Operation Catechism
| Operation Catechism | |||||||
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| Part of Battle of the Atlantic | |||||||
.jpg) German battleship Tirpitz capsized after Operation Catechism |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 RAF Bomber Command
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.svg){kind=small} Kriegsmarine Luftwaffe
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Group Captain James Brian Tait | Kapitan zur See Robert Weber † Major Heinrich Ehrler |
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| Strength | |||||||
| 30 Avro Lancasters | Tirpitz (Bismarck-class battleship) | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 1 bomber damaged | 1 battleship sunk 971 dead or missing |
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Operation Catechism was the last of nine attempts to sink or sabotage the Kriegsmarine battleship Tirpitz during the Second World War. The ship was finally sunk in this attempt.
On 12 November 1944, RAF Bomber Command dispatched 30 Avro Lancaster heavy bombers from No. 9 Squadron RAF and No. 617 Squadron RAF (including a film unit aircraft from No. 463 Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force) from RAF Lossiemouth to Tirpitz's mooring in Tromsø, Norway. Each bomber carried a single 5.4-ton Tallboy bomb.
At least two bombs hit Tirpitz, which suffered a violent internal explosion. The battleship capsized and remained bottom upwards. Approximately 1,000 of the 1,900 men on board were killed or injured.
One No. 9 Squadron RAF Lancaster was severely damaged by flak; it landed safely in neutral Sweden with its crew unhurt.
The destruction of Tirpitz meant that the threat from German surface ship attack against the Allied Arctic convoys supplying the Soviet Union was considerably lessened, and several British capital ships could therefore be moved from the Atlantic to support the war in the Pacific.
Coordinates: 69°38′55″N 18°48′16″E / 69.64861°N 18.80444°E
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