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Tirpitz was the second of two Bismarck-class battleship built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the architect of the Imperial Navy, the ship was laid down at the Kriegsmarinewerf in Wilhelmshaven in November 1936 and launched two and a half years later in April 1939. Work was completed in February 1941, when she was commissioned into the German fleet. Like her sistership Bismarck, Tirpitz was armed with a main battery of eight 38-centimeter (15 in) guns in four twin turrets. As a result of a series of wartime modifications she was some 2,000 metric tons (2,000 long tons; 2,200 short tons) heavier than Bismarck.
After completing sea trails in early 1941, Tirpitz briefly served as the centerpiece of the Baltic Fleet, which was intended to prevent a possible breakout attempt by the Soviet Baltic Fleet. In early 1942, the ship sailed to Norway to act as a deterrent against an Allied invasion. While stationed in Norway, Tirpitz could also be used to intercept Allied convoys to the Soviet Union; two such missions were attempted in 1942, but both failed. Despite her inability to attack the convoys directly, Tirpitz acted as a fleet in being, forcing the British Royal Navy to retain significant naval forces in the area to contain the battleship.
In September 1943, Tirpitz, along with the battleship scharnhorst, bombarded Allied positions on the island of Spitzbergen, the first time the ship used her main battery in anger. Shortly thereafter, the ship was damaged in an attack by British mini-submarines and subsequently subjected to a series of large-scale air raids. On 12 November 1944, British Lancaster bombers equipped with 12,000 pounds (5,400 kg) "Tallboy" bombs destroyed the ship; two direct hits and a near miss caused the ship to capsizde rapidly. A deck fire spread to the ammunition magazine for one of the main battery turrets, which caused a large explosion. Figures for the number of men killed in the attack range from 950 to 1,204. The wreck was broken up by a joint Norwegian and German salvage operation after the war, with work lasting from 1948 until 1957.
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