Wreck of the Tirpitz

[Robert76]

Hi all,

I am looking for information on diving the wreck of the battleship Tirpitz, which was sunk in the Altenfjord in Norway. From what I can find on the subject the wreck was scrapped, but part of it is still on the bottom of the fjord and diveable.

During WWII my grandfather was a pilot with the Dutch Navy, flying Grumman Hellcat's from British aircraft carriers. He took part in operations Goodwood I, II and III in august 1944, attacking the Tirpitz three times. They did not manage to do great damage the Tirpitz, but destroyed radar stations and other facilities around the ship.

I have read his war diary and seen all the pictures he has taken during those days and even during the attacks, and I now like to travel to Norway in november 2008 to visit the wreck's location. For that trip I'd like to get as much information as possible on the location and the right local charters and filling stations. Or even team up with local (DIR) divers if they are familiar with the wreck.

If you have information that can help me or can direct me to people who know more on diving this wreck, please contact me. Thanks in advance!

Regards,

Robert
The Netherlands

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Some links on the Tirpitz:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_battleship_Tirpitz
http://www.kbismarck.com/tirpitz.html
http://www.sportextreme.com/phdidi14979/ (listed as divesite)

[Andreas Rosland]

http://www.diving-in-norway.com/forum/index.php You may get som good answers here.

For some strange reason you will not find so many DIR divers in North Norway :/ (some in Tromsø, but most DIR divers is on the westcoast and up to Trondheim and around Oslo) The wreck is as far as I know well-known to the divers in that area.

ps the sportextreme pic is totally wrong, you have to travel far more north to dive the Tirpitz.

Good luck with your hunt!

[Ronald Larsen]

The scrapped ship is resting a 15 minutes drive from Tromsø at a depth of 10-18 meters.

http://www.skovheim.org/located/troms/tirpitz/tirpitz.htm

I have been there several times.

There is a small DIR community in Tromsø and i am sure they will show you the place if you wants to dive there.

Please contact me off list for contactinformation to the local DIR divers in Tromsø

Ronald

[Robert76]

Thanks for your replies. I contacted Ronald offlist.

But if anyone else has additional information, don't hesitate to contact me.

Regards,

Robert

[thostr]

Hi Robert,
I'll be happy to help you with information, and if you choose to come here also to dive with you at the site of the Tirpitz scrapping, and provide you with tanks, lead and nitrox fills as well :-) . As Ronald has mentioned the ship was scrapped after WWII, removing most of the hull but leaving most of the innards of the ship to rest at the bottom outside Håkøya island. It's not what I would call a normal wreck dive and certainly not a spectacular one, but if you are interested in the history behind the wreck (as I understand that you are) it's a worthwhile 'been there done that' kind of dive, and you get to touch actual parts of the once all mighty battleship.

Visibility varies throughout the year at this particular divesite, but is almost always good (and sometimes great) in the late autumn (september - november) and early spring months (january - march). Water temperatures in the early spring months can be literally freezing (-1 degrees C not being uncommon), so unless you have a particular fetish for cold water I would advise you to come in the late autumn :-).

Feel free to ask questions, and also see the following web sites for information on the Tirpitz before and after the scrapping:

http://www.bismarck-class.dk/tirpitz/tirpitz_menu.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_battleship_Tirpitz

On a related note: Tromsø is not hopelessly far away from Narvik (250 km, 3 1/2 hours by car), which is a well known wreck dive site where Hitler lost a huge percentage of his marine fleet, and there are even some great dives to do between Tromsø and Narvik during the trip. If you have time I would therefore advise you to plan a North Norwegian wreck dive tour and visit Narvik as well while you're around.

--
Thomas in Tromsø

[thostr]

For som strange reason you will not find so many DIR divers in North Norway :/ (some in Tromsø, but most DIR divers is on the westcoast and up to Trondheim and around Oslo)

Off Topic: The GUE to PADI diver ratio is probably not too bad in Tromsø compared to the other larger cities in Norway, but I guess there is a certain critical mass effect at work here, and we are somewhat struggling to be a sustainable group :-[]

--
t

Fucking North Pole DIR Diver