Tirpitz Hunting the Beast Author:John Sweetman For much of World War II, the powerful German battleship Tirpitz dominated Allied naval strategy in the European theater. While the United States and Britain were worried about Tirpitz breaking out into the Atlantic, the Soviet Union was concerned about her ability to disrupt Arctic supply convoys. As a consequence, Allied forces f... more »lew thirty-three separate missions with the goal of destroying the battleship between May 1940 and November 1944. When they managed only temporary damage, Churchill pressed incessantly for destruction of the "beast." Finally, on 12 November 1944 the Tirpitz was fatally hit by a Barnes Wallis's bomb, code-named Tallboy. She sank in eleven minutes--her port side ripped open and armored decks shattered. Based on extensive research of British and German records, plus interviews and correspondence with a wide range of participants, this book presents one of the most comprehensive accounts yet to be published of the air attacks on the Tirpitz. The author's detailed narrative is supported by a fine collection of archive photographs, drawings, and explanatory maps.« less