On thisday November 12 1944 the german battleship Tirpitz was sunk in a Norwegian fjord. Operation Catechism, the final British attack on Tirpitz, took place on 12 November 1944.[54] The ship again used
her 38 cm guns against the bombers, which approached the battleship at 09:35; Tirpitz 's main guns forced the bombers to disperse temporarily, but could not break up the attack.[67] A force of 32 Lancasters from Nos. 9 and 617 Squadrons dropped 29 Tallboys on the ship, with two direct hits and one near miss.[54] Several other bombs landed within the anti-torpedo net barrier and caused significant cratering of the seabed; this removed much of the sandbank that had been constructed to prevent the ship from capsizing. One bomb penetrated the ship's deck between turrets Anton and Bruno but failed to explode. A second hit amidships between the aircraft catapult and the funnel and caused severe damage. A very large hole was blown into the ship's side and bottom; the entire section of belt armour abreast of the bomb hit was completely destroyed. A third bomb may have struck the ship on the port side of turret Caesar.[67] The amidships hit caused significant flooding and quickly increased the port list to between 15 and 20 degrees. In ten minutes, the list increased to 30 to 40 degrees; the captain issued the order to abandon ship. Progressive flooding increased the list to 60 degrees by 09:50, though this appeared to stabilise temporarily. Eight minutes later, a large explosion rocked turret Caesar. The turret roof and part of the rotating structure were thrown 25 m (82 ft) into the air and over into a group of men swimming to shore, crushing them. Tirpitz then rapidly rolled over and buried her superstructure in the sea floor.[68]
In the aftermath of the attack, rescue operations attempted to reach men trapped in the hull. Workers rescued 82 men by cutting through the bottom hull plates.[54] Figures for the death toll vary from approximately 950 to 1,204.[f] Approximately 200 survivors of the sinking were transferred to the heavy cruiser Lützow in January 1945.[71]
The performance of the Luftwaffe in the defence of Tirpitz was highly criticised after her loss. Major Heinrich Ehrler, the commander of III./Jagdgeschwader 5 (3rd Group of the 5th Fighter Wing), was blamed for the Luftwaffe's failure to intercept the British bombers. He was subsequently court-martialled in Oslo and threatened with the death penalty. Evidence was shown that his unit had failed to help the Kriegsmarine when requested. He was sentenced to three years in prison, but he was released after a month, demoted, and reassigned to an Me 262 fighter squadron in Germany.[72] Ehrler was exonerated by further investigations which concluded that the reason behind the fiasco was poor communication between the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe[73] and the aircrews had not been informed that Tirpitz had been moved off Håkøya a couple of weeks earlier.[74]
The wreck of Tirpitz remained in place until after the war, when a joint German-Norwegian company began salvage operations. Work lasted from 1948 until 1957;[2] fragments of the ship are still sold by a Norwegian company.[18] Ludovic Kennedy wrote in his history of the vessel that she "lived an invalid's life and died a cripple's death.
THROWBACKTHISDAY; makes it 71 years and TBT Blog remembers.
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