tirpitz & graf spee

[rjcjunior]

I find this, enjoy it:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2979417832779680795&q=tirpitz

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7817934211515976166&q=graf+spee (rescue the eagle) en castellano.

[mr chris]

Very intresting thanks very much

[andy_311]

I always thought it was the Grand Slam bomb that took out the Tirpitz not midgit subs but I could be wrong.

[bookworm_020]

Originally Posted by andy_311

I always thought it was the Grand Slam bomb that took out the Tirpitz not midgit subs but I could be wrong.

The Tirpitz was heavly damaged by the miget subs, and was moved to Tromsofjord to turn her into a coastal defence battery. This brought her in range of 617 Sqd who droped 20 tallboy boms, two which hit.

She capsized with most of her crew on board, some were resuced by cutting a hole in her upturned hull, allowing them to escape.

[joea]

Don't forget the FAA did a couple of raids against Tirpitz too in between the midget attack and the attack by the Lancs in 1944. Did some damage but as the Brits did not know the extent of her damge they kept trying til she was sunk. BTW these FAA raids were one of the few times Hellcats and Corsairs saw service in the ETO. Barracudas played a big part too.

[bookworm_020]

Sorry forgot to mention them. They added to the damage inflicted by the subs, which made up theminds of the top brass that she wouldn't be able to go to sea again and it would be better for them to turn it into a costal battery.

The FAA attacks were the baptism of fire for the Barracuda and the Corsair, the Hellcat having been used on smaller carriers in convoy protection.

I belive the only VC won by the FAA fighter pilots was by a pilot who flew the Corsair, but in the Pacific Theater

[_Seth_]

http://www.bismarck-class.dk/tirpitz...n_and_now.html

Here is a link to a site that shows the tirpitz wreck site back in the 40's and now. The rest of her is located outside Håkøy, outside the city of Tromsø.
There is also underwater footage of the remains of her, taken by a norwegian diver.

Below is links to the sinking of "black watch" and u-711 in Kilbotn outside Harstad.
(This is actuall my neighbourhood, about 3 km from where i live....!!!)
It is in norwegian, but the pics are cool...

http://images.google.no/imgres?imgur...lr%3D%26sa%3DN

http://home.online.no/~f-bang/U%20711.htm

[joea]

Thanks very much for the links. Great clips look at the description though.

The Tirpitz ... was the Third Reich's ultimate weapon. Sister to the Bismarck, she was the most successful WWII German battleship and the pride of Hitler's Navy. Secretly built off the Baltic coast in 1939, the warship spent the next five years terrorising the Allies in the Atlantic and Artic seaways, leaving entire convoys annihilated in her wake.

Nope, what about the V-2, Me-262 or the Tiger, or the Type XXI? Also it never sank a single merchant ship...though a case can be made fear of Tirpitz provoked the disaster of Convoy PQ17.

[Saukko]

I loved how they used the music from Das Boot in Graf Spee clip.

[Dowly]

[bigboywooly]

Originally Posted by joea

Thanks very much for the links. Great clips look at the description though.

Nope, what about the V-2, Me-262 or the Tiger, or the Type XXI? Also it never sank a single merchant ship...though a case can be made fear of Tirpitz provoked the disaster of Convoy PQ17.

It wasnt so much what the ship did but what the British in particular thought it could do
Tying up large sections of the fleet just in case it left harbour and leading to actions such as Operation Chariot - to put the dry dock Normandie out of action so Tirpitz couldnt raid the Atlantic and have a safe haven to return to

Wonder what would have happened if the German capital ships had all left port together as a group
Now that would have increased to fear factor

[Torplexed]

I think the closest thing to a surface fleet the Germans ever put together was during Operation Cerebus. The so-called 'Channel Dash' of the battlecruisers Scharnhorst,and Gneisenau and the heavy crusier Prinz Eugen and some lesser ships from Brest back to Germany. Caught the British Coastal Command partly by surprise although they did get some licks in.

Still, at the end of the day, a retreat for Germany's navy.

[Eichenlaub]

Torplexed wrote:

Still, at the end of the day, a retreat for Germany's navy.

Actually, Cerberus was a major success. Taking the channel route was completely unexpected and it took a long time for the British to mount effective sorties. Damage to the German capital ships was only minor (despite the speed reduction). Furthermore, the ships in French harbours were in continuous danger of bombing raids by the British - a threat that would be substantially reduced back in Germany. At first the KM had high hopes of the stationing of capital ships in French ports as they believed this would grant them easy access to the Atlantic and would allow them to conduct surface raiding operations. Reality proved different: frequent British air raids continually condemned the large vessels to further repairs; unable to carry out operations. Forced to choose between a certain -if eventual- doom by having their ships bombed in port, or a daring and dangerous escape to relative safety, the Germans chose the best option. You may call it a retreat, but the channel dash saved those ships for further operations.
Don't forget the numerous British planes that were downed by the Luftwaffe during the dash.

Kind regards,

Eichenlaub