Tirpitz was the sister battleship to the Bismarck like the Bismarck she was sunk during World War II .
Tirpitz was the second of two Bismarck-class battleships built for the German Kriegsmarine (War Navy) during World War II. Named after Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz. Tirpitz was laid down at the Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven in November 1936. She was launched two and a half years later. When work was completed in February 1941, Tirpitz was commissioned into the German fleet. Like her sister ship Bismarck, Tirpitz was armed with a main battery of eight 38-centimeter guns in four twin turrets. After a series of wartime modifications she was 2,000 metric tons heavier than Bismarck.
Tirpitz completed sea trials in early 1941, Tirpitz briefly served as the centerpiece of the Baltic Fleet. It was intended to prevent a possible break-out attempt by the Soviet Baltic Fleet. In early 1942, the ship sailed to Norway to act as a deterrent against an Allied invasion. While stationed in Norway, Tirpitz was also intended to be used to intercept Allied convoys to the Soviet Union. Two such missions were attempted in 1942. Tirpitz acted as a fleet in being, forcing the British Royal Navy to retain significant naval forces in the area to contain the battleship.
In September 1943, Tirpitz, along with the battleship Scharnhorst, bombarded Allied positions on the island of Spitzbergen, the only time the ship used her main battery in anger. Shortly thereafter, the ship was damaged in an attack by British mini-submarines and subsequently subjected to a series of large-scale air raids.
On 12 November 1944, British Lancaster bombers equipped with 12,000 pounds "Tallboy" bombs destroyed the ship; two direct hits and a near miss caused the ship to capsize rapidly. A deck fire spread to the ammunition magazine for one of the main battery turrets, which caused a large explosion. Figures for the number of men killed in the attack range from 950 to 1,204. The wreck was broken up by a joint Norwegian and German salvage operation after the war from 1948 to 1957.