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The war hung in the balance. In the Pacific, the Japanese had suffered their first major defeat at Midway and the German advance into the heart of Russia had stalled at Stalingrad. But if the Germans could break through into the Caucasus and capture its vital oil fields, the Soviets might be battered into bloody defeat. It was crucial that the convoys from the UK fought their way through the Arctic to Archangel and Murmansk to deliver the supplies which were so essential to the Russians. But lurking in the Norwegian fjords was Germany's last great battleship, Tirpitz.With its eight 15-inch guns, Tirpitz posed an ever-present threat to shipping in the northern waters, and when it was believed that the battleship was about to attack Convoy PQ 17, the convoy was ordered to scatter. This was a disastrous decision that led to the loss of twenty-four merchant ships. It was, therefore, of paramount importance that the next convoy - PQ 18 - reached Russia, and so the assembly of forty merchantmen was escorted by a veritable fleet of fifty-one warships. The latter included an anti-aircraft cruiser, twenty-one destroyers, two anti-aircraft ships, two submarines and an aircraft carrier. Air cover was provided by RAF Catalina flying boats and Handley Page Hampdens of RAF Coastal Command.The Hampden torpedo-bombers of 144 Squadron RAF and 455 Squadron RAAF were deployed from Scotland to the Red Air Force airfield at Vayenga near Murmansk. This placed the aircraft within range of Tirpitz's lair in Altafjord. On receiving the news that Tirpitz had left the protection of the fjord, the Hampdens took to the air. Though no contact was made with the battleship, the presence of the twenty-three bombers deterred the Germans from risking their prestigious warship. PQ 18 safely reached Archangel on 21 September 1942.With links to the Great Escape, the story of this unique operation is revealed here by Geoffrey W. Raebel, the son of the surviving senior engineer of 455 Squadron. This the result of thirty years of research and draws in great part on the personal accounts of the men who took part in that historic enterprise. It is supplemented with rarely seen Coastal Command photographs, German ones that have never been published before, and the full story of the discovery, and recovery, of one of the bombers involved.
The authors of Bismarck deliver “a very good account of the Tirpitz and of the naval war in the North Atlantic and Norwegian waters” during World War II (NYMAS Review). After the Royal Navy’s bloody high seas campaign to kill the mighty Bismarck, the Allies were left with an uncomfortable truth—the German behemoth had a twin sister. Slightly larger than her sibling, the Tirpitz was equally capable of destroying any other battleship afloat, as well as wreaking havoc on Allied troop and supply convoys. For the next three and a half years, the Allies launched a variety of attacks to remove Germany’s last serious surface threat, hidden within fjords along the Norwegian coast. Trying an indirect approach, the British launched one of the war’s most daring commando raids—at St. Nazaire—in order to knock out the last drydock in Europe capable of servicing the Tirpitz. Of over six hundred commandos and sailors in the raid, more than half were lost during an all-night battle that succeeded, at least, in knocking out the drydock. It was not until November 1944 that the Tirpitz finally succumbed to British aircraft armed with ten-thousand–pound Tallboy bombs, the ship capsizing at last with the loss of one thousand sailors. In this book, military historians Niklas Zetterling and Michael Tamelander, authors of Bismarck: The Final Days of Germany’s Greatest Battleship, illuminate the strategic implications and dramatic battles surrounding the Tirpitz, a ship that may have had greater influence on the course of World War II than her more famous sister. “A riveting story . . . keeps the reader engaged.” —Nautilus, A Maritime Journal of Literature, History and Culture
Norwegian investigative journalist Alf Jacobsen relates one of the most incredible tales of the Second World War, in which Royal Navy X-craft midget submarines attacked the German battleship Tirpitz in Norway. A daring plan was hatched by the Admiralty to sink Tirpitz using midget submarines to plant high explosive mines beneath the ship's keel. On 22 September 1943, six X-craft midget submarines set out from Scotland to sink the battleship at anchor in Norway. Three never reached the fjord and X5, commanded by Lt Henty-Creer, was presumed sunk by the Germans, so only X6 and X7 made the attack. Both Lt. Donald Cameron in X6 and Lt Godfrey Place in X7 placed their charges successfully, but were forced to surrender. Both were awarded the Victoria Cross. Although Tirpitz was not sunk she was put out of action until April 1944. Lt. Henty-Creer, the commander of X5, and his crew were never seen again. Neither he nor any of his crew received any posthumous gallantry awards. Did X5 actually penetrate the anti-submarine defenses around Tirpitz and lay its explosive charges beneath the battleship? If it did, then Henty-Creer and his crew deserve to be honored for their bravery.
In September 1943, under the cover of darkness, six British midget submarines crept into the heart of enemy territory, penetrating a heavily guarded Norwegian fjord in an attempt to eliminate the threat of the powerful German battleship, the Tirpitz. Numerous previous attempts to attack the ship from both air and sea had failed, and this mission was carefully strategized, and undertaken by skilled operatives who had undergone extensive training in an isolated sea loch. Though five of the six X-Craft submarines were either lost or captured, two crews had just enough time to lay their explosive charges, which detonated after they were forced to the surface, putting the Tirpitz out of action for a crucial six-month period. Masterminded from a top-secret naval headquarters on the east coast of Scotland, Operation Source has been memorialised as one of the most daring naval raids of World War II. This new study tells the complete story of this epic operation in unparalleled detail, supported by full-colour illustrations and contemporary photography.
Winston Churchill called it "the Beast." It was said to be unsinkable. More than thirty military operations failed to destroy it. Eliminating the Tirpitz, Hitler's mightiest warship, a 52,000-ton behemoth, became an Allied obsession. In The Hunt for Hitler's Warship, Patrick Bishop tells the epic story of the men who would not rest until the Tirpitz lay at the bottom of the sea. In November of 1944, with the threat to Russian supply lines increasing and Allied forces needing reinforcements in the Pacific, a raid as audacious as any Royal Air Force operation of the war was launched, under the command of one of Britain's greatest but least-known war heroes, Wing Commander Willie Tait. Patrick Bishop draws on decades of experience as a foreign war correspondent to paint a vivid picture of this historic clash of the Royal Air Force's Davids versus Hitler's Goliath of naval engineering. Readers will not be able to put down this account of one of World War II's most dramatic showdowns.
Non-fiction that reads like a novel! A thrilling, moment by moment account of an epic escape and the real-life adventures that followed.
The warships of the World War II era German Navy are among the most popular subject in naval history with an almost uncountable number of books devoted to them. However, for a concise but authoritative summary of the design history and careers of the major surface ships it is difficult to beat a series of six volumes written by Gerhard Koop and illustrated by Klaus-Peter Schmolke. Each contains an account of the development of a particular class, a detailed description of the ships, with full technical details, and an outline of their service, heavily illustrated with plans, battle maps and a substantial collection of photographs. These have been out of print for ten years or more and are now much sought after by enthusiasts and collectors, so this new modestly priced reprint of the series will be widely welcomed.??The first volume, appropriately, is devoted to the Kriesmarine's largest and most powerful units, the battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz, whose careers stand in stark contrast to each other _ one with a glorious but short life, while the other was to spend a hunted existence in Norwegian fjords, all the time posing a threat to Allied sea communications, while attacked by everything from midget submarines to heavy bombers.
“A complete operational history of the Bismarck . . . with period photos [and] underwater photography of the wreck, allowing a forensic analysis of the damage.” —Seapower This new book offers a forensic analysis of the design, operation, and loss of Germany’s greatest battleship, drawing on survivors’ accounts and the authors’ combined decades of experience in naval architecture and command at sea. Their investigation into every aspect of this battleship is informed by painstaking research, including extensive interviews and correspondence with the ship’s designers and the survivors of the battle of the Denmark Strait and Bismarck’s final battle. Albert Schnarke, the former gunnery officer of Tirpitz, Bismarck’s sister ship, aided the authors greatly by translating and supplying manuscript materials from those who participated in the design and operations. Survivors of Bismarck’s engagements contributed to this comprehensive study including D.B.H. Wildish, RN, damage control officer aboard HMS Prince of Wales, who located photographs of battle damage to his ship. After the wreck was discovered in 1989, the authors served as technical consultants to Dr. Robert Ballard, who led three trips to the site. Filmmaker and explorer James Cameron has also contributed a chapter, giving a comprehensive overview of his deep-sea explorations on Bismarck and sharing his team’s remarkable photos of the wreck. The result of nearly six decades of research and collaboration, this is an “encyclopedic and engrossing” account (Naval Historical Foundation) of the events surrounding one of the most epic naval battles of World War II. And Battleship Bismarck finally resolves some of the major questions around her career, not least the most profound one of all: Who sank the Bismarck, the British or the Germans?
“Outstanding . . . covers the major units starting with the Deutschland Class, through the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, to the Bismarck and Tirpitz.” —WW2 Cruisers The Kriegsmarine’s capital ships—Deutschland, Admiral Scheer, Graf Spee, Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Bismarck, and Tirpitz—continue to generate intense interest among warship enthusiasts, despite the fact that no new source of information has been unearthed in decades. What has come to light, however, is a growing number of photographs, many from private albums and some that lay forgotten in obscure archives. These include many close-ups and onboard shots of great value to modelmakers, as well as rare action photos taken during wartime operations. This book is a careful selection of the best of these, but on a grand scale, with around one hundred images devoted to each ship, allowing in-depth coverage of its whole career, from launching and fitting out to whatever fate the war had waiting for it. For sake of completeness, there are even sections reproducing the various design studies that led to each class, while an appendix covers the uncompleted Graf Zeppelin, Germany’s only attempt to build an aircraft carrier, the vessel which clearly displaced the battleship as the capital ship of the world’s navies during the war. Essays on technical backgrounds and design origins by the well-known expert Siegfried Breyer and explanatory captions by Miroslaw Skwiot draw out the full significance of this magnificent collection of photos. “Highly recommended for those who wish to admire seven of the most magnificent warships built anywhere in the twentieth century. We will certainly never see their like again.” —Journal of the Australian Naval Institute