Jeremy Clarkson's Greatest Raid of All Time 1/6

If only someone would put up the VC heroes documentary again, i would love you. That was as brilliant and heart stiring and this one.

BRITANNIA RULES THE WORLD!!

It was a single torpedo that fatally damaged the Bismarck so the same couold have been done to the Tirpitz.

my great grand dad fought in Burma one of the least known battles of ww2 he got caught trying to save a mate then died due to starvation.

At that stage of the war we may well have lost had the Turpitz been allowed free movement. Convoys, Britains life line were at breaking point, starvation would have forced us to make peace or to throw in the towel.

I agree that if the Turpitz had slipped into the North Atlantic, Britain's situation would have been desperate.

However, I don't accept that it would have been the end for Britain. The Royal Navy could have launched an all-out attack, with all available vessels, in order to sink her ( as was done, successfully, against the Bismarck ).

Don't forget that we had aircraft carriers and a new generation of carrier-born aircraft. The Turpitz was not unbeatable.

If an all-out attack against the Turpitz had been carried out by the navy then convoy escort would have been compromised. There is a part in this documentary which shows the scale of the convoys at any one time, a map of the atlantic convoys marked with black pins. A German U-boats wet dream (forgive the pun).
The Bismarck was attacked by first world war aircraft which would struggle make a scratch however the rudder was hit in a 1000-1 shot then sunk( carriers were massive ).

Pretty much.

Way to go Jeremy, more people (British or not) need a sense of patriotism and passion such as yours.

LOL!, so true...