Operation Paravane - Aftermath

Aftermath

The Tirpitz was left with a flooded bow from one Tallboy which struck the ship 50 feet back from her prow, pierced her bow compartments without detonating and exited under the waterline on the starboard side before exploding. This underwater detonation close to her hull—as well as those from multiple other 12,000-lb Tallboys detonating nearby—also caused severe concussion damage to her machinery and engines.

Though she remained floating, the damage to her bow and power train left Tirpitz immobile and in need of a slow and laborious backwards tow to a suitably large dry dock for repair. Since the destruction of the Normandie Dock during the St. Nazaire Raid—conducted by the British precisely with this eventuality in mind—there was no longer any Atlantic dry dock in German hands large enough to accommodate her, and an attempt to reach Kiel or Wilhelmshaven by crossing the North Sea at towing speed in the face of the combined forces of the North Sea Fleet and RAF would have been suicidal.

A German report recovered by the Allies after the war stated the Kriegsmarine's conclusion: "It was eventually decided at a conference on 23 September 1944 at which the C-in-C and Naval Staff were present, that it was no longer possible to make Tirpitz ready for sea and action again…" The Germans made plans to tow her south to Tromsø for use as a floating battery in the expected defence of Norway. She was installed on a purpose-built sandbar off Håkøya Island where her keel was further supported with backfill in an effort to keep her guns above water if she was sunk. This could not, however, protect her from capsizing from damage done to one side of the ship, and moving Tirpitz south had (unknown to the Germans) brought her within range of Scotland-based bombers.

The British were unaware they had successfully crippled Tirpitz and continued their attacks, which could now be launched from Lossiemouth, Scotland. Tirpitz suffered no major damage during Operation Obviate due to last-minute cloud cover, but was eventually penetrated and destroyed by multiple Tallboys during a joint attack by 617 and IX Squadrons (Operation Catechism) on 12 November 1944, undergoing a magazine explosion and capsizing over her port side with the loss of most of her crew.