzimouth airfield, heading for Arkhangelsk. Ten hours later, the representative of the British mission in the north, Captain Walker, notified the command of the White Sea Flotilla about the flight of the Lancaster formation.

To resettle the British, an old steamship “Ivan Kalyaev” was brought to the Yagodnik airfield near Arkhangelsk. (I’ll note in parentheses: the ship bore the name of the Socialist Revolutionary terrorist who killed Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the uncle of Emperor Nicholas II, in 1905. And... a relative of the British royal house. But they didn’t think about such a “trifle” in Moscow. In London, they didn’t think about it, It seems that they decided not to pay attention.) Two large dugouts for 50 people were equipped on the shore. But when it turned out that instead of the expected thirty planes, over forty would arrive, and even with passengers (334 people in total), within 24 hours they dug and equipped a couple more dugouts. A radio was installed in each and a telephone was installed. Two boats for communication with the city and two single-engine airplanes were at the disposal of guests from Foggy Albion.

On September 12 at 6.00 the first Lancaster of Captain Prier appeared over Yagodnik. Without responding to greetings after landing, the pilot rushed to the radio station. Due to bad weather, but most importantly, due to the discrepancy between the frequencies of the call signs of the Soviet radio beacon and the English radio receivers, the Lancasters landed blindly, without adjustment. That is why, out of 41 aircraft, only 31 bombers landed on Yagodnik, and 10 aircraft ended up in other places. Fortunately, none of the pilots were seriously injured, but all these aircraft required minor repairs.

The most unlucky of all was the crew of Lieutenant Kili, who fell into a swamp near the village of Talagi. A parachutist-guide had to be dropped here, who led the pilots to the river, from where a seaplane evacuated them. Four Lancasters flew independently to Yagodnik a few hours later. On six aircraft, damage was repaired at the landing site.

Operation Paravan

Soviet aviators had the opportunity to meet the best pilots and bombers of the United Kingdom. Lancaster deserves high praise. Everyone who inspected the aircraft wrote a detailed report for Fleet Air Command. Particular attention was paid to the sight and the modernized astrograph, which automatically calculated the coordinates of the vehicle’s location, marking them on the self-propelled film and the navigator’s map.

Two locators, as well as a hatch on the right side of the bow cabin, did not escape the attention of our specialists. We managed to find out that it is designed to throw out foil that neutralizes the beam of an enemy radar. In a word, domestic pilots and engineers discovered a lot of interesting things.

In preparation for the operation, the British squadron commanders, together with Soviet staff officers, worked to clarify the route. The crews were resting.

On September 15, 1944, at 4.37 a.m., Captain Watson's Mosquito aircraft took off to conduct weather reconnaissance in the target area. The sky above Kaa Fiord was clear. As soon as Yagodnik found out about this, 28 Lancasters took off. There was high spirits among the pilots.

At 10.00 the planes set course. On board are 21 heavy-duty Tallboys and 72 two-hundred-kilogram bombs. At 13.57 we reached the target. The enemy anti-aircraft guns were silent. Suddenly, one of the cars, flying to the left of the flagship Lancaster, fell out of formation and rushed towards the Tirpitz. The general order was disrupted. The leader, Lieutenant Colonel Tate, was forced to lead the bombers on a second round. It was not possible to strike suddenly. The enemy had two minutes to put up smoke screens. On the second pass, the bombs were dropped as needed.

At 14.04 the planes headed to the Yagodnik airfield, where they landed three hours later. Only one car followed to England, which carried war correspondents who followed the progress of the raid.

Later it became known: as a result of the explosion of one of the bombs, a hole measuring 10 by 14 meters was formed in the hull of the battleship, into which water poured. Based on intelligence information received from Norway, as well as aerial reconnaissance photographs, experts determined that it would take at least nine months to restore the Tirpitz.

Thus, Operation Paravan was successfully completed. The "King of the Oceans" was disabled. For the high level of organization of support for British squadrons, the commander of the White Sea Flotilla, Vice Admiral Yuri Panteleev, and two other Soviet officers were awarded English orders.

The final blow

Allied planes left Arkhangelsk in groups. Royal Air Force pilots said goodbye to Russia with a sense of accomplishment. The remaining crews whiled away their time on excursions around the city, and in the evenings, dancing at the airfield club and watching Soviet films. Some tried to court Russian girls, which the special officers immediately found out about.

On September 27 at 22.00 a solemn farewell ceremony took place for the British, who were the last to fly away. Six damaged Lancasters were transferred free of charge to the Soviet side. Two repaired aircraft served in the Northern Fleet Air Force. Their design and equipment were carefully studied. Later, these data were useful in the creation of strategic aviation of the USSR.

Well, what is the future fate of the Tirpitz?

On November 12, 1944, 32 Lancasters from the same 9 and 617 squadrons took off from Great Britain and flew to the north of Norway. Here, in a bay near the port city of Tromso, a German battleship was based. In order for the planes to be able to reach the target of attack, strike and return back, additional tanks were installed on them and the top turret was removed.

During the operation, three Tallboy bombs hit their target, and two exploded near the battleship. A powerful explosion tore off one of the ship's gun turrets. It turned upside down and sank. Of the 1,700 crew members on board the Tirpitz at that moment, a thousand people died, including the commander, Captain zur See (Captain 1st Rank) Robert Weber.

Tirpitz

Tirpitz (German: Tirpitz) was the second Bismarck-class battleship that was part of the Kriegsmarine. He practically did not participate in hostilities, but with his presence in Norway he threatened Arctic convoys in the USSR and tied down significant forces of the British fleet. For its passive role in the war, the Norwegians nicknamed the battleship “The Lonely Queen of the North” (Norwegian: Den ensomme Nordens Dronning). Attempts to destroy the Tirpitz continued for several years, but were crowned with success only in November 1944 after an air attack with super-heavy Tallboy bombs. Details of the battleship are still in military museums around the world.

History of application

The ship was launched on April 1, 1939. It received its name in honor of Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the founder of the modern German fleet. It was originally intended that the Tirpitz would act as a raider, attacking Allied trade caravans in the North Atlantic. However, the fate of the battleship Bismarck made Hitler disillusioned with the surface fleet, and therefore the Tirpitz was used extremely rarely.

In January 1942, Tirpitz was sent to Norwegian waters to hunt Arctic convoys to Russia and counter the Archery operation of British commandos on the island of Vågsøy. There, in the fjords, it stood for almost the entire Second World War. However, even the mere presence of the Tirpitz tied up significant forces of the Royal Navy, although during its entire stay in Norway it carried out only three offensive operations. Despite this, the British fleet took into account the potential danger of the battleship and did not stop efforts to destroy it. After repeated attacks from the air and sea, the Tirpitz was sunk while docked in Tromsø on November 12, 1944, as a result of an air raid using super-heavy five-ton Tollboy bombs.

Operation Tirpitz

Operation Sportpalast

In early March 1942, there was an attempt to intercept convoys PQ-12 and QP-8. PQ-12 left a port in Iceland on March 1, 1942, and QP-8 left Murmansk at about the same time. On March 5, the Tirpitz, accompanied by three destroyers, left the base and headed across the Arctic Ocean to Bear Island. Due to bad weather, it was not possible to find the convoy; only one of the destroyers discovered and sank the timber carrier Izhora, which lagged behind QP-8. On March 9, the Tirpitz was spotted by an aircraft from the aircraft carrier HMS Victorious, and Admiral Otto Ciliax decided to abort the cruise and return to base.

Operation Rösselsprung

In July 1942, the German command planned to use the Tirpitz and the heavy cruisers Admiral Scheer and Admiral Hipper to attack the PQ-17 convoy (Plan Rösselsprung - “Knight's Move”). Due to delays in permission to begin the operation (it was given personally by Hitler), the sea went out only on July 5. On the same day, the battleship was attacked by the Soviet submarine K-21 under the command of N. A. Lunin. The boat fired a salvo of four stern torpedo tubes. The crew of the boat did not directly observe the result of the attack, but heard 2 strong explosions and a series of weaker explosions. Lunin in his report suggested that the explosions were explained by torpedoes hitting the battleship, while at the same time admitting the possibility that the torpedoes hit one of the escort destroyers; at the headquarters of the submarine brigade, his report was interpreted as a report about the sinking of the destroyer and damage to the battleship. In Soviet and Russian memoirs, popular and journalistic literature, statements about the damage to the Tirpitz during the K-21 attack are repeatedly encountered, but these statements do not have documentary evidence. The German ships avoided being hit (and did not even note the fact of the attack); The explosions heard by modern researchers are explained by the detonation of torpedoes when they hit the ground or distant explosions of depth charges dropped by convoy ships. Some Russian mass media still publish arguments in favor of the version that K-21 torpedoes (or torpedoes) hit the Tirpitz.

A little later, the battleship was discovered by the British submarine Ansheikn. By this time it became known that the convoy had already been disbanded and the Tirpitz turned back. Convoy PQ-17, disbanded and left unguarded due to the Tirpitz threat, suffered greatly from air and submarine attacks.

Operation Sizilien

In September 1943, Operation Sizilien (“Sicily”) was carried out - a raid on Spitsbergen. German troops landed on the island with artillery support from the battleships Tirpitz and Scharnhorst and nine destroyers. The Germans occupied the island from September 6 to September 9, 1943. Operation Sizilien was the only operation in which the Tirpitz fired its guns at the enemy (however, it never fired a single shot at enemy ships).

Operations against Tirpitz

The British began attacks on the Tirpitz even during construction and did not stop until they sank the battleship.

Operation Title

October 30-31, 1942. An attempt to destroy the Tirpitz using guided underwater vehicles codenamed Chariot, which were human-controlled torpedoes. The vehicles were to be delivered to the Tirpitz anchorage by covert towing in an underwater position using the fishing boat "Arthur" (captain - Leif Larsen).

On October 30, a boat with torpedoes in tow managed to enter Trondheimsfjord. When there were no more than 15 miles (24 km) left to the Tirpitz anchorage, a strong headwind and a wave arose. On October 31, at 22:00, a loud grinding noise was heard astern. "Arthur" entered the nearest harbor, where a diver discovered the loss of both torpedoes. At this point, Tirpitz was less than 10 miles away. The boat was flooded and the team left on foot to the Swedish border.

The Germans later discovered the sunken boat and, after examination, came to the conclusion that it was intended for a special operation.

Operation Source

September 1943: first successful operation against Tirpitz. Ex-class mini-submarines were used for the attack. For most of the journey, the mini-boats were towed by conventional submarines. Of the six midget submarines, three were to attack the Tirpitz: X5 (Lt. Henty-Creer), X6 (Lt. Donald Cameron) and X7 (Lt. Basil Place). The X5 boat was discovered and sunk, but X6 and X7 dropped four 2-ton mines filled with ammotol under the battleship. After this, the boats were also discovered, and their crews were captured. Despite the detected danger, the Tirpitz was unable to leave the parking lot before the mines exploded. The explosion caused serious damage to the battleship: the frames in the bow were damaged and one of the turbines was torn off the frame. Tower C, weighing about 2,000 tons, was thrown upward and jammed the ball ring when it fell. It was impossible to fix the tower outside the dock. In addition, all rangefinders and fire control devices were out of order. As a result of the damage received, the battleship was out of action for six months and its maximum speed was significantly reduced.

For the successful conduct of the operation, the captains of the mini-submarines X6 and X7 were awarded Victoria Crosses - the highest military awards of the British Empire.

Operation Tungsten

By April 1944, the Tirpitz had been repaired and could again pose a danger. In response to this threat, the British Navy launched Operation Tungsten. The attack involved a significant fleet force, including: two battleships, two attack aircraft carriers, two escort aircraft carriers, two cruisers and sixteen destroyers. The attack began on April 3, on the eve of the Tirpitz entering sea trials after repairs.

The raid consisted of two waves of Fairey Barracuda torpedo bombers accompanied by fighter escorts. The attacking planes, however, carried not torpedoes, but bombs of various types: armor-piercing, depth, high-explosive and fragmentation. The first wave struck at 05:30. By 08:00 the attack was completed: three aircraft had been lost. Tirpitz lost 123 people killed and 300 wounded. The armored hull was not damaged, but the superstructure suffered noticeable damage, requiring three months to repair.

Operations Planet, Brawn, Tiger Claw and Mascot

Tirpitz remained a threat, so the British Admiralty continued to plan operations against it. However, due to bad weather in April-May 1944, three raids had to be canceled: Operations Planet, Brawn and Tiger Claw.

The next attack using aircraft carriers (Operation Mascot) took place in July 1944. However, by this time the Germans had organized an air defense, especially a smoke screen system, as a result of which the attack ended in failure: the attacking aircraft scored no hits.

Operations Goodwood I, II, III and IV

In August 1944, the Tirpitz finally passed sea trials. Shortly afterwards, the British carried out further raids (Operations Goodwood I and Goodwood II), which ended in vain due to bad weather.

Operations Paravane, Obviate and Catechism

Operation Paravane was launched by the British Royal Air Force on September 15 from the Yagodnik base near Arkhangelsk. Avro Lancaster aircraft were armed with 5-ton Tallboy bombs and experimental 500-pound (230 kg) underwater "walking" mines. Despite the smoke screen set up to protect Tirpitz, one of the bombs still hit the bow of the ship, rendering it unseaworthy. The Germans had practically no opportunity to drydock Tirpitz for repairs, so in October the battleship was transferred to Tromsø as a floating artillery battery in case of the expected Allied invasion of Norway. The ship's new location was already within range of the air fleet from Scotland, and the British continued to attack it, unaware of the German decision not to restore the ship.

On October 28, another raid on Tirpitz was launched from the Lossiemouth base in Scotland, called Operation Obviate - but at the last moment the ship was hidden by clouds, and only one Tallboy bomb, exploding not far from the ship, bent the propeller shaft.

But the next time, on November 12, 1944, during Operation Catechism (English catechism; interrogation), there was no smoke screen or clouds over Tirpitz. The ship was hit by 3 Tallboy bombs: one bounced off the turret armor, but two others penetrated the armor and made a 200-foot (61 m) hole in her port side and caused a fire and explosion in the powder magazine, which blew off the "C" turret. As a result, the Tirpitz sank west of Tromsø, in Håkøybotn Bay, a few minutes after the attack, taking with it 1,000 of its crew of 1,700.

For reasons that are not entirely clear, the Luftwaffe was unable to prevent the bombing. German air defense only managed to damage the engine of one of the planes participating in the raid, but its crew escaped with a “hard” landing in Sweden. As a result of this failure, the commander of the Luftwaffe in Norway, Major Heinrich Erler, was accused of neglect of duty and sentenced to death, commuted to three years in prison and sent to the front.

The destruction of Tirpitz eliminated the last serious threat to the Allies on the surface of the North Atlantic. This made it possible to transfer the main forces - battleships and aircraft carriers - from the European region, where they were kept as deterrent forces, to the Indian and Pacific oceans, where they took part in hostilities against Japan.

After the war

After the war, the wreckage of Tirpitz was sold and broken up on site by a Norwegian company. Almost the entire ship was cut up and taken away. However, much of the Tirpitz's bow remains where it sank in 1944. In addition, the ship's power generators were used as a temporary power station, supplying electricity to the fishing industry around the town of Honningsvåg.

Not far from the site of the flooding of Tirpitz, there are artificial lakes that appeared in craters from the explosions of Tallboy bombs (weighing more than 5 tons), which did not hit the target. Currently, some parts of the battleship are used by the Norwegian Road Department (Vegvesenet) as temporary road surfaces during repair work. Some parts of the battleship were melted down to make brooches and other jewelry. In addition, a significant part of the armored plating is stored at the Royal Naval Museum "Explosion!" ("Bang!") in Gosport, Hampshire.

Tirpitz - the second Bismarck-class battleship that was part of the Kriegsmarine