The Kriegsmarine.

[SpartanGodTalyon]

From here, once a day ill post something new like a new ship type, or talk about them for the fun of it :3

 

 

So from my old thread, I shall post both ships and their stats for everyone to see, and we can go from there tommorow.

 

 

 

Edit: if you want me to talk more about the certain ships, (Wont about the Aircraft Carriers cause cant edit -.-), I will start with the bismarck.

 

Enjoy some information!

 

 

Edit: Ok as I have learned, Battleships are already covered.

I shall cover Aircraft Carriers, then cruisers, then whatever I feel like it.

 

Tommorow I will cover the Aircraft Carriers.

[SpartanGodTalyon]

[SpartanGodTalyon]

Displacement:

33,550 tonnes

 

Length:

262.5 m (861 ft 3 in)

Beam:

31.5 m (103 ft 4 in)

 

Draft:

7.6 m (24 ft 11 in)

Propulsion:

Geared turbines, 200,000 WPS (147,000 kW), four screws

 

Speed:

35 kn (65 km/h)

Range:

14,816 km (8,000 nmi) at 19 kn (35 km/h)

 

Complement:

1,720 crew

306 flight personnel

Armament:

16 × 15 cm SK C/28 guns

12 × Flak (10.5 cm)

22 × 3.7 cm SK C/30 (AA)

28 × Flak (2.0 cm)

 

Aircraft carried:

Proposed complement of 42[1]

1930 proposal:

30 fighters & 12 dive bombers

1939 proposal:

12 fighters & 30 dive bombers[1]

[SpartanGodTalyon]

 

Class and type:

 

Bismarck-class battleship

 

 

Displacement:

41,700 t (41,000 long tons; 46,000 short tons) standard

50,300 t (49,500 long tons; 55,400 short tons) full load

 

 

Length:

241.6 m (793 ft) waterline

251 m (823 ft) overall

 

 

Beam:

 

36 m (118 ft)

 

Draft:

 

9.3 m (31 ft) standard[a]

 

 

Propulsion:

12 Wagner superheated boilers;

3 geared turbines;

3 three-blade screws

150,170 shp (111.98 MW)

 

 

Speed:

 

30.01 knots (55.58 km/h; 34.53 mph) during trials[1]

 

Range:

 

8,870 nmi (16,430 km; 10,210 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)

 

 

Complement:

103 officers

1,962 enlisted men

 

 

Armament:

8 × 38 cm (15 in) SK C/34 (4 × 2)

12 × 15 cm (5.9 in) (6 × 2)

16 × 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK C/33 (8 × 2)

16 × 3.7 cm (1.5 in) SK C/30 (8 × 2)

12 × 2 cm (0.79 in) FlaK 30 (12 × 1)

 

 

Armour:

Belt: 320 mm (13 in)

Turrets: 360 mm (14 in)

Main deck: 100 to 120 mm (3.9 to 4.7 in)

 

 

Aircraft carried:

 

4 × Arado Ar 196 floatplanes

 

Aviation facilities:

 

1 double-ended catapult

[SpartanGodTalyon]

The catapults for the bismark class battleships, the Tirpitz and the Bismarck were used to launch the floatplanes from their ship. They were reconisance(SP) planes.

 

 

The Bismarck was sunk in the first sortie in the Alantic in 1941, in Operation Rheinübung. It was to block allied shipping to England.

[hawkeyem4]

Do the Yamato.

[SpartanGodTalyon]

hawkeyem4, on 29 August 2012 - 11:46 PM, said:

Do the Yamato.

German you silly goose. -poke-

[Crag_r]

Nice info, well done

[SpartanGodTalyon]

Ok I will post some more info on the aircraft carrier graf, so people learn more about it, but its breakfast so... yummy somethign to eat lol

[hawkeyem4]

Oh!Do the stealth u-boat!

[SpartanGodTalyon]

hawkeyem4, on 30 August 2012 - 06:37 PM, said:

Oh!Do the stealth u-boat!

I will do that soon. Just wanna do the Aircraft carriers as thats one of my 2 favorite things in naval warfare.

[SpartanGodTalyon]

Work started in 1936 on Flugzeugträger A, which was Kriegsmarine's first aircraft carrier. She was laid down on 28 December that year, and launched on 8 December 1938. Construction had been fitful from the start due to a shortage of welders and delays in getting materials, and by the spring of 1940 she was still incomplete. By September 1939, one carrier-borne wing, Trägergrüppe 186, had been formed by the Luftwaffe at Kiel Holtenau, composed of three squadrons equipped with Bf 109s and Ju-87s.[2]

Meanwhile, Germany’s conquest of Norway in April 1940 further eroded any chance of completing Flugzeugträger A (now named Graf Zeppelin). Now responsible for defending Norway’s long coastline and numerous port facilities, the Kriegsmarine urgently needed large numbers of coastal guns and anti-aircraft batteries. During a naval conference with Hitler on 29 April 1940, Admiral Raeder proposed halting all work on Graf Zeppelin, arguing that even if she was commissioned by the end of 1940, final installation of her guns would need another ten months or more (her original fire control system had been sold to the Soviet Union under an earlier trade agreement).[3] Hitler consented to the stop work order, allowing Raeder to have Graf Zeppelin’s 15 cm guns removed and transferred to Norway. The carrier’s heavy flak armament of twelve 10.5 cm guns had already been diverted elsewhere.[4]

On 12 July 1940, Graf Zeppelin was towed from Kiel to Gotenhafen (Gdynia) and remained there for nearly a year. Just before Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, the carrier was again moved, this time to Stettin, to safeguard her from Soviet air attacks.

By November, the German army had pushed deep enough into Russian territory to remove any further threat of air attack and Graf Zeppelin was returned to Gotenhafen where she briefly served as a floating warehouse for the Navy's hardwood supply.[5]

By the time Admiral Raeder met with Hitler for a detailed discussion of naval strategy in April 1942, the usefulness of aircraft carriers in modern naval warfare had been amply demonstrated. British carriers had crippled the Italian fleet at Taranto in November 1940, critically damaged the German battleship Bismarck in May 1941 and prevented battleship Tirpitz from attacking two convoys bound for Russia in March 1942. In addition, a Japanese carrier raid on Pearl Harbor had devastated the American battlefleet in December 1941. Raeder, anxious to secure air protection for the Kriegsmarine's heavier surface units, informed Hitler that Graf Zeppelin could be finished in about a year, with another six months required for sea trials and flight training. On 13 May 1942, with Hitler's authorization, the German Naval Supreme Command ordered work resumed on the carrier.[6]

But daunting technical problems remained. Raeder wanted newer planes, specifically designed for carrier use. Reichsmarshall Goering, head of the Luftwaffe, replied that the already overburdened German aircraft industry could not possibly complete the design, testing and mass production of such aircraft before 1946. Instead, he proposed converting existing aircraft (again the Junkers Ju 87 and Messerschmitt Bf 109) as a temporary solution until newer types could be developed. Training of carrier pilots at Travemünde would also resume.[6]

The converted carrier aircraft were heavier versions of their land-based predecessors and this required a host of changes to Graf Zeppelin's original design: the existing catapults needed modernization; stronger winches were necessary for the arresting gear; the flight deck, elevators and hangar floors also required reinforcement.[7] Changes in naval technology dictated other alterations as well: installation of air search radar sets and antennas; upgraded radio equipment; an armored fighter director cabin mounted on the main mast (which in turn meant a heavier sturdier mast to accommodate the cabin's added weight); extra armoring for the bridge and fire control center; a new curved funnel cap to shield the fighter director cabin from smoke; replacing the single-mount 20mm AA guns with quadruple Flakvierling 38 guns (with a corresponding increase in ammunition supply) to improve overall AA defense; and additional bulges on either side of the hull to preserve the ship's stability under all this added weight.[8]

The German naval staff hoped all these changes could be accomplished by April 1943, with the carrier's first sea trials taking place in August that same year. Towards that end, Chief Engineer Hadeler was reassigned to oversee Graf Zeppelin's completion. Hadeler planned on getting the two inner shafts and their respective propulsion systems operational first, giving the ship an initial speed of 25-26 knots, fast enough for sea trials to commence and for conducting air training exercises. By the winter of 1943/1944 she was expected to be combat-ready.[6]

On the night of 27–28 August 1942, Graf Zeppelin was the target of the only Allied air attack ever staged for her destruction. Nine RAF Avro Lancaster heavy bombers from 106 Squadron were despatched against her, each one carrying a single "Capital Ship" bomb, a 5,500 lb device with a shaped charge warhead intended for armoured targets.[9] One pilot was unable to see the carrier due to haze dropped his bomb instead on the estimated position of the German battleship Gneisenau. Another believed he had scored a direct hit on Graf Zeppelin but there is no known record of the ship suffering any damage from a bomb strike that night.[10]

On 5 December 1942, Graf Zeppelin was towed back to Kiel and placed in a floating drydock. It seemed she might well see completion after all, but by late January 1943 Hitler had become so disenchanted with the Kriegsmarine, especially with what he perceived as the poor performance of its surface fleet, that he ordered all of its larger ships taken out of service and scrapped. To Admiral Raeder, who had often clashed with Hitler on naval policy, this was a stunning setback. In a long memorandum to Hitler he called the new order "the cheapest sea victory England ever won".[11] Raeder was shortly relieved of command and replaced with former Commander of Submarines Karl Dönitz. Though Admiral Dönitz eventually persuaded Hitler to void most of the order, work on all new surface ships and even those nearing completion was halted, including Graf Zeppelin.[12] As of 2 February 1943, construction on the carrier ended for good.

In April 1943 Graf Zeppelin was again towed eastward, first to Gotenhafen, then to the roadstead at Swinemünde and finally berthed at a back-water wharf in the Parnitz River, two miles (3 km) from Szczecin (then known as Stettin), where she had been briefly docked in 1941. There she languished for the next two years with only a 40-man custodial crew in attendance.[13] When Red Army forces neared the city in April 1945, the ship's Kingston valves were opened, flooding her lower spaces and settling her firmly into the mud in shallow water. A ten-man engineering squad then rigged the vessel's interior with demolition and depth charges in order to hole the hull and destroy vital machinery. At 6pm on 25 April 1945, just as the Russians entered Stettin, commander Wolfgang Kähler radioed the squad to detonate the explosives. Smoke billowing from the carrier's funnel confirmed the charges had gone off, rendering the ship useless to her new owners for many months to come.[11]

I am going to post things you can look up yourself from wikipedia. Dont like it? Tough. Here is the section today for the Aircraft Carrier Graf Zepplin:

[SpartanGodTalyon]

Ok I will post a battleship today. Tirpitz.

 

It will include its info and a pretty picture. I will post it in about... 10 minutes.

[SpartanGodTalyon]

http://upload.wikime...9/Tirpitz-2.jpg

Overview:

Tirpitz was the second of two Bismarck-class battleships built for the German Kriegsmarine (War Navy) during World War II. Named after Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the architect of the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), the ship was laid down at the Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven in November 1936 and her hull was launched two and a half years later. Work was completed in February 1941, when she was commissioned into the German fleet. Like her sister ship Bismarck, Tirpitz was armed with a main battery of eight 38-centimeter (15 in) guns in four twin turrets. After a series of wartime modifications she was 2,000 metric tons (2,000 long tons; 2,200 short tons) heavier than Bismarck.

After completing sea trials in early 1941, Tirpitz briefly served as the centrepiece of the Baltic Fleet, which was intended to prevent a possible break-out attempt by the Soviet Baltic Fleet. In early 1942, the ship sailed to Norway to act as a deterrent against an Allied invasion. While stationed in Norway, Tirpitz was also intended to be used to intercept Allied convoys to the Soviet Union, and two such missions were attempted in 1942. Tirpitz acted as a fleet in being, forcing the British Royal Navy to retain significant naval forces in the area to contain the battleship.

In September 1943, Tirpitz, along with the battleship Scharnhorst, bombarded Allied positions on the island of Spitzbergen, the only time the ship used her main battery in anger. Shortly thereafter, the ship was damaged in an attack by British mini-submarines and subsequently subjected to a series of large-scale air raids. On 12 November 1944, British Lancaster bombers equipped with 12,000 pounds (5,400 kg) "Tallboy" bombs destroyed the ship; two direct hits and a near miss caused the ship to capsize rapidly. A deck fire spread to the ammunition magazine for one of the main battery turrets, which caused a large explosion. Figures for the number of men killed in the attack range from 950 to 1,204. The wreck was broken up by a joint Norwegian and German salvage operation after the war from 1948 to 1957.

Tirpitz was ordered as Ersatz Schleswig-Holstein as a replacement for the old pre-dreadnought Schleswig-Holstein, under the contract name "G".[1] The Kriegsmarinewerft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven was awarded the contract, where the keel was laid on 20 October 1936.[3] The hull was launched on 1 April 1939; during the elaborate ceremonies, the ship was christened by the daughter of Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the ship's namesake.[4] Adolf von Trotha, a former admiral in the Imperial German Navy, spoke at the ship's launching, which was also attended by Adolf Hitler.[5] Fitting-out work followed her launch, and was completed by February 1941.[4] British bombers repeatedly attacked the harbour in which the ship was being built; no bombs struck Tirpitz, but the attacks did slow construction work.[6] Tirpitz was commissioned into the fleet on 25 February for sea trials,[2] which were conducted in the Baltic.[4]
Tirpitz displaced 42,900 t (42,200 long tons) as built and 52,600 metric tons (51,800 long tons) fully loaded, with a length of 251 m (823 ft 6 in), a beam of 36 m (118 ft 1 in) and a maximum draft of 10.6 m (34 ft 9 in).[c] She was powered by three Brown, Boveri & Cie geared steam turbines and twelve oil-fired Wagner superheated boilers, which developed a total of 163,026 shaft horsepower (121,568 kW) and yielded a maximum speed of 30.8 kn (57.0 km/h; 35.4 mph) on speed trials.[1] Her standard crew numbered 103 officers and 1,962 enlisted men; during the war this was increased to 108 officers and 2,500 men.[2] As built, Tirpitz was equipped with Model 23 search radars[d] mounted on the forward, foretop, and rear rangefinders. These were later replaced with Model 27 and then Model 26 radars, which had a larger antenna array. A Model 30 radar, known as the Hohentwiel, was mounted in 1944 in her topmast, and a Model 213 Würzburg fire-control radar was added on her stern 10.5 cm (4.1 in) Flak rangefinders.[9]
She was armed with eight 38 cm SK C/34 L/52 guns arranged in four twin gun turrets: two superfiring turrets forward—Anton and Bruno—and two aft—Caesar and Dora.[e] Her secondary armament consisted of twelve 15 cm L/55 guns, sixteen 10.5 cm L/65 and sixteen 3.7 cm (1.5 in) L/83, and initially twelve 2 cm (0.79 in) antiaircraft guns. The number of 2 cm guns was eventually increased to 58. After 1942, eight 53.3 cm (21.0 in) above-water torpedo tubes were installed.[2] The ship's main belt was 320 mm (13 in) thick and was covered by a pair of upper and main armoured decks that were 50 mm (2.0 in) and 100 to 120 mm (3.9 to 4.7 in) thick, respectively. The 38 cm turrets were protected by 360 mm (14 in) thick faces and 220 mm (8.7 in) thick sides.[1]

Service history

After sea trials, Tirpitz was stationed in Kiel and performed intensive training in the Baltic. While the ship was in Kiel, Germany invaded the Soviet Union. A temporary Baltic Fleet was created to prevent the possible break-out of the Soviet fleet based in Leningrad. Tirpitz was briefly made the flagship of the squadron, which consisted of the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer, the light cruisers Köln, Nürnberg, Leipzig, and Emden, several destroyers, and two flotillas of minesweepers.[6] The Baltic Fleet, under the command of Admiral Otto Ciliax,[5] patrolled off the Aaland Islands from 23 to 26 September 1941, after which the unit disbanded and Tirpitz resumed training.[11] During the training period, Tirpitz tested her primary and secondary guns on the old pre-dreadnought battleship Hessen,[12] which had been converted into a radio-controlled target ship.[13] The British Royal Air Force (RAF) continued to launch unsuccessful bombing raids on Tirpitz while she was stationed in Kiel.[14]
Deployment to Norway
Admiral Erich Raeder, the commander of the Kriegsmarine, proposed on 13 November that Tirpitz be deployed to Norway. The ship would be able to attack convoys bound for the Soviet Union, as well as act as a fleet in being to tie down British naval assets and deter an Allied invasion of Norway. Hitler, who had forbidden an Atlantic sortie after the loss of Bismarck, agreed to the proposal. The ship was taken into dock for modifications for the deployment. The ship's antiaircraft battery was strengthened and the 10.5 cm guns on the superstructure next to the catapult were moved outboard to increase their field of fire. The two quadruple 53.3 cm torpedo tube mounts were also installed during this refit.[15] The ship's commander, Kapitän zur See (KzS—Captain at Sea) Karl Topp,[16] pronounced the ship ready for combat operations on 10 January 1942.[14] The following day, Tirpitz left for Wilhelmshaven, a move designed to conceal her actual destination.[15]
The ship left Wilhelmshaven at 23:00 on 14 January and made for Trondheim.[15] British military intelligence, which was capable of decrypting the Enigma messages sent by the German navy, detected the departure of the vessel, but poor weather in Britain prevented action by the RAF.[17] Admiral John Tovey, the commander in chief of the British Home Fleet, was not made aware of Tirpitz's activities until 17 January, well after the ship had arrived in Norway.[18] On 16 January, British aerial reconnaissance located the ship in Trondheim. Tirpitz then moved to the Fættenfjord, just north of Trondheim.[19] The movement was codenamed Operation Polarnacht (Polar Night); the battleship was escorted by the destroyers Richard Beitzen, Paul Jacobi, Bruno Heinemann and Z29 for the voyage.[20] She was moored next to a cliff, which protected the ship from air attacks from the southwest. The ship's crew cut down trees and placed them aboard Tirpitz to camouflage her.[19] Additional antiaircraft batteries were installed around the fjord, as were anti-torpedo nets and heavy booms in the entrance to the anchorage.[21] Life for the crew of Tirpitz was very monotonous during the deployment to Norway. Frequent fuel shortages curtailed training and kept the battleship and her escorts moored behind their protective netting. The crew was primarily occupied with maintaining the ship and continuously manning antiaircraft defences. Sports activities were organised to keep the crew occupied and physically fit.[22]
Operations against Allied convoys

Several factors served to restrain Tirpitz's freedom of operation in Norway. The most pressing were shortages of fuel and the withdrawal of the German destroyer forces to support Operation Cerberus, the movement of the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen up through the English Channel. These caused a planned attack against the outbound convoy PQ 8 at the end of January to be abandoned.[23] A planned British air attack at the end of January by four-engined heavy bombers was disrupted by poor weather over the target, which prevented the aircraft from finding the ship.[24] In early February, Tirpitz took part in the deceptions that distracted the British in the run-up to Operation Cerberus. These included steaming out of the fjord and the appearance of preparations for a sortie into the North Sea.[25] Later that month, the ship was reinforced by the heavy cruisers Admiral Scheer and Prinz Eugen and several destroyers. Prinz Eugen had been torpedoed by a British submarine at the entrance to the Fættenfjord, and was therefore temporarily out of action.[26]
Tirpitz and Admiral Scheer, along with the destroyers Friedrich Ihn, Paul Jacobi, Hermann Schoemann and Z25 and a pair of torpedo boats,[20] were intended to attack the homebound convoy QP 8 and the outbound PQ 12 in March 1942 as part of Operation Sportpalast (Sports Palace).[23][27] Admiral Scheer,[23] with a design speed of 26 kn (48 km/h; 30 mph),[28] was too slow to operate with Tirpitz, and was left in port,[23] as was the destroyer Paul Jacobi. The two torpedo boats were also released from the operation.[20] On 5 March, Luftwaffe reconnaissance aircraft spotted PQ 12 near Jan Mayen Island; the reconnaissance failed to note the battleship HMS Duke of York or the battlecruiser HMS Renown, both of which escorted the convoy, along with four destroyers. Unknown to the Germans, Admiral Tovey provided distant support to the convoys with the battleship HMS King George V, the aircraft carrier HMS Victorious, the heavy cruiser HMS Berwick, and six destroyers. Enigma intercepts again forewarned the British of Tirpitz's attack, which allowed them to reroute the convoys. Admiral Tovey attempted to pursue Tirpitz on 9 March,[23] but Admiral Otto Ciliax, the commander of the German squadron, had decided to return to port the previous evening. An air attack was launched early on the 9th; twelve Fairey Albacore torpedo bombers attacked the ship in three groups, and Tirpitz successfully evaded the torpedoes. Only three men were wounded in the attack.[29] Tirpitz's anti-aircraft gunners shot down two of the British aircraft.[30] After the conclusion of the attack, Tirpitz made for Vestfjord, and from there to Trondheim, arriving on the evening of 13 March.[31] On 30 March, thirty-three Halifax bombers attacked the ship; they scored no hits and five aircraft were shot down.[32] The RAF launched a pair of unsuccessful strikes in late April. On the night of 27–28 April, thirty-one Halifaxes and twelve Lancasters; five of the bombers were shot down. Another raid, composed of twenty-three Halifaxes and eleven Lancasters, took place the following night. Two of the bombers were shot down by the German anti-aircraft defences.[33]

The actions of Tirpitz and her escorting destroyers in March used up 8,230 metric tons (8,100 long tons; 9,070 short tons) of fuel oil, which greatly reduced the available fuel supply. It took the Germans three months to replenish the fuel spent in the attempt to intercept the two Allied convoys. Convoy PQ 17, which left Iceland on 27 June bound for the Soviet Union, was the next convoy targeted by Tirpitz and the rest of the German fleet stationed in Norway,[31] during Operation Rösselsprung (Knight's Move).[34] Escorting the convoy were the battleships Duke of York and USS Washington and the carrier Victorious.[31] Tirpitz, Admiral Hipper, and six destroyers sortied from Trondheim, while a second task force consisting of Lützow, Admiral Scheer, and six destroyers operated out of Narvik.[35] Lützow and three of the destroyers struck uncharted rocks while en route to the rendezvous and had to return to port. Shortly after Tirpitz left Norway, the Soviet submarine K-21 fired two or four torpedoes at the ship, all of which missed.[36][37] The Soviets claimed two hits on the battleship.[38] Swedish intelligence had meanwhile reported the German departures to the British Admiralty, which ordered the convoy to disperse. Aware that they had been detected, the Germans aborted the operation and turned over the attack to U-boats and the Luftwaffe. The scattered vessels could no longer be protected by the convoy escorts, and the Germans sank 21 of the 34 isolated transports. Tirpitz returned to Altafjord via the Lofoten Islands.[36]
Following Operation Rösselsprung, the Germans moved Tirpitz to Bogenfjord near Narvik. By this time, the ship needed a major overhaul. Hitler had forbidden the ship to make the dangerous return to Germany, and so the overhaul was conducted in Trondheim. On 23 October, the ship left Bogenfjord and returned to Fættenfjord outside Trondheim. The defences of the anchorage were further strengthened; additional antiaircraft guns were installed and double anti-torpedo nets were erected around the vessel. The repairs were conducted in limited phases, such that Tirpitz would remain partially operational for the majority of the overhaul. A caisson was built around the stern to allow the replacement of the ship's rudders.[36] During the repair process, the British attempted to attack the battleship with two Chariot human torpedoes; rough seas incapacitated the boat carrying torpedoes. By 28 December, the overhaul had been completed, and Tirpitz began sea trials. She conducted gunnery trials on 4 January 1943 in the Trondheimfjord.[39] On 21 February, Topp was promoted to Rear Admiral and was replaced by Captain Hans Meyer; five days later the battleship Scharnhorst was ordered to reinforce the fleet in Norway. Vice Admiral Oskar Kummetz was given command of the warships stationed in Norway.[40]

By the time Scharnhorst arrived in Norway in March 1943, Allied convoys to the Soviet Union had temporarily ceased. To give the ships an opportunity to work together, Admiral Karl Dönitz, who had replaced Raeder in the aftermath of the Battle of the Barents Sea on 31 December 1942, ordered an attack on the island of Spitzbergen, which housed a British weather station and refuelling base.[39] Several settlements and outposts on Spitzbergen were defended by a garrison of 152 men from the Norwegian Armed Forces in exile.[41] The two battleships, escorted by ten destroyers, left port on 6 September; in a ruse de guerre, Tirpitz flew a white flag on the approach to the island the following day.[42] During the bombardment, Tirpitz fired 52 main-battery shells and 82 rounds from her 15 cm secondaries.[43] This was the first and only time the ship fired her main battery at an enemy target.[39] An assault force destroyed shore installations and captured 74 prisoners.[41][44] By 11:00, the battleships had destroyed their targets and headed back to their Norwegian ports.[39]

British attacks on Tirpitz

Operation Source
The British were determined to neutralise Tirpitz and remove the threat she posed to Allied lines of communication in the Arctic. Following the repeated, ineffectual bombing attacks and the failed Chariot attack in October 1942, the British turned to the newly designed X Craft midget submarines.[39] The planned attack, Operation Source, included attacks on Tirpitz, Scharnhorst, and Lützow.[45] The X Craft were towed by large submarines to their destinations, where they could slip under anti-torpedo nets to attach a powerful mine to the bottom of the target. Ten vessels were assigned to the operation, scheduled for 20–25 September 1943. Only eight of the vessels reached Norway for the attack, which began early on 22 September.[39] Three of the vessels, X5, X6, and X7, successfully breached Tirpitz's defences, two of which—X6 and X7—managed to lay their mines. X5 was detected some 200 m (660 ft) from the nets and sunk by a combination of gunfire and depth charges.[46]

The mines caused extensive damage to the ship; the first exploded abreast of turret Caesar and the second detonated 45 to 55 m (148 to 180 ft) off the port bow.[47] A fuel oil tank was ruptured, shell plating was torn, a large indentation was formed in the bottom of the ship and bulkheads in the double bottom buckled. Some 1,430 t (1,410 long tons; 1,580 short tons) of water flooded the ship in fuel tanks and void spaces in the double bottom of the port side, which caused a list of one to two degrees, which was balanced by counter-flooding on the starboard side. The flooding damaged all of the turbo-generators in generator room No. 2, and all apart from one generator in generator room No. 1 were disabled by broken steam lines or severed power cables. Turret Dora was thrown from its bearings and could not be rotated; this was particularly significant, as there were no heavy-lift cranes in Norway powerful enough to lift the turret and place it back on its bearings.[48] The ship's two Arado Ar 196 floatplanes were thrown by the explosive concussion and completely destroyed. Repairs were conducted by the repair ship Neumark; historians Robert Garzke and Robert Dulin remarked that the successful repair effort was "one of the most notable feats of naval engineering during the Second World War."[49] Repairs lasted until 2 April 1944; full speed trials were scheduled for the following day in Altafjord.[50]
Operation Tungsten
The British were aware that Neumark and the repair crews left in March, which intimated Tirpitz was nearly operational.[50] A major air strike—Operation Tungsten—involving the fleet carriers Victorious and Furious and the escort carriers Emperor, Fencer, Pursuer, and Searcher,[51] was set for 4 April 1944, but rescheduled a day earlier when Enigma decrypts revealed that Tirpitz was to depart at 05:29 on 3 April for sea trials.[50] The attack consisted of 40 Barracuda dive-bombers carrying 1,600-pound (730 kg) armor-piercing bombs and 40 escorting fighters in two waves, scoring fifteen direct hits and two near misses.[51][52] The aircraft achieved surprise, and only one was lost in the first wave; it took twelve to fourteen minutes for all of Tirpitz's antiaircraft batteries to be fully manned. The first wave struck at 05:29, as tugs were preparing to assist the ship out of her mooring. The second wave arrived over the target an hour later, shortly after 06:30. Despite the alertness of the German antiaircraft gunners, only one other bomber was shot down.[53]

The air strike caused significant damage to the ship and inflicted serious casualties. William Garzke and Robert Dulin report the attack killed 122 men and wounded 316 others,[53] while Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz report 132 fatalities and 270 wounded men, including the ship's commander, KzS Hans Meyer.[54] Two of the 15 cm turrets were destroyed by bombs and both Ar 196 floatplanes were destroyed. Several of the bomb hits caused serious fires aboard the ship. Concussive shock disabled the starboard turbine engine and saltwater used to fight the fires reached the boilers and contaminated the feed water. Some 2,000 t (2,000 long tons; 2,200 short tons) of water flooded the ship, primarily through the two holes in the side shell created by shell splinters from near misses. Water used to fight the fires also contributed to the flooding.[55] Dönitz ordered the ship be repaired, regardless of the cost, despite the fact that he understood Tirpitz could no longer be used in a surface action due to insufficient fighter support. Repair work began in early May; destroyers ferried important equipment and workers from Kiel to Altafjord over the span of three days. By 2 June, the ship was again able to steam under her own power, and by the end of the month gunnery trials were possible. During the repair process, the 15 cm guns were modified to allow their use against aircraft, and specially-fuzed 38 cm shells for barrage antiaircraft fire were supplied.[56]
Operations Planet, Brawn, Tiger Claw, Mascot, and Goodwood

A series of carrier strikes were planned over the next three months, but bad weather forced their cancellation. A repeat of Operation Tungsten, codenamed Operation Planet, was scheduled for 24 April. Operation Brawn, which was to have been carried out by 27 bombers and 36 fighters from Victorious and Furious, was to have taken place on 15 May, and Operation Tiger Claw was intended for 28 May. Victorious and Furious were joined by Indefatigable for Operation Mascot, which was to have been carried out on 17 July by 62 bombers and 30 fighters. The weather finally broke in late August, which saw the Goodwood series of attacks. Operations Goodwood I and II were launched on 22 August; a carrier force consisting of the fleet carriers Furious, Indefatigable and Formidable and the escort carriers Nabob and Trumpeter launched a total of 38 bombers and 43 escort fighters between the two raids. The attacks failed to inflict any damage on Tirpitz,[51] and three of the attacking aircraft were shot down.[56] Goodwood III followed on 24 August, composed of aircraft from the fleet carriers only. Forty-eight bombers and 29 fighters attacked the ship and scored two hits which caused minor damage.[51] One, a 1600-pound bomb, penetrated the upper and lower armour decks and came to rest in the No. 4 switchboard room. Its fuze had been damaged and the bomb did not detonate. The second, a 500-pound (230 kg) bomb, exploded but caused only superficial damage. Six planes were shot down in the attack.[57][58] Goodwood IV followed on the 29th, with 34 bombers and 25 fighters from Formidable and Indefatigable. Heavy fog prevented any hits from being scored.[51] One Firefly and a Corsair were shot down by Tirpitz's gunners. The battleship expended 54 rounds from her main guns, 161 from the 15 cm guns and up to 20 percent of her light antiaircraft ammunition.[59]
Operations Paravane and Obviate

The ineffectiveness of the vast majority of the strikes launched by the Fleet Air Arm in mid-1944 led to the task of Tirpitz's destruction being transferred to the RAF's No. 5 Group. The RAF used Lancaster bombers to carry 6-short-ton (5.4 t) Tallboy bombs to penetrate the ship's heavy armour.[60] The first attack, Operation Paravane, took place on 15 September 1944; operating from a forward base at Yagodnik in Russia, 23 Lancasters (17 each carrying one Tallboy and six each carrying twelve JW mines), scored a single hit on the ship's bow.[51] The Tallboy penetrated the ship, exited the keel, and exploded in the bottom of the fjord. 800 to 1,000 t (790 to 980 long tons; 880 to 1,100 short tons) of water flooded the bow and caused a serious increase in trim forward. The ship was rendered unseaworthy and was limited to 8 to 10 kn (15 to 19 km/h; 9.2 to 12 mph). Concussive shock caused severe damage to fire-control equipment. The damage persuaded the naval command to repair the ship for use only as a floating gun battery. Repair work was estimated to take nine months, but patching of the holes could be effected within a few weeks, allowing Tirpitz to be moved further south to Tromsø. On 15 October, the ship made the 200 nmi (370 km; 230 mi) trip to Tromsø under her own power, the last voyage of her career.[61]

The RAF made a second attempt on 29 October, after the ship was moored off Håkøy Island outside Tromsø. Thirty-two Lancasters attacked the ship with Tallboys during Operation Obviate.[51] As on Operation Paravane, No. 9 Squadron and No. 617 Squadron carried out the attack together, which resulted in only one near miss,[61] partially the result of bad weather over the target.[62] The underwater explosion damaged the port rudder and shaft and caused some flooding. Tirpitz's 38 cm fragmentation shells proved ineffective in countering the high-level bombers; one aircraft was damaged by ground-based antiaircraft guns.[61] Following the attack, the ship's anchorage was significantly improved. A large sand bank was constructed under and around the ship to prevent her from capsizing and anti-torpedo nets were installed. Tirpitz retained a one-degree list to port from earlier damage, and this was not corrected by counter-flooding to retain as much reserve buoyancy as possible. The ship was also prepared for her role as a floating artillery platform: fuel was limited to only what was necessary to power the turbo-generators and the crew was reduced to 1,600 officers and enlisted men.[63]
Operation Catechism
Operation Catechism, the final British attack on Tirpitz, took place on 12 November 1944.[51] 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 temporarily disperse, but could not break up the attack.[64] 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.[51] 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.[64] 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. Tirpitz then rapidly rolled over and buried her superstructure in the sea floor.[65]
In the aftermath of the attack, rescue operations attempted to reach men trapped in the hull. Workers managed to rescue 82 men by cutting through the bottom hull plates.[51] 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.[68] The wreck 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.[16] Ludovic Kennedy wrote in his history of the vessel that she "lived an invalid's life and died a cripple's death".[69]

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.[70] On 4 April 1945, he was shot down over Berlin; he had told a comrade that he intended to ram a bomber after running out of ammunition, stating "We'll meet again in Valhalla."[71]

All information is from the webiste Wikipeida. This is for entertainment and intellectual purpose only. Website link: http://en.wikipedia....tleship_Tirpitz

[haishang]

good bu cuo

[Crag_r]

hawkeyem4, on 30 August 2012 - 06:37 PM, said:

Oh!Do the stealth u-boat!

jasonvoorheesrevenge, on 30 August 2012 - 06:50 PM, said:

I will do that soon. Just wanna do the Aircraft carriers as thats one of my 2 favorite things in naval warfare.

I already nicked the Type XXI sub, but there were a few smaller prototype classes that i didn't cover.

http://forum.worldof..._8741#entry8741

[Ariecho]

What about the Kaiserliche Marine, and then the Reichmarine?

[JeeWeeJ]

Ariecho, on 09 September 2012 - 01:49 PM, said:

What about the Kaiserliche Marine, and then the Reichmarine?

Yup, plenty of really fine ships in the Kaiserliche marine. See here for a post i've made about it with a list of ships in it.

[enoofu]