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Author: Gerhard Koop
Publisher: Conway Maritime Press
Published: 1998
Total Pages: 60
ISBN-13: 9780851777498
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe second in a series designed for modellers, this is a complete guide to the German battleship Tirpitz, from original ship to detailed model.
Author: Niklas Zetterling
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
Published: 2009-12-19
Total Pages: 343
ISBN-13: 1612000495
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe authors of Bismarck deliver “a very good account of the Tirpitz and of the naval war in the North Atlantic and Norwegian waters” during World War II (NYMAS Review). After the Royal Navy’s bloody high seas campaign to kill the mighty Bismarck, the Allies were left with an uncomfortable truth—the German behemoth had a twin sister. Slightly larger than her sibling, the Tirpitz was equally capable of destroying any other battleship afloat, as well as wreaking havoc on Allied troop and supply convoys. For the next three and a half years, the Allies launched a variety of attacks to remove Germany’s last serious surface threat, hidden within fjords along the Norwegian coast. Trying an indirect approach, the British launched one of the war’s most daring commando raids—at St. Nazaire—in order to knock out the last drydock in Europe capable of servicing the Tirpitz. Of over six hundred commandos and sailors in the raid, more than half were lost during an all-night battle that succeeded, at least, in knocking out the drydock. It was not until November 1944 that the Tirpitz finally succumbed to British aircraft armed with ten-thousand–pound Tallboy bombs, the ship capsizing at last with the loss of one thousand sailors. In this book, military historians Niklas Zetterling and Michael Tamelander, authors of Bismarck: The Final Days of Germany’s Greatest Battleship, illuminate the strategic implications and dramatic battles surrounding the Tirpitz, a ship that may have had greater influence on the course of World War II than her more famous sister. “A riveting story . . . keeps the reader engaged.” —Nautilus, A Maritime Journal of Literature, History and Culture
Author: Vincent O'Hara
Publisher:
Published: 2021-11-15
Total Pages: 120
ISBN-13: 9781591148708
DOWNLOAD EBOOKBuilding upon the expertise of the authors and historians of the Naval Institute Press, the Naval History Special Editions are designed to offer studies of the key vessels, battles, and events of armed conflict. Using an image-heavy, magazine-style format, these Special Editions should appeal to scholars, enthusiasts, and general readers alike. In 1939 the battleship was the queen of the seas. Battleships were designed to project power. They were the biggest and most powerful ships afloat, and the yardsticks by which the world judged naval strength. Within this context, the German battleship Tirpitz (sister ship of Bismarck) was one of the most effective instruments of naval power ever deployed. The British called her "The Beast". She spent the greater part of the Second World War tucked away in isolated fjords north of the Arctic Circle--where she became known as, "The Lonely Queen of the North." She sortied only three times and never fired her guns at an enemy warship. Yet, against this menace the British exerted unequaled effort. At all times they kept a pair of modern battleships standing by to face her should she sail; they built mini-submarines that could operate in the waters of the fjords; they repeatedly massed aircraft carrier strike forces in futile efforts to knock her from the war. At last, they invented massive ordnance--the Tallboy bomb, the largest non-nuclear explosive device of the war. Sending their heaviest bombers against her, and after three years of sustained effort, the Beast was sunk. The remarkable career of this remarkable ship is the subject of this authoritative and heavily illustrated Special Edition. It considers Tirpitz's design, her construction, her historical context and all of her operations. The power of this individual ship and the influence she exerted on the entire course of the war makes for an enlightening demonstration of the sometimes very unexpected way sea power can be expressed.
Author: Gerhard Koop
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
Published: 2014-02-10
Total Pages: 153
ISBN-13: 184832197X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe warships of the World War II era German Navy are among the most popular subject in naval history with an almost uncountable number of books devoted to them. However, for a concise but authoritative summary of the design history and careers of the major surface ships it is difficult to beat a series of six volumes written by Gerhard Koop and illustrated by Klaus-Peter Schmolke. Each contains an account of the development of a particular class, a detailed description of the ships, with full technical details, and an outline of their service, heavily illustrated with plans, battle maps and a substantial collection of photographs. These have been out of print for ten years or more and are now much sought after by enthusiasts and collectors, so this new modestly priced reprint of the series will be widely welcomed.??The first volume, appropriately, is devoted to the Kriesmarine's largest and most powerful units, the battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz, whose careers stand in stark contrast to each other _ one with a glorious but short life, while the other was to spend a hunted existence in Norwegian fjords, all the time posing a threat to Allied sea communications, while attacked by everything from midget submarines to heavy bombers.
Author: Niklas Zetterling
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
Published: 2009-01-01
Total Pages: 361
ISBN-13: 1935149180
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe story of the battleship Tirpitz--Bismarck's sister ship--and the desperate Allied efforts to destroy it . . . After the Royal Navy's bloody high seas campaign to kill the mighty Bismarck, the Allies were left with an uncomfortable truth--the German behemoth had a twin sister. Slightly larger than her sibling, the Tirpitz was equally capable of destroying any other battleship afloat, as well as wreak havoc on Allied troop and supply convoys. For the next three and a half years the Allies launched a variety of attacks to remove Germany's last serious surface threat. The Germans, for their part, had learned not to pit their super battleships against the strength of the entire Home Fleet outside the range of protecting aircraft. Thus they kept Tirpitz hidden within fjords along the Norwegian coast, like a Damocles Sword hanging over the Allies' maritime jugular, forcing the British to assume the offensive. This strategy paid dividends in July 1942 when the Tirpitz merely stirred from its berth, compelling the Royal Navy to abandon a Murmansk-bound convoy called PQ-17 in order to confront the leviathan. The convoy was then ripped apart by the Luftwaffe and U-boats, while the Tirpitz returned to its fjord. In 1943, the British launched a flotilla of midget submarines against the Tirpitz, losing all six of the subs while only lightly damaging the battleship. Aircraft attacked repeatedly, from carriers and both British and Soviet bases, suffering losses--including an escort carrier--while proving unable to completely knock out the mighty warship. Trying an indirect approach, the British launched one of the war's most daring commando raids--at St. Nazaire--in order to knock out the last drydock in Europe capable of servicing the Tirpitz. Of over 600 commandos and sailors in the raid, more than half were lost during an all-night battle that succeeded, at least, in knocking out the drydock. It was not until November 1944 that the Tirpitz finally succumbed to British aircraft armed with 10,000-lb Tallboy bombs, the ship capsizing at last with the loss of 1,000 sailors. In this book military historians Niklas Zetterling and Michael Tamelander, authors of Bismarck: The Final Days of Germany's Greatest Battleship, illuminate the strategic implications and dramatic battles surrounding the Tirpitz, a ship that may have had greater influence on the course of World War II than her more famous sister.
Author: William H. Garzke
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2019-05-30
Total Pages: 968
ISBN-13: 1526759756
DOWNLOAD EBOOK“A complete operational history of the Bismarck . . . with period photos [and] underwater photography of the wreck, allowing a forensic analysis of the damage.” —Seapower This new book offers a forensic analysis of the design, operation, and loss of Germany’s greatest battleship, drawing on survivors’ accounts and the authors’ combined decades of experience in naval architecture and command at sea. Their investigation into every aspect of this battleship is informed by painstaking research, including extensive interviews and correspondence with the ship’s designers and the survivors of the battle of the Denmark Strait and Bismarck’s final battle. Albert Schnarke, the former gunnery officer of Tirpitz, Bismarck’s sister ship, aided the authors greatly by translating and supplying manuscript materials from those who participated in the design and operations. Survivors of Bismarck’s engagements contributed to this comprehensive study including D.B.H. Wildish, RN, damage control officer aboard HMS Prince of Wales, who located photographs of battle damage to his ship. After the wreck was discovered in 1989, the authors served as technical consultants to Dr. Robert Ballard, who led three trips to the site. Filmmaker and explorer James Cameron has also contributed a chapter, giving a comprehensive overview of his deep-sea explorations on Bismarck and sharing his team’s remarkable photos of the wreck. The result of nearly six decades of research and collaboration, this is an “encyclopedic and engrossing” account (Naval Historical Foundation) of the events surrounding one of the most epic naval battles of World War II. And Battleship Bismarck finally resolves some of the major questions around her career, not least the most profound one of all: Who sank the Bismarck, the British or the Germans?
Author: Daniel Knowles
Publisher: Fonthill Media
Published: 2018-04-17
Total Pages: 539
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAuthor: Alf R. Jacobsen
Publisher: Sutton Pub Limited
Published: 2006
Total Pages: 287
ISBN-13: 9780750941129
DOWNLOAD EBOOKNorwegian investigative journalist Alf Jacobsen relates one of the most incredible tales of the Second World War, in which Royal Navy X-craft midget submarines attacked the German battleship Tirpitz in Norway. A daring plan was hatched by the Admiralty to sink Tirpitz using midget submarines to plant high explosive mines beneath the ship's keel. On 22 September 1943, six X-craft midget submarines set out from Scotland to sink the battleship at anchor in Norway. Three never reached the fjord and X5, commanded by Lt Henty-Creer, was presumed sunk by the Germans, so only X6 and X7 made the attack. Both Lt. Donald Cameron in X6 and Lt Godfrey Place in X7 placed their charges successfully, but were forced to surrender. Both were awarded the Victoria Cross. Although Tirpitz was not sunk she was put out of action until April 1944. Lt. Henty-Creer, the commander of X5, and his crew were never seen again. Neither he nor any of his crew received any posthumous gallantry awards. Did X5 actually penetrate the anti-submarine defenses around Tirpitz and lay its explosive charges beneath the battleship? If it did, then Henty-Creer and his crew deserve to be honored for their bravery.
Author: G. H. Bennett
Publisher: University of Plymouth Press
Published: 2012
Total Pages: 304
ISBN-13: 9781841023106
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn late 1944, the German battleship Tirpitz was sunk by RAF Bomber Command. While it was the RAF that delivered the final coup de grace, it was the Royal Navy, from 1942 to 1944, that had contained, crippled and neutralised the German battleship in a series of actions marked by innovation, boldness and bravery. From daring commando raids on the coast of France, to the use of midget submarines in the fjords of Norway and devastating aerial attacks by the Fleet Air Arm, the Royal Navy pursued Tirpitz to her eventual destruction."
Author: Geoffrey W Raebel
Publisher: Air World
Published: 2020-10-30
Total Pages: 256
ISBN-13: 9781526784377
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe war hung in the balance. In the Pacific, the Japanese had suffered their first major defeat at Midway and the German advance into the heart of Russia had stalled at Stalingrad. But if the Germans could break through into the Caucasus and capture its vital oil fields, the Soviets might be battered into bloody defeat. It was crucial that the convoys from the UK fought their way through the Arctic to Archangel and Murmansk to deliver the supplies which were so essential to the Russians. But lurking in the Norwegian fjords was Germany's last great battleship, Tirpitz.With its eight 15-inch guns, Tirpitz posed an ever-present threat to shipping in the northern waters, and when it was believed that the battleship was about to attack Convoy PQ 17, the convoy was ordered to scatter. This was a disastrous decision that led to the loss of twenty-four merchant ships. It was, therefore, of paramount importance that the next convoy - PQ 18 - reached Russia, and so the assembly of forty merchantmen was escorted by a veritable fleet of fifty-one warships. The latter included an anti-aircraft cruiser, twenty-one destroyers, two anti-aircraft ships, two submarines and an aircraft carrier. Air cover was provided by RAF Catalina flying boats and Handley Page Hampdens of RAF Coastal Command.The Hampden torpedo-bombers of 144 Squadron RAF and 455 Squadron RAAF were deployed from Scotland to the Red Air Force airfield at Vayenga near Murmansk. This placed the aircraft within range of Tirpitz's lair in Altafjord. On receiving the news that Tirpitz had left the protection of the fjord, the Hampdens took to the air. Though no contact was made with the battleship, the presence of the twenty-three bombers deterred the Germans from risking their prestigious warship. PQ 18 safely reached Archangel on 21 September 1942.With links to the Great Escape, the story of this unique operation is revealed here by Geoffrey W. Raebel, the son of the surviving senior engineer of 455 Squadron. This the result of thirty years of research and draws in great part on the personal accounts of the men who took part in that historic enterprise. It is supplemented with rarely seen Coastal Command photographs, German ones that have never been published before, and the full story of the discovery, and recovery, of one of the bombers involved.
