Sinking the Tirpitz: The Hunt for the Beast of the Kriegsmarine

She was called ‘the Lonely Queen of the North.’ At the height of World War II, Winston Churchill had a personal interest — an obsession — in finding her: whatever it cost, he had to take her out. The British Prime Minister was on the hunt for the pride of the Kriegsmarine, the German Navy: the battleship Tirpitz. As he wrote to the First Sea Lord, Sir Dudley Pound: ‘The crippling of this ship would alter the entire face of the naval war … the loss of 100 machines or 500 airmen would be well compensated for.’

The Royal Navy, the RAF, and the Combined Operations group were all unleashed in her pursuit. Through a variety of methods and tactics, they all had a common objective: to sink the Tirpitz.

A Beauty and a Beast: The Tirpitz’s Formidable Specifications

The Tirpitz was the second and last battleship of the Bismarck class to be deployed. She was the largest naval vessel built in Germany, and the heaviest battleship ever constructed by a European navy. Building took place between June 1936 and March 1939 at the Wilhelmshaven shipyard, and the Tirpitz was eventually commissioned on the 25th of February 1941.

The terms ‘sea monster’ and ‘Leviathan’ are often invoked when referring to large warships, and the Tirpitz surely deserved such titles. She was 250 metres long and, at full load, displaced more than 53,000 metric tons. Much of that weight could be ascribed to her heavy armour, which could be as thick as 320 mm.

Even her upper deck was protected by armour between half a centimetre and 80 mm thick. Such a heavy beast needed serious power to move around: the Tirpitz was propelled by 12 boilers and three turbine sets, packing more than 163,000 hp. When it came to armament, she could deploy an impressive amount of firepower from her 72 guns of various calibres and 8 torpedo tubes.

The crew of 2,608 officers and sailors would have been made aware of incoming threats by her 3 radar antennae and 4 spotter seaplanes. No wonder Churchill himself dubbed her ‘The Beast’ — and sought to have her slain from the very start. Even before the date of commissioning, 15 British bombing raids tried to destroy the battleship while still in the dockyard.

And immediately after February 1941, two further raids tried to accomplish the enterprise. But in all cases, the Tirpitz only reported minor damages. Her sister ship, the battleship Bismarck, was not so lucky.

On the 27th of May 1941, she was scuttled by her captain after suffering crippling hits from the Royal Navy and its Fleet Air Arm (FAA) in the North Atlantic. Admiral Erich Raeder, commander-in-chief of the German Navy, was wary of losing the second jewel of his crown, and so he ordered the dispatch of the Tirpitz to Norway. There, she could pose a threat to Allied convoys supplying the USSR via the Arctic Sea.

More importantly, her role would be to act as a ‘fleet in being’ — even if the Tirpitz never left port, the Allies would be forced to invest precious resources in keeping her under control. On the 14th of January 1942, Captain Karl Topp ordered the crew of the Tirpitz to set sail for Trondheim, Norway, with an escort of four destroyers.

Early Raids and the Tirpitz’s Charmed Life in the Fjords

The British military had intercepted and decoded the Enigma-encrypted communications about the relocation of the Tirpitz. But the Royal Air Force was stumped by foul weather and had to postpone its attacks. On the 16th of January, the Tirpitz moored in the Fjaetten Fjord, just north of Trondheim, where she was protected by anti-aircraft batteries and torpedo nets.

Her most effective protective measure, however, was beyond the control of Captain Topp and the RAF: bad weather. On the 30th and 31st of January 1942, the RAF Bomber Command conducted Operation Oiled: 16 Stirling and Halifax bombers took off from Scotland ready to deliver a deadly payload upon the Beast. But due to poor weather conditions and scarce visibility, the pilots failed to locate the battleship and flew back to base.

On the 9th of March, the Tirpitz left Fjaetten Fjord to attack PQ 12, a supply convoy heading towards the Soviet Union. The mission was a fiasco, as the battleship failed to intercept it. Upon returning to her base, the Beast was targeted by 12 FAA torpedo bombers dispatched from HMS Victorious.

It was the first proper duel between Tirpitz and the Royal Navy — and Captain Topp came well on top. None of the torpedoes launched by the FAA bombers managed to score a hit, whilst the Tirpitz’s anti-aircraft batteries shot down two planes. Between the 30th of March and 29th of April 1942, the RAF launched three further raids on the Fjaetten Fjord, involving a total of 85 Halifax and 22 Lancaster bombers.

None of these missions succeeded in inflicting significant damage, and the Bomber Command lost 13 planes in total. Once more, Topp had weather on his side, with thick clouds and ground-level mist hindering the accuracy of the bombers. Thus far, it may appear as though the Beast of the Kriegsmarine was protected by a double whammy of sheer luck and Allied incompetence.

But that would be an unfair judgement.

Operation Chariot: The Spectacular Raid on St. Nazaire

On the 28th of March 1942, shortly before the last run of failed bombing missions, the British had accomplished one of the most spectacular special forces raids ever, in their quest to neutralise Tirpitz: Operation Chariot. In early 1942, the Royal Navy still feared that the Tirpitz could venture into the North Atlantic, disrupting precious Allied supply from North America. The Planning Division within the Admiralty reasoned that for the battleship to be deployed effectively in the Battle of the Atlantic, it required appropriate dry-dock facilities on the Atlantic coast.

The only suitable port for the job was St. Nazaire, on the French coast. The Germans fully realised its importance, concentrating strong defensive facilities around it.

Captain Charles Lambe started formulating a plan: blowing up the lock gate at the entrance of St. Nazaire, so as to render the dry-dock impossible to use. This move would have effectively pinned down the Tirpitz within the confines of the Arctic.

Lambe shared his idea with Lord Mountbatten, head of Combined Operations Headquarters, in charge of launching amphibious raids against the Axis on the European continent. Mountbatten and his men firmed up an audacious plan: a naval vessel, packed with explosives, would ram into the outer lock gate. Once stuck there, a massive explosion would blow up the outer gate.

Next, it was time to destroy the inner gate, courtesy of a Motor Torpedo Boat firing specially designed delayed-action torpedoes. Finally, Commandos would move in to destroy as many moored vessels as possible before escaping on motor launches. On the 26th of March 1942, Operation Chariot was a go.

A small fleet launched from Falmouth, headed by a motor gun boat, followed by three destroyers and 14 motor launches. One of the destroyers was an American vessel, USS Buchanan, re-christened HMS Campbeltown, which would have the honour of slamming onto the gates of St. Nazaire.

After fooling a German submarine and five torpedo boats, the raiders approached the theatre of the action on the night between the 27th and 28th of March. A diversionary RAF bomber raid struck St. Nazaire around midnight, setting the scene for the main assault, brightly illuminated by German searchlights.

But the vessels of the Commando force were all flying flags of the Reich, which left the defenders puzzled long enough for the raiders to approach the outer gate. Eventually, the Germans opened fire, killing or wounding half of the Commandos aboard the motor launches. Only two of the smaller craft managed to land on their assigned positions.

But the star of the show was HMS Campbeltown. At 01:34 hours, the destroyer rammed into the dock gates. Shortly afterwards, the motor torpedo boat deployed its delayed-action ammunition.

After minutes of heavy fighting on the shore, the commanding officer, Captain Ryder, ordered a withdrawal. His commandos had suffered heavy losses while fighting at St. Nazaire, and would suffer even more on the return journey.

The small fleet was attacked both by shore batteries and German torpedo boats, and only four out of 18 vessels made it back home. Out of the 241 Commandos involved, 59 were killed or missing in action, while 109 were taken prisoner. The Royal Navy lost 85 sailors, killed or missing, whilst 20 were captured.

But the raid was not over yet. Later that day, at noon, 40 German officers were inspecting the Campbeltown, firmly lodged onto the entrance to their precious dock. That’s when the explosives on board detonated.

A massive blast killed all the officers on board, plus some 400 soldiers on the quay. The following day, the 29th of March, the delayed-action torpedoes also went off, destroying the inner port gates. For the remainder of the war, St.

Nazaire would never service the Tirpitz — nor any other vessel, for that matter.

The Tirpitz as a Fleet in Being: PQ17, Operation Title, and Altafjord

With St. Nazaire destroyed, the Tirpitz had no chance to stalk the Atlantic, but she could still wreak havoc in the Arctic. On the 2nd of July 1942, the battleship left Trondheim, escorted by a heavy cruiser, four destroyers, and two torpedo boats.

On the 4th, the battle group joined up with two more heavy cruisers and five destroyers. Whilst on manoeuvre, four destroyers ran on rocks and were left behind. But the remaining vessels were enough to launch their mission: Operation Roesselsprung, or Knight’s Move.

Their objective: attacking the 36 freighters of supply convoy PQ17, headed to the Soviet Union. As the battle group approached its prey, British military intelligence picked up their communications and alerted PQ17, ordering the convoy to scatter. The German Admiralty, wary of losing Tirpitz in a fight against the Allied escort ships, ordered the Beast to moor in the safety of Bogen Bay, near Narvik, Norway.

The action was concluded by the 8th of July. Apparently, the Tirpitz had done little but show up, take a look around, and retreat. But the mere fear of her presence had left the scattered PQ17 without escorts, at the mercy of the U-boats and the Luftwaffe.

Twenty-two out of 34 merchantmen were lost in a matter of hours. After some weeks in Bogen, on the 23rd of October, the Tirpitz sailed south back to Trondheim. The British and the Norwegian resistance were plotting a daring raid: Operation Title.

Back on the 19th of December 1941, Italian frogmen of their Navy’s special forces had sunk two British battleships in the port of Alexandria, Egypt, with an innovative tactic: three manned torpedoes had infiltrated the harbour at night and placed explosives under the ships’ hulls. Inspired by their success, the Royal Navy had developed their own manned torpedoes: the Chariots. A Norwegian fishing vessel, charged with towing the Chariots towards Trondheim, unfortunately sailed into terrible weather, losing her secret weapons along the way.

After yet another fiasco, the Tirpitz went through a period of relative quiet, while Churchill was fuming back in Whitehall: ‘It is a terrible thing that this prize should be waiting and no one be able to think of a way of winning it.’ During March 1943, his coveted prize was relocated further north to Altafjord, under the command of her new captain, Hans Meyer. On the 6th of September 1943, Meyer and crew saw some serious action as part of Operation Sizilien.

At the head of a large battle group, Tirpitz sailed towards the island of Spitzbergen, in the Svalbard Archipelago, home to a British refuelling station. On the 8th, Tirpitz fired a total of 134 rounds, destroying the port facilities, whilst German troops disembarked and completed the job. By the 9th, the Beast had returned to its lair in Altafjord.

Operation Source: X-Craft Mini-Submarines Strike the Tirpitz

After the failure of Operation Title, Churchill was still of the idea that Tirpitz should have been disposed of the ‘Italian Way.’ As he declared: ‘It seems very discreditable that the Italians should show themselves so much better at attacking ships in harbour than we do.’ But the Admiralty had a plan to prove him wrong: Operation Source, a raid in Altafjord to be carried out by X-craft.

These were mini submarines, 51 feet or 15 metres in length, manned by a crew of four. Once an X-craft had approached its target, it would release two devices carrying a total of four tons of amatol, a TNT-based explosive. The bombs would fall to the sea bottom and go off at a pre-established time.

On the 11th of September 1943, six conventional submarines left Scotland, each with an X-craft in tow. X-5, X-6, and X-7 were assigned to attack the Tirpitz; X-8 was to blow up the heavy cruiser Luetzow; and X-9 and X-10 would sink battleship Scharnhorst. While on transit, X-9 was lost at sea, and X-8 suffered mechanical failure, but the remaining X-craft pressed on.

On the 20th, X-10 also experienced mechanical issues. It was now a duel between X-5, X-6, and X-7 and the Tirpitz. Just before dawn on the 22nd, one of the anti-submarine nets protecting Altafjord was opened to let a small German vessel through.

Lt. Cameron, in charge of X-6, seized the opportunity and slipped through. As his periscope did not work, Cameron had to emerge briefly and was seen by German guards.

Undeterred, he sailed his mini-sub under the Tirpitz and released his charges. Knowing that escape was futile, Cameron and crew scuttled X-6 and surrendered. They were taken aboard the Tirpitz for interrogation but refused to say a word — except for Cameron’s deputy, Sub-lieutenant Lorimer.

When he saw German divers getting ready to inspect the Tirpitz hull, he warned them not to, or else ‘they’ll be mashed potato.’ Meanwhile, X-7, led by Lt. Place, had also laid out its bombs.

But on the way out, the craft got entangled in a submarine net. At exactly 08:12 hours, the four charges detonated. Eight tons of amatol blasted gaping holes in the hull of the Tirpitz, tearing through its fuel tanks and flooding several compartments.

The shockwaves from the explosion freed X-7 from the net, but it was too damaged to make an escape. Two crew members died inside the wreck, while Place and another sailor were taken prisoner. The blast caused X-5 to surface; it was soon spotted and sunk with depth charges.

Cameron and Place had proved to be as good as the Italians when it came to laying mines under a battleship, and for their daring efforts they were awarded the Victoria Cross. But the Beast had only been wounded. It would not be fully repaired until April 1944, but it still posed a threat.

The hunt was still on.

Tallboy Bombs and the Final Operations Against the Tirpitz

In March 1944, British Naval Intelligence estimated that the Tirpitz was capable of staging sorties at a speed of 18 knots — enough to cause trouble. The Royal Navy responded with Operation Tungsten: on the 3rd of April, six aircraft carriers released a swarm of 42 dive bombers and 51 fighters. The bombers caught the Tirpitz just as she was manoeuvring out of her safe haven.

A deluge of bombs, weighing up to 1,600 pounds (726 kg), dove upon the Beast, scoring 14 hits. Two gun turrets were destroyed, the spotter planes were burned down, and the crew suffered 438 casualties, of which 122 were killed in action. It was a success, but not the success the Navy and its Fleet Air Arm were after: none of the bombs had managed to penetrate the armoured deck of the battleship.

The FAA went at it four more times, using similar formations of up to 44 Barracudas with a fighter escort. These attacks took place between the 17th of July and 29th of August but only achieved limited results. The new captain of the Tirpitz, Wolf Junge, could now rely on the advanced Funkmess Ortung 26 radar equipment, making him aware well in advance of the incoming Barracudas.

By deploying thick smokescreens, the Germans could effectively hinder the accuracy of the bombers. Only the raid on the 24th of August managed to score a clean hit: a 1,600-pound bomb did pierce the main deck — but it did not explode. The crux of the problem was clear: the Allies needed a bomb powerful and reliable enough to penetrate cleanly through the armoured deck, and then either explode or continue its descent to pierce the hull underneath.

The answer came from inventor Barnes Wallis and his recently designed Tallboy bombs. Once dropped from a plane, they accelerated to incredibly high speeds thanks to their streamlined shape and tail fins. Their massive weight — 12,000 pounds or 5.4 metric tons — ensured that no armoured ship decks could resist.

The Tallboys would be put to the test in Operation Paravane, a raid of Lancaster bombers mounted by the RAF. Some of these bombers and crew came from 617 Squadron, known also as the Dam Busters — the same squadron who had destroyed two German dams in May of 1943 using special bouncing bombs created by Barnes Wallis. The Dam Busters and their compatriots from 9th Squadron left Lossiemouth in Scotland on the 11th of September 1944, heading toward Archangel in north-western Russia.

On the 15th, 28 Lancasters left the Russian base and set course to Altafjord. But the Lonely Queen of the North wanted to prove once more that she was not easy prey. Once again, the German radar equipment gave Captain Junge sufficient notice, and he laid out a thick cloud of smoke to shroud his ship from view.

When the RAF bombers showed up, her anti-aircraft guns erupted in a hail of fire. With such defences, the Lancasters were able to hit the Queen only twice. But they hit her hard.

The two Tallboys pierced through the ship’s stern, right to the bottom of the fjord. The subsequent explosions damaged extensively the Tirpitz’s engines and gunnery control systems. Captain Junge and his superiors realised that the Tirpitz had been crippled so badly it was barely seaworthy.

Its only possible use was to relocate it to the island of Hakoy, near Tromso, to be used as a floating artillery battery against a very likely Allied invasion of Norway.

Operation Catechism: The Death of the Lonely Queen of the North

The move to Hakoy was a bad decision, as Tromso was within flying range from the RAF bases in Scotland. The bombers from 617 and 9 Squadron returned on the 29th of October, but low thick clouds over Hakoy forced them to return to base. Barely a week after the aborted operation, the Tirpitz was assigned a new captain, Robert Weber.

On the 12th of November, at 09:35 hours, 31 Lancasters appeared in the clear skies over Tromso. This was Operation Catechism. Captain Weber welcomed the Dam Busters and friends with a barrage of anti-aircraft fire, but it appeared as though the Queen of the North had finally run out of luck.

A Tallboy bomb struck the Tirpitz between two of the main gun turrets, but it failed to explode. A second bomb did explode: hitting the vessel right through the middle, it tore large holes through the bottom and the hull on the port side. A third Tallboy missed its target, but its blast managed to cause serious damage to the hull.

Weber realised that his Queen, his Beast, had been mortally wounded and ordered the crew to evacuate. At 09:50, the Tirpitz was listing at a 60-degree angle. Two minutes later, it had capsized.

Captain Weber, as per tradition, went down with his ship. A further 970 sailors and officers died that morning, trapped inside the wreck of the Tirpitz.

The Tirpitz’s Legacy: Fleet in Being and the Cost of the Hunt

The Allied forces had finally pierced the heart of their Moby Dick. But the question of victory was more complex than the sinking alone. The strategy of German Admiral Erich Raeder had been to use the Tirpitz as a fleet in being: by her sheer presence, the Allies would be forced to invest valuable resources and manpower to keep her under tabs — or to take her out.

And this is exactly what happened. Throughout her career, Tirpitz only participated in three operations. A first sortie against a supply convoy, which she failed to locate.

A second sortie against another convoy, which was cut short before she could engage — although her mere presence eventually led to the sinking of 22 cargo ships. And Operation Sizilien, the only occasion in which she successfully shelled a target. Overall, the damage inflicted by the Tirpitz was rather limited.

And yet, she had prompted the British to launch a total of 35 aerial, naval, and combined operations, and to commit precious resources and manpower — sorely needed elsewhere — for a period of almost five years. The Tirpitz may never have lived up to her full potential as an offensive weapon. But measured against her true objective as a fleet in being, she delivered precisely the strategic effect Admiral Raeder intended: tying down vast Allied assets in the pursuit of a single ship that rarely left port.

Frequently Asked Questions

What made the Tirpitz so difficult to sink?

The Tirpitz was protected by armour up to 320 mm thick, an armoured upper deck, anti-aircraft batteries, torpedo nets, and the natural cover of Norwegian fjords. She also benefited from thick fog and cloud that repeatedly foiled RAF bombing runs, and her new captain Wolf Junge deployed smokescreens and advanced radar to warn of incoming aircraft, allowing only a handful of the 35 Allied operations against her to achieve significant results.

What was the strategic concept of “fleet in being” and how did the Tirpitz embody it?

A fleet in being is a naval force that ties down enemy resources simply by existing, without necessarily engaging in battle. The Tirpitz rarely left port — she participated in only three operations across her career — yet the mere threat of her intervention forced the Allies to dedicate years of naval, air, and commando resources to keeping her contained, exactly as Admiral Erich Raeder intended.

What happened at St. Nazaire during Operation Chariot, and why did it matter for the Tirpitz?

On 28 March 1942, the destroyer HMS Campbeltown rammed and destroyed the only dry-dock on the Atlantic coast capable of servicing the Tirpitz, detonating explosives that also killed around 400 German soldiers. This permanently denied the Tirpitz access to the Atlantic and confined her to the Arctic, eliminating her ability to threaten Allied convoys crossing the North Atlantic.

How did the X-craft mini-submarines damage the Tirpitz in Operation Source?

On 22 September 1943, X-6 (commanded by Lt. Cameron) and X-7 (Lt. Place) each slipped under the Tirpitz and released two charges carrying a combined eight tons of amatol explosive. The detonation blasted holes in the hull, ruptured fuel tanks, and flooded several compartments, putting the ship out of action until April 1944. Both Cameron and Place were awarded the Victoria Cross.

What role did the Tallboy bomb play in finally sinking the Tirpitz?

Designed by Barnes Wallis, the 12,000-pound Tallboy accelerated to high speed thanks to streamlined tail fins, allowing it to punch through the Tirpitz’s armoured deck — something no earlier bomb had managed. Two Tallboy hits during Operation Paravane in September 1944 crippled the ship’s engines, and three hits during Operation Catechism on 12 November 1944 caused her to capsize at Tromso, killing Captain Robert Weber and 970 crew.