Warships DEX (German/N*zi ships)

KMS Tirpitz

Name: KMS Tirpitz

Namesake: Alfred von Tirpitz

Look:

Laid down: 2 November 1936

Launched: 1 April 1939

Commissioned: 25 February 1941

Description: Tirpitz was the second of two Bismarck-class built for N*zis Germany's Kriegsmarine (navy) prior to and during the Second World War. Named after Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the architect of the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), the ship was laid down at the Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven in November 1936 and her was launched two and a half years later. Work was completed in February 1941, when she was commissioned into the German fleet. Like her sister ship, Bismarck, Tirpitz was armed with a main battery of eight 38-centimetre (15 in) in four twin turrets. After a series of wartime modifications she was 2000 tonnes heavier than Bismarck, making her the heaviest battleship ever built by a European navy.

Design: Tirpitz displaced 42,900 t (42,200 long tons) as built and 52,600 t (51,800 long tons) fully loaded, with a length of 251 m (823 ft 6 in), a beam of 36 m (118 ft 1 in) and a maximum draft of 10.60 m (34 ft 9 in). Her standard crew numbered 103 officers and 1,962 enlisted men; during the war this was increased to 108 officers and 2,500 men. She was powered by three Brown, Boveri & Cie geared steam turbines, each driving a screw propeller, with steam provided by twelve oil-fired Wagner superheated water-tube boilers. Her propulsion system developed a total of 163,023 PS (160,793 shp; 119,903kW) and yielded a maximum speed of 30.8 knots (57.0 km/h; 35.4 mph) on speed trials.

Armaments:

As built:

8 × 38 cm (15 in) SK C/34 (4 × 2)

12 × 15 cm (5.9 in) SK C/28 (6 × 2)

16 × 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK C/33 (8 × 2)

16 × 3.7 cm (1.5 in) SK C/30 (8 × 2)

12 × 2 cm (0.79 in) FlaK 30 (12 × 1)

Modifications:

58 × 2 cm FlaK 30

8 × 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedo tubes