The Tirpitz,
second and last battleship of the Bismarck class,
was the largest warship built in Germany
and posed a serious threat to Allied ships during WW2.
It was so dangerous to Allied forces
that Winston Churchill made its destruction a priority.
In January 1942, he said:
"The destruction or even crippling of this ship is the greatest event at sea at the present time.
No other target is comparable to it.
And so in the early hours of November 12, 1944,
RAF airfields across Scotland buzz with activity.
Resonating with the rumble of Rolls-Royce Merlin engines,
nearly three dozen modified Lancaster heavy bombers from the 9th and 617th squadrons
taxi into position on runways shrouded in darkness.
Inside, eager young pilots and crew make last minute preparations for the impending attack.
If all goes according to plan they’ll deliver a serious blow to the vaunted Kriegsmarine…
If not, for some it may be a one-way trip.
Now one by one the Lancasters thunder down the runway and lift into the sky.
Affixed to hardpoints inside each bomb bay,
is a gargantuan high-explosive wrecking machine called a “Tallboy.”
At 21 feet long and tipping the scales at 12,000 pounds or 5,400 kg,
they’re super-heavy high-penetration bombs designed to take out hardened structures
like rocket sites, railway tunnels and U-Boat pens.
Their target today though is the Tirpitz and at almost 800 feet long at the waterline
and displacing nearly 52,000 tons fully loaded,
she’s protected by 13 inches of steel armor and bristling with guns of every description,
the largest of which fire 15 inch projectiles weighing nearly 2,000 pounds at a distance of 22 miles.
It’s not the first time that the Tirpitz has been attacked.
In fact, it's been attacked 24 times before
and for years the RAF and Royal Navy have assaulted the giant ship with carrier-based torpedo bombers,
special forces frogmen and mini-subs carrying explosive charges.
During Operation Tungsten in April of 1944
Barracuda bombers attacked Turpitz with 1,600-pound bombs.
The ship flooded but was repaired within months.
In August of 1944 during Operation Goodwood nearly 70 carrier-based bombers attacked,
but a thick smoke screen prevented them from inflicting any real damage.
Then just a few months before Operation Catechism there was Operation Paravane –
the first mission in which the RAF dispatched Lancasters
armed with Tallboys to strike Tirpitz in a fjord in Norway.
Braving nearly 100 flak guns,
one bomb scored a direct hit damaging the rudder and causing minor flooding,
but again repairs were made quickly.
Now it’s the turn of Operation Catechism.
Will this time be any different?
Gaining altitude steadily to 14,000 feet,
the pilots set the throttles for optimum cruising speed at just over 200 miles an hour
before rendezvousing with the others at the coast and heading across to the Sea of Norway.
En route several lose their way in the mire,
and one has mechanical problems and has to turn back.
Then just before sunup the 29 remaining bombers slip
through a tiny gap in the German coastal defenses.
Ahead, despite having three 55,000 horsepower engines
capable of propelling the ship to 30 knots in the open sea,
Tirpitz is moored and vulnerable in a fjord near the city of Tromsø.
Approaching the target, Wing Commander James Brian ‘Willie’ Tait fires a flare —
a predetermined signal to commence with the attack.
Grouped into individual "gaggles" of between four and six aircraft at various altitudes,
the Lancasters now descend to just 2,000 feet to try and evade the German anti-aircraft fire.
Banking northwest the radiomen and the navigators are following a signal
being transmitted by Norwegian partisans,
but though the Tirpitz’ crew has been reduced by nearly 800 men,
they’re on-guard,
and unbeknownst to the British airmen her giant guns have been modified
for long-range air defense use.
She’s also protected by two dedicated anti-aircraft ships,
support boats with smoke generators, and fighters from JG 5.
Then the guns on and around Tirpitz open up in a bevy of blinding flashes
and deafening cracks sending supersonic projectiles hurtling towards the Lancasters.
Lining up thousands of yards out,
the planes thunder over the fjord and release their deadly payloads.
Once released the crews wait thirty long seconds for the results.
Some Tallboys miss their mark and slam into the cliffs and sand banks along the shore.
On the ship the crew hold their breath
as a giant Tallboy bomb thunders down and hammers into the deck near the forward gun.
There's a cry of anguish as the crew wait for the inevitable explosion…
but to their immense relief the Tallboy fails to detonate.
But another tears down and smashes into the base of the Tirpitz’ superstructure.
There's a krang and shriek of metal and a huge chunk of armor belt is blown away
tearing a gaping hole in the hull.
With a massive yellow flash another obliterates a 16 inch gun turret.
Due to serious flaws in her design,
Tirpitz doesn’t have watertight compartments where they’re needed most,
and in the chaos the crewmen fail to close hatches
designed to contain the flooding in the event of damage.
Now well into the attack German Fw-190s are scrambled.
Getting in position over the Tirpitz
the German pilots are dismayed to find the Lancasters are nowhere to be seen
and have turned for home.
Back on the ship a column of steam and smoke shoots up to about 300 feet
and within a few minutes Tirpitz starts to list badly,
Captain Weber knows it’s critical and reluctantly orders the crew to abandon his armored citadel.
Through the smoke and carnage most sailors jump into the water and begin swimming to shore,
but like a cork a devastating explosion tosses a massive turret nearly 100 feet into the air,
and when it comes down it lands amidst a swarm of stricken seamen taking most to their watery graves.
About 10 minute after the first bomb struck,
the Tirpitz has completely turned turtle
with only the hull visible from the air.
All told, out of just 1,500 crew it’s estimated that the Germans lost between 950 and 1,200.
Captain Weber and all senior officers went down with their ship.
Though some Lancasters received minor damage from flak,
every single crew and plane returned home safely.
Winston Churchill, FDR and Joseph Stalin all sent messages of congratulation to the airmen
for finally destroying the infamous German monster,
which ironically according to some historians,
never actually fired a shot at an enemy surface ship during the war.
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