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Battle of the Atlantic · United Kingdom vs Germany

Sinking of Tirpitz

12 November 1944

After years of midget submarine, carrier and bomber attacks, Lancasters of 9 and 617 Squadrons hit Tirpitz with Tallboy bombs at her anchorage off Tromsoe. She capsized within minutes, killing about 1,000 of her crew, and the last German heavy ship threat to the Arctic convoys was gone.

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Day by day

— Tallboy

Moved south to Tromsoe in October, Tirpitz lies at a shallow berth off Haakoeya, within reach of Lancasters flying from Lossiemouth; a first attempt on 29 October was beaten by cloud. Twenty-nine aircraft of 9 and 617 Squadrons come in from the south-east in clear air at about 09:40 and drop 5-ton Tallboys from 14,000 feet. Two hit and one is a near miss that tears open the ship's side; the magazine of a turret blows up and she capsizes at 09:52, taking about a thousand of her crew with her. The fighters at Bardufoss, twenty minutes' flying away, never came.

Bone, Stephen; The Wreck of the 'Tirpitz', June 1945; IWM (Imperial War Museums); http://www.artuk.org/artworks/the-wreck-of-the-tirpitz-june-1945-7464
Bone, Stephen; The Wreck of the 'Tirpitz', June 1945; IWM (Imperial War Museums); http://www.artuk.org/artworks/the-wreck-of-the-tirpitz-june-1945-7464Stephen Bone · Public domain · source
Low-level oblique photographic-reconnaissance aerial taken from De Havilland Mosquito PR Mark XVI (NS637) of No. 544 Squadron RAF, showing the capsized German battleship Tirpitz, lying in the Tromsø fjord near isle of Hå
Low-level oblique photographic-reconnaissance aerial taken from De Havilland Mosquito PR Mark XVI (NS637) of No. 544 Squadron RAF, showing the capsized German battleship Tirpitz, lying in the Tromsø fjord near isle of HåSqn.Ldr. F.L. Dodd, and P/O A. Hill, No. 544 Squadron RAF · Public domain · source
Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Bomber Command Flying Officer J Sanders DFC (third from right), and his cheerful crew of No 617 Squadron with their Lancaster, ME562/KC-K, following the successful daylight operation against th
Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Bomber Command Flying Officer J Sanders DFC (third from right), and his cheerful crew of No 617 Squadron with their Lancaster, ME562/KC-K, following the successful daylight operation against thRoyal Air Force official photographer · Public domain · source
Bone, Stephen; The Wreck of the 'Tirpitz', June 1945; IWM (Imperial War Museums); http://www.artuk.org/artworks/the-wreck-of-the-tirpitz-june-1945-7464
Bone, Stephen; The Wreck of the 'Tirpitz', June 1945; IWM (Imperial War Museums); http://www.artuk.org/artworks/the-wreck-of-the-tirpitz-june-1945-7464Stephen Bone · Public domain · source

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