Operation Obviate
Operation Obviate was an unsuccessful British air raid of World War II. It was conducted by Royal Air Force heavy bombers on 29 October 1944. It sought to destroy the damaged battleship after she moved to a new anchorage near Tromsø in northern Norway. The plans for the attack were reused for the next raid on the battleship, Operation Catechism, which took place on 12 November 1944. Weather conditions were favourable for the attackers, and TirPitz was sunk with heavy loss of life.
About Operation Obviate in brief
Operation Obviate was an unsuccessful British air raid of World War II. It was conducted by Royal Air Force heavy bombers on 29 October 1944. It sought to destroy the damaged battleship after she moved to a new anchorage near Tromsø in northern Norway. The attack followed up the successful Operation Paravane on 15 September 1944, when Tirpitz was crippled by British heavy bombers. The plans for the attack were reused for the next raid on the battleship, Operation Catechism, which took place on 12 November 1944. Weather conditions were favourable for the attackers, and TirPitz was sunk with heavy loss of life. The Allies remained committed to sinking Tirpitzer after the failure of Operation Obviates. The German battleship posed a significant threat to the Allied convoys transporting supplies through the Norwegian Sea to the Soviet Union. To counter these threats, the Allies needed to keep a powerful force of warships with the British Home Fleet, and capital ships accompanied most convoys part of the way to theSoviet Union. A series of subsequent aircraft carrier attacks, including Operation Mascot on 17 July and Operation Goodwood between 22 and 29 August, were unsuccessful. As it was believed that further aircraft carrier raids would be fruitless due to shortcomings with the Royal Navy’s aircraft and their armament, responsibility for sinking Tir pitz was transferred to the RAF’s Bomber Command. A meeting involving Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, the commander of the German Navy, was held in Berlin on 23 September to discuss Tir Pitz.
The commander of German Navy’s task force in Norway, Konteradolf Peters, expressed hope that retaining the ship in commission would “continue to tie down enemy forces and confound the enemies… confound their intentions”. The Germans decided to use the ship as a floating artillery battery to defend against landings and bolster a defensive line which was being prepared in the Lyngenfjord area of Norway. A British bomber made a crash landing in Sweden after being hit by German anti-aircraft fire, and several others were damaged. The battleship was struck by a single Tallboy bomb, which caused extensive damage to her bow and rendered her unfit for combat. On 3 April 1944, aircraft flying from Royal Navy aircraft carriers attacked Tirptz during Operation Tungsten and inflicted further damage. This attack had been timed for when it was thought repairs to rectify the damage caused by Operation Source were nearing completion, and that all the work had to be done at Kaafjord. As Soviet forces were rapidly advancing towards northern Norway at that time, it was judged that it was not feasible to return the ship to ocean-going service or retain her at KaAFjord, he judged that he wanted to retain the ship at the base of Lyngfjord to defend the area. The battle ship was sunk in November 1944 with heavy losses of life, but the Allies still hoped to sink her in a future raid.
You want to know more about Operation Obviate?
This page is based on the article Operation Obviate published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 30, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
