#28: Tirpitz: Hitler's Lonely Queen That Tied Down the Royal Navy
Tirpitz never fought a single major naval battle, yet she was arguably the most strategically effective warship in the Kriegsmarine. Her mere existence in the Norwegian fjords forced the Royal Navy to permanently station a fleet of battleships, carriers, and cruisers in northern waters, ships desperately needed elsewhere, just to counter the threat that she might sortie against the Arctic convoys.
The sister ship to Bismarck, Tirpitz displaced 52,600 tons fully loaded and carried eight 15-inch guns. The British threw everything at her: midget submarine attacks (Operation Source in 1943 crippled her), conventional bombing raids, and finally, on November 12, 1944, 32 Lancaster bombers carrying 12,000-pound "Tallboy" earthquake bombs finally rolled her over at her anchorage near Tromsø. Approximately 1,000 of her crew perished. The campaign to neutralize Tirpitz consumed more military resources than almost any other single-target operation in the European theater, a masterclass in how naval strategy extends far beyond firing guns.
