The Sharnhorst Research Paper

In the cold reaches of Norway sat the largest naval vessel of Nazi Germany’s war machine. It lie in wait for allied shipping convoys bound for Russia from Britain. The sister ship to the legendary Bismarck, the Tirpitz was a 52,600 ton thorn in the side of naval operations in the North. From January of 1942 until November of 1944 it was exactly that. All the while, Prime Minister Churchill was emphasizing the importance of removing the Tirpitz from the arctic battlefield. They even went as far as to use prototype submarines and unconventional tactics to rid itself of the behemoth nuisance. Although having the Bismarck and Tirpitz (with supporting ships) patrolling the Atlantic together would have been a formidable force to reckon with, Hitler …show more content…
The entrance to the fjord was equipped with ant-submarine barrage and the Tirpitz itself had anti-torpedo nets. This didn’t deter the British from sending six experimental X-Craft (midget submarines) that each towed another vessel for the attack. Operation Source lasted from September 22nd to September 28th of 1943. Three were designated especially for the Tirpitz while two were targeting the Scharnhorst and one was targeting the Lutzlow, ten miles to the north. The mission was touted as a huge success. Before the German crews could realize what happened, the Tirpitz was hit with torpedoes and damaged badly. After the attack had taken place, there was oil covering two miles of water around the ship. While the Scharnhorst and Lutzlow were relatively unscathed, and moved to another location, the Tirpitz was unable to be moved. Since transmissions were being intercepted and decoded at this point, the British knew the attack was a success within a couple hours. It had still not been sunk though. The ensuing repairs were actually noted for being very fast and effective; being completed on April 2nd, 1944. The Tirpitz was ready for testing immediately