the terrible story of how the royal navy attempt to sink the German battleship Tirpitz at its anchorage in kaafjord, Norway.

On 24 August 1944, Royal Navy Home Fleet aircraft carriers launch Operation Goodwood III, another attempt to sink the German battleship Tirpitz at its anchorage in Kaafjord, Norway.

Even though the RN Home Fleet's carrier strikes during Operation Tungsten, which we covered in our 3 April post, killed almost a third of Tirpitz's crew, the ship remained a threat in the eyes of the British Admiralty.

The departure of Operation Tungsten's experienced aircrew, poor weather, improved German air defenses, and additional smokescreen generators covering Tirpitz led to a series of operations being canceled or aborted between late April and mid-July.

Operations were paused as Home Fleet ships were assigned to protect the Arctic convoys. But the intelligence that Tirpitz was out for sea trials with her destroyer escorts in Altafjord on 31 July and 1 August caused the Admiralty to order renewed strikes.

After escorting Arctic Convoy JW 59, Admiral Moore's force consisting of the battleship HMS Duke of York, fleet carriers HMS Indefatigable, Furious, and Formidable, escort carriers HMS Nabob and Trumpeter, cruiser HMS Kent, and their escorts, prepared to launch Operation Goodwood on 21 August.

The two strikes launched following a weather delay in the morning and evening of 22 August; Operations Goodwood I and II failed to score significant hits.

Early afternoon today, 33 Barracudas, 24 F4Us, 10 F6Fs, 10 Fireflies, and 8 Seafires take off from HMS Indefatigable (the only carrier remaining in the area after Goodwood I).

Despite taking an alternate flight path, when they reach Kaafjord at 1600 hours, German radar stations have detected them, and they find Tirpitz partially covered in a smokescreen.

The aircraft conduct blind bombing attacks and only score two hits. One, a 730 kg (1,600 lbs) armor-piercing bomb from a Barracuda, penetrates five decks but fails to explode due to a faulty fuse, sparing Tirpitz from catastrophic damage.

After waiting for the weather to clear, Indefatigable's aircraft will conduct Operation Goodwood IV on 29 August, with similarly disappointing results.

don't forget to leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Comments

Meet The Man Who Broke World Record By Sleeping With 57 Women In 24 Hrs But Later Rushed To Hospital

Meet The Man Who Broke World Record By Sleeping With 57 Women In 24 Hrs But Later Rushed To Hospital Meet a man who managed to make it to the Guinness book of records after breaking a long standing world record of sleeping with 57 women in a span of 24 hours. The 34 year old man hailed from Singapore and broke the record in Prague, the capital of Czech Republic, in an annual event run by a local brothel. According to reports, the unnamed man disclosed that he had been training hard for months to break the previous record which stood at 55 and he was delighted that he broke it. Quoting him, he said, “I've always been a bit of a sex addict, and when I learned that the brothel was having a world record attempt I knew I had to come and give it a go. I take it really seriously and train for it just like an athlete would prepare for a marathon. In some ways, it's actually much harder than a lot of professional sports.`` The Singapore man was very focused on his goal in that by mid...

Honoring Leo Henry Schweiter: Veteran of World War II, The Korean War and The Vietnam War

Honoring Leo Henry Schweiter: Veteran of World War II, The Korean War and The Vietnam War Leo Henry Schweiter was born in Wichita Kansas on April 16, 1917. Leo enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1941. He then transferred to the 101st Airborne Division. While serving as Captain and Assistant Chief of Staff G-2 Intelligence Officer Schweiter took part in the Normandy airborne landings on June 6, 1944. During this time he was knocked unconscious by a grenade blast. Captain Schweiter was subsequently captured by the Germans but released a day later upon their retreat. A veteran of Operation Market Garden, the Siege of Bastogne and the counter attack at Haguenau, Schweiter remained in service with the US Army after World War II. Leo Henry Schweiter would go on to serve with the 7th Infantry Division during the Korean War. In 1959 he was named Chief of Staff of the 8th Infantry Division and later became Assistant Chief of Staff, G2, Headquarters, in the XVIII Airborne Corps. During...

The Holocaust: 18. War Crimes

**The Holocaust: 18. War Crimes** G.M. Gilbert was one of the prison psychologists during the Nuremberg war crimes trial. On April 9, 1946 he had a brief conversation with Colonel Rudolph Hoess, who had been the commandant of Auschwitz. The following is an excerpt of his book *Nurember Diary*: We discussed briefly his activity as the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp from May, 1940, to December, 1943, which camp was the central extermination camp for Jews. He readily confirmed that approximately 2 1/2 million Jews had been exterminated under his direction. The exterminations began in the summer of 1941. In compliance with [Hermann] Goering's skepticism, I asked Hoess how it was technically possible to exterminate 2 1/2 million people. "Technicall?" he asked. "That wasn't so hard -- it would not have been hard to exterminate even greater numbers." In answer to my rather naive questions as to how many people could be done away with in an hour, et...

WORLD OF ALL

Search This Blog