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As soon as the Tirpitz drops anchor, 3 anti-torpedo nets, made of 9 inch steel grommets, are drawn around the warship. These nets are capable of stopping the largest torpedoes, traveling at 50 knots (56 mph.) All around the Tirpitz, snow covered hills of the fjord shoot up to great ragged heights. This made a natural defense that we (the allies) could not penetrate. Then finally, the Germans added one last defense to supplement all the others. In the surrounding cliffs and mountains, they placed enough smoke-screening equipment to cover the entire fjord. These black-fog machines are manned all day long and on all moonlit nights. Admiral Oskur Kummetz is commander of all German units in the north. He lives in a cabin onboard the Tirpitz. He shares a dining room with the ship's skipper, Captain Hans Meyer. The Admiral proudly boasts, "It is absolutely impossible for anyone or anything to attack our Tirpitz. And if they could, the battleship is "unsinkable." It has a special steel hull and has from 5 inches to 10 inches of armor plate." So the Admiral Kummetz spends most of his time wearing riding breeches and boots. He delights in riding his stallion along the shores of the fjord. Now, this fjord is 400 miles north of the Arctic Circle and 450 miles North of Iceland. It is way up on the northern tip of Norway. While the southern tip is only 200 miles from England. The whole west side of Norway faces the Atlantic Ocean, over 1,000 miles, and these fjords run the entire length of the coast line. Then why did we pick this forlorn spot way up on the top of the world? Because it is only 50 miles from the allied convoy shipping lane to Russia.
Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of England, declared disdainfully, the greatest single act to restore balance of Naval power would be the sinking or even the crippling of the Admiral Von Tirpitz. No other target is comparable to it. The entire Naval situation throughout the world would be altered. The whole strategy of the war at this period turns to this ship, which is holding four times the number of British capital ships paralyzed, to say nothing of the two new American battleships retained in the Atlantic. "I regard the matter as of the highest urgency and importance!" says Churchill. Before the Tirpitz moved up into the North Norwegian fjord, British bombers attacked it in five raids. But, they were not able to even damage the giant warship. Finally, in desperation, the plans for the x-craft, a British midget submarine, is hatched. Some 1,200 miles from the Tirpitz, in Loch Cairnbawn, Scotland, training begins for the mission. (Code name Operation Source.) Six midget subs are readied, plus six full size submarines, for the tiny subs will have to be towed on their eight day journey. A standard submarine is 370 feet long and 27 feet wide. It is armed with a 5 inch gun and a 40mm anti-aircraft gun. It also carries 24 torpedoes, loaded with 1,000 pounds of TNT. The x-craft submarine is certainly a mini-sub, it is 51 feet long and almost 6 feet wide. It is divided into four rooms. First, is a wet and dry room, with a hatch for a diver to go outside and then return. Next is the battery room, amidships is the control room. Then last is the diesel engine room. The x-craft had no conning tower, only a hatch at each end. It had only one small periscope, this made the top almost flat. So, when it surfaced, it was very hard to detect. The mini-sub had a crew of just four men, but no guns or torpedoes. On both sides, one depth charge was fastened, each weighing 4,400 pounds. They were contoured to look like part of the sub. The depth charges could be set to explode and be released from the inside of the sub. Therefore, an x-craft was indeed a mighty mini-submarine. The submariners training with it quipped, they are indeed a very little fish with a very big bang.
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