Sink the Tirpitz 1942–44: The RAF and Fleet Air Arm duel with Germany's mighty battleship (Air Campaign Book 7)

The story of the high-stakes air campaign to sink the battleship Tirpitz in her Norwegian lair, when a single bomb could end her threat to the Arctic Convoys and alter the war. This is the story of an air campaign in which each bomb could dramatically influence the course of the war. In January 1942, the powerful German battleship Tirpitz sailed into her new base in a Norwegian fjord, within easy reach of the Arctic Convoys. Her destruction suddenly became a top Allied priority. But sinking a modern and formidably armed battleship was no easy task, especially when she lay secure in a remote, mountainous fjord, protected by anti-torpedo nets, radar, flak guns and smoke generators. This book charts the full, complex story of the air war against Tirpitz, from the Fleet Air Arm's failed torpedo attack at sea, the RAF's early Halifax raids, and the carrier-borne Barracuda airstrikes of Operations Mascot, Tungsten and Goodwood, to the three Tallboy attacks that finally crippled and sank her. With detailed maps and diagrams, it explains the aircraft and ordnance the British had to work with, the evolving strategic situation, and why the task was so difficult. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941, Stalin requested help from the Western Allies. The result was the Arctic Convoys - the opening of a sea route from Britain to Northern Russia, used to supply the Soviets with vitally-needed war materials. This route passed close to German-occupied Norway, and so in January 1942 the newly-completed battleship __Tirpitz__ - sister of the __Bismarck__ - was sent there, to form the core of the naval force stationed in Northern Norway to intercept these convoys. For more than two years, __Tirpitz__ remained a latent threat to the Allies, and despite fuel shortages her occasional sorties posed a grave threat to Allied shipping. So, the sinking of the battleship became a major priority for the British. The fjords where she lurked were strongly-defended, rendering naval attack virtually impossible. So, unless she could be caught at sea, she had to be destroyed by other means. In the spring of 1942 the...