Battleships of the Bismarck Class by Gerhard Koop & Klaus-Peter Schmolke

Author:Gerhard Koop & Klaus-Peter Schmolke
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473846692
Publisher: Seaforth
Published: 2016-04-25T16:00:00+00:00

The following damage to the Tirpitz resulted from 16 hits or near-misses: a near miss to the starboard boiler room aft; a hit on ‘B’ turret; a hit on the quarterdeck in area of ‘D’ turret; a hit by a bomb which penetrated down to armour deck level above the port turbine room; a hit on the port hangar which detonated in the officers’ messrooms and another which damaged the funnel and caused fires; a hit on officers’ accommodation aft in the vicinity of SI 15cm turret; a hit below the armour belt which made a gash 4.5m long and an entrance hole 1m by 0.5m in the outer skin; damage to sthe tarboard keel plates and frame system, with a total of 15m of welded seams burst; a hit through the port deck, two hits through the upper deck, and one near PI 15cm turret causing fires in the region of the upper deck and putting the turret out of action; and a near miss on the starboard shaft mountings.

Despite this comprehensive damage the main armament remained fully serviceable. The dockyard personnel required about a month for repairs below the waterline, and the Tirpitz was ready for trials by 1 July. The first of these had actually been scheduled for 22 June but fell victim to a renewed fuel shortage so severe that it also put a stop to the customary snap interchanges of moorings between the German heavy units.

The Royal Navy was not satisfied with the scale of damage inflicted during the double attack of 3 April, but a fresh onslaught planned for 24 April under the code-name ‘Planet’ and involving 40 Barracudas and 40 escort fighters had to be shelved because of the conditions, the weather in high northern latitudes being subject to drastic fluctuations. A similar fate befell Operation ‘Brawn’, involving 27 Barracudas and 36 fighters, and also ‘Tiger Claw’ on 28 May, and it was not until 17 June that the next mission against the Tirpitz could be flown.

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