German Battleship Tirpitz Specs and History

German Battleship Tirpitz

The German Battleship Tirpitz was the sister ship of the much more famous Bismarck. The Tirpitz was the last Kriegsmarine warship larger than a destroyer that was put in commission. The Tirpitz main armament was eight 15 inch guns in four double turrets, with a secondary armament of twelve 5.9 inch guns. She carried a crew of approximately 2100 officers and men. The only time the Tirptiz fired her main guns in anger was in September 1943 when she bombarded the shore installations on Spitzbergen. Probably the Tripitz' greatest contribution to the war was during an action she never participated in. In July 1942 the Tirpitz set sail with the Admiral Hipper and Admiral Scheer to attack the convoy destined for Russian number PQ-17. Although these ships were recalled and never contributed to the attack, the mere threat of them at sea caused Admiral Dudley Pound to order the convoy to scatter. This fateful message resulted in the Germans sinking 17 of the 33 ships in the convoy by U-boats and the Luftwaffe. The rest of the war the Tirptiz served at the Fleet in being off of Norway and was finally sunk by the RAF November 12 1944.