The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-11-14
GERMAN NAVY'S
BACKBONE. SNAPS
CONTINUED from Page One)


if the Tirpitz had remained ahoat.
The German navy, already a skele-
ton, now has its backbcre snapped.
The successful mission OF the big
bombers, carrying the new stream
lined, armor-piercing $4,000 pound
earthquake bombs, was led by wing
commander J. B. TAFT and squad
ran leader A. C. Williams. Taking
off from Britain on the historic
flight the planes landed away from
base" presumably in Russia.
Roaring in before the Germans
could throw up their usual protec-
tive smoke screen, the Lancasters
caught the battlewagon in an ex-
plosive wise and the three direct
hits were registered in quick sue
| cession.
Her guns had been firing like
blazes when we first arrived said
an Australian pilot, Flight 1t. 3
A. Buckham of Sydney. THE guns
stopped after the first bomb. Not
shot came up after that. Smoke
began to pour up. 1t spiralled first
in a column. Then it spread out
over the ship in the shape OF
mushroom.
Afterwards there were several
explosions. One of them was very
big and one of my crew shouted
out over the inter-con2. She's on
fire, skipper. She's on tire
1.-The fire did not seem to last
very long, not more than two or
three minutes-I should say. 1t was
difficult to see exactly what was
happening"
1.-THE ship was already on its side
when we came off ou1 run" his
tail gunner said.
After capsizing, the Tirpitz set
tied on the bottom Of the shallow
ford. Only the keel and some parts
of the bottom can be seen above
water.
To the British air ministry Went
the honor of announcing the inglori-
Gus end of the Tirpitz, named after
the famed grand Admiral Alfred
Won Tirpitz whose unrestricted sub
marine warfare advocacy carried
the United States into the First
World War. .......'
The Tirpitz, one of the most pow
erful warships in the world, had
been bounded and attacked persis-
tently, but the British Navy was
never able to bring her to battle,
She bristled with eight 15-inch' guns
in two turrets, also hae II six-inch
and 16 four-inch guns, carried four
planes.
The Germans only other ship OF
this class, the Bismorck, was sunk
by the Royal Navy on May q, 1941,
following a 1,700-mile chase after
the Bismarck had sunk the British
battlecruiser Hood between Green
land and Iceland.
Two other ships of the Tirpitz
class were under construction when
the war started, but they never
were completed. The Germans orig
inaI1 believed the Bismarck and
Tirpitz were "unsinkable.
The Tirpitz was christened April
/, 1899, when Adolf Hitler, standing
behind bullet-proof glass, delivered
another of his derisive political
speeches in the months just before
ordering his troops into Poland. The
ship was not completed, however,
until 1941. It's keel had been laid
in 1886.
Admiral Adolf Won Trota, in his
christening speech at the time,
termed the 791-by-l18 foot ship. "a
messenger of peace.
Much of the Tirpitz' lif e was
spent in repair docks and in hid
ing. She was not ready FOR action
until just after the Bismarck was
sunk, and made only two operation
al sorties of consequence.
She led the Smelling Of Tal!lnn,
Estonia, in the Gull of Finland in
August, 1871, and on Sept. 9, 19Ac
in company with the now dead
Scharnhorst and a screening force
of destroyers she raided SpitZber-
gen.
In July, 1912, the Tirpitz was at
sea in the vicinity of Russian
convoy, but ON learning of the pres
ence of strong force Of escorting
| warships she returned to her lair
at Narvik, Norway.
The Tirpitz and Bismarck were
vessels that Hitler had planned to
use as defenses against invasion.
while his pocket battleships would
scourge the seven seas as raiders
Now he has left only two pocket
| battleships, the Scheer>> and h e
Lutzow, two eight inch cruisers,
the Hyper and the Prince EuEen,
and four six-inch cruisers.
His last two $4,000 ton battle
ships, the Gneisenau and the
Scharnhorst. have been written off
within the past year. The Geneise-
nau was sighted by Raj planes
on Feb. Is, 1914, in the Polish port
of Gdynia, her bows and gun tur-
rets dismantled.
The Scharnhorst was sunk Dec.
26, 1913, by the British battleship
Duke of York, the cruiser Jamai-
ca. and other cruisers and destroy
ers.
The chronology of attacks on the
Tirpitz:
Nov. 1871, by Russian airforce
in Danzig harbor.
Feb. l, 1912, by the fleet air
arm near Narvik.