Was The Tirpitz Ever Salvaged
Karina Vor-daniken
I have read that the final attack took place on November 12th. [30
Lancasters from 9 and 617 Squadron]
Tirpitz was hit on the foredeck by at least two Tallboys. It then
suffered a tremendous explosion as the ammunition stores magazine went
up. She later capsized and approximately 1000 of her crew were killed.
I was wondering if the capsized ship was ever salvaged.
--
Karina Vor-daniken
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Andrew Toppan
>I was wondering if the capsized ship was ever salvaged.
No. She was partially scrapped in place.
--
Andrew Toppan --- acto...@gwi.net --- "I speak only for myself"
"Haze Gray & Underway" - Naval History, DANFS, World Navies Today,
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GlennShiv
> I was interested to know what became
> of the German battleship Tirpitz.
> Tirpitz was hit on the foredeck by at
> least two Tallboys. It then
> suffered a tremendous explosion as the
> ammunition stores magazine went
> up. She later capsized and
> approximately 1000 of her crew
> were killed.
> I was wondering if the capsized ship
> was ever salvaged.
Yes. The Norwegians broker her up between 1948 to 1957. I understand there
are still some parts of Tirpitz off Haakoy Island, where she took at least
three direct hits from 12,000 lb Tallboy bombs.
Examination showed the Tirpitz was torn between frames 98 and 132. The
precise cause for the explosion in turret 'C' was not conclusively determined,
as it occured just after a near miss of turret 'D' in the water. More
information on the Tirpitz can be in *German Capital Ships of WW2* by M.J.
Whitley.
Glenn Shiveler
Rich Rostrom
> I was interested to know what became of the German battleship Tirpitz.
>I was wondering if the capsized ship was ever salvaged.
According to Breyer, _Battleships and Battlecruisers_, p. 300,
"1948-57, broken up by a Norwegian-German company at the site of
sinking."
ANDREW ROBERT BREEN
Karina Vor-daniken <alvsbo...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> I was interested to know what became of the German battleship Tirpitz.
>Lancasters from 9 and 617 Squadron]
>suffered a tremendous explosion as the ammunition stores magazine went
>up. She later capsized and approximately 1000 of her crew were killed.
_Tirpitz_ was sunk off the tail of Kvaloy island, near Tromso. She rolled
over in shallow water and settled on the bottom upside down. Some of the crew
were saved by cutting through the bottom plates.
She was broken up in situ in the 1950s - the jetty on Kvaloy that they used
for the operation is still there. Many of her electric generators were used
locally for a long time - the villages that used them had to have all-DC
equipment of course.
There is a conspicuous dark patch on the seabed visible in _Tirpitz'
position - quite clearly visible in sunny weather when flying out
of Langsnes airport, but it's probably the debris left from the scrapping
plus, perhaps, some of the upperworks that weren't worth the bother of
bringing up. I'm told (by people who have dived on the site) that there's
nothing recongnisable as a ship left.
There's a good (albeit small) war museum outside Tromso which has a good
exhibition on _Tirpitz_ - write to Tromso Museum (Tromso, Norway) and
they'll put you in touch.
--
Andy Breen ~ PPARC Advanced Research Fellow, Interplanetary Scintillation
Solar Physics Group, UW Aberystwyth
"When I was young I used to scintillate
now I only sin 'til ten past three" (Ogden Nash)
Mark Gregory
immediately after the sinking by the Germans, in an attempt to rescue
trapped crewmen. After the war, more extensive salvaging was carried out by
the Norwegians, for the scrap metal value of the hull. Apparently, very
little remains of the ship, and all that there is is below the surface;
mainly the upperworks and some debris in the mud on the bottom. This was
discussed recently in sci.military.naval; search s.m.n in dejanews with the
keyword "Tirpitz" and you should find more detailed information.
Regards,
Mark Gregory
"Karina Vor-daniken" <alvsbo...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:8n95mp$6frg$1...@nntp6.u.washington.edu...
Roland Rahn
> I was interested to know what became of the German battleship Tirpitz.
According to Breyer, Siegfried: "Schlachtschiffe und
Schlachtkreuzer 1905-1970", p 320 the Tirpitz was
broken up from 1948-1957.
Kind regards,
Roland
Andrew Clark
Karina Vor-daniken <alvsbo...@hotmail.com> wrote
> I was wondering if the capsized ship was ever salvaged.
The wreck was bought by a Norwegian company and entirely dismantled. The
electrical cables alone fetched US$10000
davidh
> I was wondering if the capsized ship was ever salvaged.
If you visit Oslo (and probably also other Norwegian towns) and you see
some roadworks with trenches and holes being dug - and if you see large
flat steel plates, normally a sort of brown colour, covering these so the
traffic can drive across - well, they are probably steel plates from the
Tirpitz. Still in use today. A few years ago a mil.hist acquaintance in the
UK asked me whether I could obtain a piece of the Tirpitz as a souvenir for
him (he probably thought of a little piece of metal), I told him that if he
could get me a lorry and a crane I would be able to oblige.
Regards
David in Oslo.
Scott Peterson
>
>Yes. The Norwegians broker her up between 1948 to 1957. I understand there
>are still some parts of Tirpitz off Haakoy Island, where she took at least
>three direct hits from 12,000 lb Tallboy bombs.
>
There is a web site that has small pieces of the ship available for
sale. I don't have a reference to it unfortunately.
Scott Peterson
If you find yourself in a hole,
the first thing to do is stop diggin'.
Andrew Clark
davidh <jee...@online.no> wrote
A few years ago a mil.hist acquaintance in the
> UK asked me whether I could obtain a piece of the Tirpitz as a souvenir
for
> him (he probably thought of a little piece of metal),
In 1945, the RN acquired a ten-ton section of deck plating with the Tirpitz
crest painted on it, which was removed via a cruiser to Scapa. Wonder where
that went?
Andrew Clark
Dave Gower
"Andrew Toppan" <acto...@gwi.net> wrote
> ...She was partially scrapped in place.
I read all of this thread with a growing sense of unease. 1000 men died on
that ship (which in itself is the fortunes of war, she was a very
legitimate
target). But doesn't that make it a war grave? What happened to the human
remains as the ship was dismantled? Were they simply allowed to settle to
the bottom into the mud like so many dead fish? One of the U.S. battleships
destroyed at Pearl Harbor is sanctified as a war grave, but I guess that's
a
privilege of victory.
John Halliwell
<dav...@magma.ca> writes
>I read all of this thread with a growing sense of unease. 1000 men died on
>that ship (which in itself is the fortunes of war, she was a very legitimate
>target). But doesn't that make it a war grave? What happened to the human
>remains as the ship was dismantled? Were they simply allowed to settle to
>the bottom into the mud like so many dead fish? One of the U.S. battleships
>destroyed at Pearl Harbor is sanctified as a war grave, but I guess that's
>a privilege of victory.
I think part of the problem was that the site of the sinking had to be
cleaned up. A large portion of the ship was still above water. Pearl
Harbour was a US naval base, the Fjord Tirpitz sank in was Norwegian
(who where invaded by the Germans in the first place). If you ask me,
they were entitled to do what they wanted with it, but I guess they
weren't happy with leaving 1000 corpses lying in a pile on their coast.
--
John
Preston, Lancs, UK.
Andrew Clark
Dave Gower <dav...@magma.ca> wrote
What happened to the human
> remains as the ship was dismantled?
According to one source, the bodies were interred in a German war cemetary
with dignity. Some bodies were later exhumed to Germany, but AFAIK the
cemetery is still there.
HOST Comp Tanker
>destroyed at Pearl Harbor is sanctified as a war grave, but I guess that's
>a
>privilege of victory.
While one of the sunken US battleships full of war dead (the Arizona) was left
in place , the USS Oklahoma (also "sunk" in the classic sense of the word) was
not. (Of course, the USS Utah, although she had been demoted to target and
gunnery training ship under the Washington Treaty provisions by Dec 7, 1941,
should also be added to the "left in place" group.)
After the attack, the Oklahoma was rolled back over, dewatered and then moved
to clear the berthing space along Ford Island. Badly damaged by a massive
number of torpedoes taken all along one side, she was not considered for
reconstruction as she was old and small (Nevada class, the first of the "all or
nothing" designs of US dreadnoughts).
Sold for scrap, the Oklahoma sank while under tow to the west coast of the US
and her date with the breaker's yard.
Prior to removal from Pearl Harbor, someone took an aerial photograph of the
salvaged Oklahoma tied up alongside of one of the Iowa class. The Oklahoma
looks like a canoe next to an ocean liner in that shot.
I've read that the Arizona was not brought up because of the complicated
salvage problem that the largely destroyed forward portion of the ship (forward
of B turret) would have presented. The "ground" beneath the ship was of poor
quality, and would not have sealed up a cofferdam very well. (The cofferdam
method was the method used to recover the USS Maine in Havana harbor as well.
The Maine also had one end of the ship largely destroyed, and it was only after
years of work that the remains were dewatered, sealed up, and towed out to sea
and sunk in deep water.)
As it was, much of the Arizona's ships equipment and guns were removed
(including both X and Y turrets and their operating machinery, the guns from B
turret, and all of the light armament).
After the war, the wreck languished for ten or more years before serious steps
were taken to create the USS Arizona Memorial. (The Utah, with entombed sailors
still within her hull, has no such status.)
The two main gun turrets salvaged from the Arizona were erected as part of the
coastal fortifications on Oahu (Batteries Arizona and Pennsylvania), but only
Arizona was test fired (in honor of VJ Day), and both were scrapped post war.
Terry L. Stibal
HOSTCom...@aol.com
Yau-ming Chiam
Those boys in the Arizona don't feel any more victorious no matter what
outcome of the war turned out to be.
BTW, in 500 years time, archelogists will dig those things up and analysis
them piece by piece anyway.