The Wreck of Battleship Tirpitz - Capsized and Salvaged in Cold Norway

Ah, Tirpitz. Perhaps the most useless of all battleships in her intended role. While probably the most famous example of a 'fleet' (or ship) in being, she did very little other than float in Norway. And generally make a menace of herself, in the British inability to put her down.

That said, when she was finally sunk, her wreck became an interesting topic. Capsized in shallow water, until salvage work began soon after the war. The pictures of that salvage, much like Mutsu, are quite fascinating to look over.

Good set of pictures:

[skyneahistory]

Since it apparently isn’t obvious to some people:

When I talk ineffectual raids, I’m talking the numerous aircraft carrier raids (and odd heavy bomber raid) that did no damage. Or light damage.

Only a couple attacks, X-Craft included, did actual lasting damage.

[andysmodelandstuff]

A lot of pipes from Tirpitz were reused as water suply pipes in Tromsø, a town close to where the ship was sunk. Most of those has been replaced by now, but there are still a few still in use.

Source: I am a civil engieneer who work in water mamagement in Norway

[josteinsivertsen]

Some of the plates were used to cover holes in the roads in Oslo when they were repearing pipes and conduits below ground.

[DK-gyll]

I would disagree that she was among the most useless of all battleships. Just the threat of her reaching the open sea tied up scores of Allied ships and aircraft that could've been used in other theaters instead. She spent her career as a massive chess piece and proved quite good at it, even if that wasn't her designed role.

[JohnnySmithWhite-wdey]

Tripitz's generators were put to work ashore. She helped electrify northern Norway.

[Amongru]

what i know about the crew after the sinking is that every crew member found inside the wreck, was handled with dignity
as any human would be. The bodies was placed into nicely made coffins and send home to Germany to there families as is the right thing to do . Remember they are just boys, following orders given by there leaders in a time of war. My grandfather was a scrapper on the Tirpitz he did operate the big welders they used to Cut the thick panzer plates into pieces. He said they were told not to talk or share what they did see and experienced on board. He brought home some kitchen equipment and a weapon locking case. most things has been given to the local Tirpitz museum. but i still have a few small items gifted to me by my grandfather that i will pass own to my own children one day. Thou my grandfather open up and told everything in his last years alive and told everything to a historian. and just a year after that he got a stroke in his head and he could not even remember his families beside my grandmother. But he remember everything from back then, he even ask for his coworkers from back then. it was like his mind was reset back to the end of ww2. He passed away about 2 years after this stroke. but we don't know who is left alive from this scrapping crew if any, but we like to believe he was among the last Rest in peace too all the crew members of Tirpitz that passed away onboard the ship. The ship will always be part of my families history

[xntrcshft]

Some debris were left behind near Håkøya. The sea plane deck can still be seen above water at low tide. The keel remains on the shallow sea bed and still attracts divers. Hikers still find grenade fragments on the hills and mountains in the background on these images. That's where many of the grenades fired from the battleship against attacking planes landed. Until the shipyard moved to the north tip of Tromsø island a few years ago, some armour plates from Tirpitz' hull were stored there. You could see why bombs couldn't penetrate the armour. It was truly massive. Thanks for compiling and sharing!

[runesimenstad]

One of Tirpitz small boats to cary the officers to and from shores survived. I saw it in a boatyard in Oslo in 1994. Owner of the boatyard told me it was from Tirpitz, People from germany had been there and wanted to buy and restore it but it was to far gone by then. It was used a few years after that but was in the end towed out and sunked. I compared it with photos of tirpitz and it was identical to one of the boats besides the funnel of tirpitz.

[Karadio_Mobile]

14:08 Starboard side of the bow up side down! Great video!🥰

[antonfarquar]

I read an article about 40 years ago that stated that the generators and turbines were repurposed in Norway as part of a stationary power plant.

[reddrockingeezer]

Thanks for such a great collection of pictures. I was 8 years old when "Sink the Bismark" was new in theaters and I still research much of WWII history. My father rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel in the Army during WWII; but he was in the Pacific theater. I have previously searched for pictures of the Tirpitz; but this was the largest collection of the deconstruction photos I have ever seen.

[austx]

I had no idea the Tirpitz was scrapped! I knew she sank but figured it was deep underwater. Great video.

[MrErling]

Just outside my home, vis-a-vis the Railway station here in Drammen, Norway, are there several Steel Armour plate from Tirpitz!😳
Each 5 cm. thick - 5 meters long and 2.5 meters wide, used by 'VY', Norway's state railways to cover excavation work at the railway station🚂
This excavation work has been going on for 2 years and they will not be finished until 2025-
- Not a sign of rust on the steel!!!
Cars with studded tires drive over in winter. The roads are salted! What does it say about the steel quality? The steel was produced for salt water!

[DragonShadowfire]

Thank you so much for doing such a fascinating video! I never realized the effort to scrap her wreck was a multinational one, and I’ve actually never seen any of the pictures of her scrapping process before, so all of those photos were totally new to me. I was honestly about to mention the knives made from her hull, but you beat me to it, and as a collector of historical artifacts, I completely agree with the sentiments on finding a ‘legit’ Tirpitz hill knife.

Thank you again so much for doing this video!! Made my morning to watch this, and I always enjoy your content!!

Last note: I don’t know if you already have made a vid about this, but I’m curious if there has been any efforts to locate the wreck of Sharnhorst. I think the royal navy had a rough note of where she sank, but I honestly am I unsure. You are much more capable of researching this topic than I am, and I would hope you end up finding out something as interesting as you did for Tirpitz.

Thank you again so much for an awesome video, sorry to make this comment so long, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your weekend!!

[trolleysparks]

The salvage story of this ship always manages to skip over the interesting questions; What about the ammunition? The large shells removed or still there? The Crew? Remains recovered and interned? Where were they buried? How many? Is the remaining metal valuable and worth another salvage effort? (Metal under water during Nuclear weapons testing has value?). Were all the big guns removed? Any environmental issues with ship’s bunker oil? Apparently these are sensitive topics and Information is hard to find. * Thanks for a super video.

[lyedavide]

Thanks for a very interesting video. I would have thought that the ship's armour plates would have been the first things to be recovered seeing as how much good steel was used to fabricate them.

[alanburton]

Have you got any stats on how many bodies were found inside during the scrapping?

[oleriis-vestergaard]

The biggest navy operation from the germans was the reparing of Tirpitz up in norway - after the x-crafts attack the hull of the ship had gone through a state of whipping which means that the hull had swayed violently making the auxelery engine and propelshaft out of alignment making it not fit to sail, the ship-yard workers succeded in straiting the shafts again making the Tirpitz able to sail again at a lesser topspeed thought but a partly succes .

[jmcc]

Those circular tubes are 38cm rear cartridges for main guns, you can see powder magazine shelving at top of picture. The circular ( large) section is secondary battery inner barbette.

[kevinyoung]

Was waiting for you to do Tirpitz.A beast of a ship .