Tirpitz, a 44,755-ton Bismarck class battleship, was built at Wilhelmshaven, Germany. Commissioned in February 1941, she operated in the Baltic during her first several months of service, conducting trials and training, as well as combat missions in connection with the invasion of the Soviet Union.

In January 1942, Tirpitz steamed to Norwegian waters, where she remained for the remainder of her career. Initially based at Trondheim, and later in fjords further north, she was a constant threat to supply lines between the Western Allies and the Soviets. Though Tirpitz never actually came into contact with Allied shipping, and only fired her guns at enemy targets during a September 1943 raid on shore facilities at Spitzbergen, her great power caused the U.S. and British navies to divert scarce resources to counter her and generated intense efforts to put her out of action.

In late September 1943, a British midget submarine raid planted explosives near Tirpitz, causing serious shock damage when they exploded. In February 1944, while she was under repair, the German battleship was the target of a raid by Soviet bombers that produced one near-miss. In early April, as her repairs were completing, Tirpitz was attacked by British carrier-based planes, receiving several hits and serious damage and casualties. Further repairs lasted until June, and she was again attacked by British planes in July and August, though the resulting damage was not serious. In mid-September, she was hit in the bow by very heavy bombs dropped by Royal Air Force heavy bombers. Moved to Troms? in October, she was the target of further raids. Finally, on 12 November, Tirpitz was hit and near-missed by several very heavy bombs, causing massive damage. She listed heavily, suffered an ammunition explosion and rolled over. Her wreck was largely scrapped in place after the war.