The Tirpitz leaking fuel oil after one of
the many air attacks against her.
The German battleship Tirpitz was the less-famous
sister ship to the Bismarck. Tirpitz spend
much of the war playing a dangerous game
of 'cat and mouse' in Norwegian fjords, in
a position where she could be used to threaten
Allied convoys going to Russia. She was known
as the "Lonely Queen of the North".
The exploits of commandoes and pilots attempting to sink this threat are well documented elsewhere, but suffice to say that Tirpitz's luck ran out on November 12, 1944. While anchored in Tromso,Norway's Sande Sound she was struck by British 13,200-pound "Tallboy" bombs, which set of a magazine explosion. The ship capsized rapidly close to shore, drowning 902 officers and men. 87 were saved by cutting through the overturned hull.
The overturned hull of the Tirpitz laying
close to shore.
Some valuable material was removed from the
wreck by the Germans, and after the war the
remains were declared to be the property
of the Norwegian government. The sold the
wreck to the Norwegian company Einar Høvding
Skippsuphugging for 100,000 Norwegian kroner,
and history records that the wreck was broken
up between 1948 and 1957.
The hull being broken up in the late 1940s.
However, the floor of Sande Sound, and the
surrounding beaches, are littered with pieces
of the vessel. More significantly, a large
chunk of the hull is still on the bottom.
The site is a fairly popular dive destination
with few locals, and a plaque has been placed
near the site. The water is very cold, but
shallow. Visibility is decent, but not great,
in the cloudy water. There is virtually no
current, so this dive is an excellent one
for all skill levels. But the remote location
has kept the existence of this wreck from
outsiders.
The dark area inside the box is the remaining
portion of the battleship.
