The nightmare of the English fleet is the battleship Tirpitz

Hitler promised his people that the thousand-year-old Reich would take away the crown of the mistress of the seas near Great Britain, and the German sailors would receive the best fleet in the world. As a result, the strongest for their time ships "Bismarck" and his "sistership" - battleship "Tirpitz" were created. Here the fate of the latter will be discussed.

The concept of German battleships

Staying delighted with the successful raids of German ships on England's extensive trade communications during the First World War, German admirals saw the new fleet as "raider". They believed that a ship with a high speed of movement, a large power reserve and weapons capable of resisting a whole enemy squadron would be a real "horror" for the enemy's trade routes. And the fleet of such ships can completely block the enemy's naval communication. Proceeding from this concept, the battleship "Tirpitz" was designed, which, in fact, was "overgrown cruiser", but with armament from a battleship. Eight 380-millimeter guns "Tirpitsa" were able to send 800-kilogram shells over the horizon (35.5 km), and in speed (30.8 knots) and the range of navigation (at 9000 nautical miles), he had no equal among the ships Of a similar class.

Comparison with other ships

As already mentioned, the battleship "Tirpitz" was built on the concept of a cruiser, and for its outstanding running and speed qualities was paid for by armor and the general survivability of the ship. "Tirpitsa" and "Bismarck" now are called almost the most powerful ships in the history of mankind, and meanwhile many of their contemporaries outnumbered the "Germans" both in armor and in armament, not to mention the required quality, such as mine protection. "Richelieu", "South Dakota", the Italian "Littorio" and the Japanese "Yamato" were battleships clearly more powerful. Glory to German ships gave fascist propaganda and justification of the English fleet, which lost in battle with the "Bismarck" of its flagship, and then the whole war, almost in full force chasing the "Tirpitz". In the image below you can see the battleship "Tirpitz" - the photo was taken in the parking lot in Norway.

Combat Service

The Kriegsmarine plans did not come true. The attempt to break through to the communications of the enemy ended with the death of the battleship Bismarck and the Germans did not undertake any more such attempts. In addition, with the destruction of convoys, the submarines and naval aviation were coping admirably. Battleship "Tirpitz" by and large participated in only one, almost inconclusive, combat operation - a campaign to Spitzbergen in 1942. After that, his entire war was hid in the Norwegian fjords, and the British fleet, aviation and special forces tried to reach him. For the British government, the destruction of the battleship became an idea-fix, Churchill even called it "beast." One of his presence off the coast of Norway gave an excuse for the British to abandon naval convoys to Murmansk. So we can say that the battleship "Tirpitz" did a lot - doing nothing.

The death of the battleship

In November of the same year, the British reached the battleship. November 12, taking offensive anti-aircraft defense, the ship dropped their 4500-kilogram bombs 32 "Lancaster." Four superheavy bombs fell on its deck, detonating the battleship's ammunition from their explosions, it turned over and sank.