A FEW years ago, Captain Russell Grenfell wrote a book
on the chase of the Bismarck. Mr. Woodward's book derives its theme from the fact that there was never a similar chase of the Tirpitz. For the fate of her predecessor, and the course of the naval war, confined the largest battleship in Europe almost entirely to Norwegian waters from January 1942, until she was sunk there in November 1944. But, if she seldom emerged, the presence of the Tirpitz remained a potent factor in the war at sea, demanding the retention of a large Allied surface fleet in northern Europe, and a long and varied series of measures aimed at her destruction. The interest of her history lies therefore mainly in its effects.
Such a story demands a higher degree of historical competence than a more straight- forward theme. Mr. Woodward is less well qualified -to treat of the containment of the Tirpitz than of her destruction; and his earlier chapters, when the inactive battleship serves as a focal point for an account of diverse German and Allied operations, are not particularly successful. He is more at home in telling of the various attempts to sink her, of which he gives a fuller account, based on access to persons and papers, than has appeared in print before. J. E.
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