'A damned interesting trip, but I wouldn't want to do it again'

摘要

With a top speed of 34kt, 15in guns capable of 22.4 miles' range, impressive 5.9in secondary armament and formidable anti-aircraft defences, Tirpitz would have a notable impact on Allied maritime strategy. A powerful array of battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers and destroyers retained in home waters to deal with a break-out could have been deployed to other hard-pressed theatres. When the USA entered the war, it too committed naval units to the protection of American merchant ships threatened by her.