Travelling there, we passed some of the most stunning landscapes, too numerous to photograph. They were awe inspiring to say the least and I held the phone, flat against the window taking a short video of some of what we saw on the way.
As we passed over a suspension bridge, I stopped the film and took these shots from the coach. As one person said, these could easily be living room wall material and I could see where so many of those stunning fjord shots came from - this part of Norway is indeed stunning.
Just the other side of the bridge we pulled over and looked up the fjord. This is where the British who had been part of the dam busters came and dropped a new type of vertical, spinning bomb onto the Tirpitz. At the side of the road there was a deep crater which has been left in memory of that bombing and shows the site of one of these bombs.
They were designed to penetrate the foot thick hull and explode inside the ship but the Germans saw them coming and lit oil fires all along that part of the fjord so the bombers dropped their cargo blind. Out of the thirty bombs dropped I think it was two which hit their target.
Interestingly, she did not sink, she turned turtle and much like the Titanic, they thought she was unsinkable. Very few of the crew escaped , they were never given the signal to abandon ship.
The locals came to the upturned vessel and could hear tapping coming from the hull but it took a long time to cut through the foot thick steel with the equipment they had. Some men found a way out through hatches and vents which were removed so they could escape willingly into the hands of the enemy, whilst others perished.
The ship was left to rot there for many years as Norway attempted to get back to some semblance of order after the Germans left [they left nothing standing bar two churches they had worshiped in, even sheds were fired]. One family who had been part of the rescue began salvaging belongings and parts of the ship as the companies moved in to gather the valuable steel; the museum is the collection made by these volunteers and is still privately run by them.
I gave 100NOK to the gentleman in charge to go towards its upkeep, it is a fascinating place.
Below are some of the photographs I took whilst there.
Painting done by a local showing the Tirpitz listing after it had been hit
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