KMS Tirpitz
Named for German World War I High Seas Fleet commander, Alfred Tirpitz, the Tirpitz was the second and last of the Bismarck-class of German battleships. It was commissioned in February 1941, only a few months before her sister ship was sunk.
Though the Tirpitz was fully operational, the loss of the Bismarck discouraged Hitler from risking any more of the Kriegsmarine's capital ships; moreover, the only dock capable of servicing the Tirpitz in France was destroyed in a British commando raid in March 1942. By that time, the Kriegsmarine had already decided to move it to Norway, where it could be better protected and it could possibly attack the Murmansk convoys between the UK and the USSR. As such, the Tirpitz acted as a "fleet in being," which would force the already spread-thin Royal Navy to commit ships to contain it. If the Tirpitz were to get loose in the convoys, the losses would be horrific.
A combination of bad luck, Hitler's continued reluctance to risk the loss of another capital ship, and lack of fuel ensured that the Tirpitz would never fire its guns at an enemy ship. It did sortie a few times, but in every case was recalled due to a lack of escorts or detection of heavy enemy forces (in two cases, the Tirpitz would have found itself pitted against two or three Allied battleships). The only time it would fire its main battery at a surface target was a raid on Spitsbergen in September 1943.
Though the Tirpitz had not succeeded in breaking out of its fjord near Trondheim, the British still needed to eliminate it. Over the next two years, the battleship would become the boogeyman of the RAF's Bomber Command and the Royal Navy's carrier force. Eleven separate air attacks and a midget submarine attack went after the Tirpitz, but only the submarines and Operation Tungsten (April 1944) actually managed to damage the ship and put it out of action. In both cases, the Tirpitz was repaired.
Finally, beginning in September 1944, the RAF sent out Lancaster bombers from 617 Squadron (the legendary "Dambusters") armed with 12,000 pound Tallboy earthquake bombs. The first attack on 15 September succeeded in a single hit: the bomb went through the battleship and detonated underneath it, causing flooding and extensive shock damage. The Germans decided to refit it as a floating battery, but on 12 November, the RAF struck again. This time two Tallboys hit the Tirpitz, blowing up its magazine, capsizing the ship, and killing most of its crew. The Tirpitz was finally gone, and what was left of it was scrapped after the war.
My friend who owned these little 1/1285-scale ships claimed this was the Bismarck, but following his passing, I did some research and learned it was the Tirpitz by the torpedo tubes amidships and the increased antiaircraft armament. I decided to paint it as the Tirpitz would've appeared moored in the Altafjord, circa 1943-1944, when the British air attacks were at their highest. Though the Tirpitz carries vestiges of standard German Kriegsmarine splinter camouflage of light gray with dark gray stripes, the deck was daubed with brown and green splotches by the crew in the hope it would disguise the battleship as a forested spit. Until it was sunk, the Tirpitz never lost any of its turrets, but the forward 15-inch turret (Turret Anton) is missing on this model. I added a little boat coming towards the stern of the ship.
KMS Tirpitz
Named for German World War I High Seas Fleet commander, Alfred Tirpitz, the Tirpitz was the second and last of the Bismarck-class of German battleships. It was commissioned in February 1941, only a few months before her sister ship was sunk.
Though the Tirpitz was fully operational, the loss of the Bismarck discouraged Hitler from risking any more of the Kriegsmarine's capital ships; moreover, the only dock capable of servicing the Tirpitz in France was destroyed in a British commando raid in March 1942. By that time, the Kriegsmarine had already decided to move it to Norway, where it could be better protected and it could possibly attack the Murmansk convoys between the UK and the USSR. As such, the Tirpitz acted as a "fleet in being," which would force the already spread-thin Royal Navy to commit ships to contain it. If the Tirpitz were to get loose in the convoys, the losses would be horrific.
A combination of bad luck, Hitler's continued reluctance to risk the loss of another capital ship, and lack of fuel ensured that the Tirpitz would never fire its guns at an enemy ship. It did sortie a few times, but in every case was recalled due to a lack of escorts or detection of heavy enemy forces (in two cases, the Tirpitz would have found itself pitted against two or three Allied battleships). The only time it would fire its main battery at a surface target was a raid on Spitsbergen in September 1943.
Though the Tirpitz had not succeeded in breaking out of its fjord near Trondheim, the British still needed to eliminate it. Over the next two years, the battleship would become the boogeyman of the RAF's Bomber Command and the Royal Navy's carrier force. Eleven separate air attacks and a midget submarine attack went after the Tirpitz, but only the submarines and Operation Tungsten (April 1944) actually managed to damage the ship and put it out of action. In both cases, the Tirpitz was repaired.
Finally, beginning in September 1944, the RAF sent out Lancaster bombers from 617 Squadron (the legendary "Dambusters") armed with 12,000 pound Tallboy earthquake bombs. The first attack on 15 September succeeded in a single hit: the bomb went through the battleship and detonated underneath it, causing flooding and extensive shock damage. The Germans decided to refit it as a floating battery, but on 12 November, the RAF struck again. This time two Tallboys hit the Tirpitz, blowing up its magazine, capsizing the ship, and killing most of its crew. The Tirpitz was finally gone, and what was left of it was scrapped after the war.
My friend who owned these little 1/1285-scale ships claimed this was the Bismarck, but following his passing, I did some research and learned it was the Tirpitz by the torpedo tubes amidships and the increased antiaircraft armament. I decided to paint it as the Tirpitz would've appeared moored in the Altafjord, circa 1943-1944, when the British air attacks were at their highest. Though the Tirpitz carries vestiges of standard German Kriegsmarine splinter camouflage of light gray with dark gray stripes, the deck was daubed with brown and green splotches by the crew in the hope it would disguise the battleship as a forested spit. Until it was sunk, the Tirpitz never lost any of its turrets, but the forward 15-inch turret (Turret Anton) is missing on this model. I added a little boat coming towards the stern of the ship.