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Attack on the Tirpitz by Stan Stokes.
On November 2, 1936 the keel was laid for a new German 35,000 ton-class battleship. On April 1, 1939 the new ship was christened the Tirpitz, and by February of 1941 the giant ship had entered service. The hull of the Tirpitz was 90% welded, and the battleship was very heavily armored, rendering it almost unsinkable in the minds of German naval strategists. In service the Tirpitz actually displaced closer to 53,000 tons. With a crew slightly in excess of 2,000 the ship was capable of making 29 knots. With a range of more than 9,000 miles at a speed of 16 knots, the Tirpitz was certain to take a heavy toll on Allied shipping in the North Atlantic. The Royal Navy and RAF determined that the Tirpitz must never be allowed to become an effective convoy buster, and a multi-year campaign of harassment of the huge German warship was undertaken. In July of 1940, while the ship was still being outfitted, an air attack was launched with little significant damage. After completing its sea trials the Tirpitz was based at the Faettenfjord in Norway. The Tirpitz unsuccessfully attacked two convoys in March of 1942, and itself was attacked by a flight of 12 Albacore torpedo bombers. Three more bombing attacks by Halifax and Lancaster bombers took place in March and April with only marginal success. In July the Tirpitz was moved to Altafjord, and in that month it again attacked a convoy with no success. In October the great ship was sent back to Faeteenfjord for servicing. In 1943 several midget submarine attacks were launched at the battleship, but again with no meaningful impact. No air attacks took place in 1943. In early 1944 the Tirpitz was the target for Soviet bombers, but once again the ship pulled through unscathed. In April of 1944 the Brits once again joined the attack and the Royal Navy sent a large group of 40 Barracudas with about 40 escort fighters to attack the battleship at Kaalfjord. This attack resulted in fifteen hits, generated 400 casualties, and did some serious damage to the upper deck. Follow-up air attacks were called off by bad weather, and it was not until August that three more raids took place. None of these had much impact. In September the Brits changed strategies and commenced attacks on the Tirpitz using 11,000-pound Tallboy bombs. A flight of 32 Lancasters delivered 29 Tallboys to the target in November of 1944. Two direct hits and one near miss were recorded. The great battleships armored deck was pierced by the huge bombs, its magazine exploded, and the ship capsized and sunk with more than 1200 killed. In Stan Stokes painting the attack of April 3, 1944 that was code-named Operation Tungsten is depicted. The Fairey Barracuda despite an ungainly appearance was produced in large numbers (2,500) for use as Royal Navy dive and torpedo bombers. With a crew of 3 and a top speed of only 238-MPH the Barracuda required fighter support during most of its missions to prevent it from becoming an easy target for Axis fighters. |
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