Operation Tiger Claw

'Tiger Claw' was a British unrealised naval plan for a carrierborne air attack by Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser’s Home Fleet on the German battleship Tirpitz lying in the Altafjord of German-occupied northern Norway (28 May/2 June 1944).

Schemed as a repeat of 'Brawn' and to have been followed by 'Cambridge' as a repeat of 'Proteus', the operation was to have used two fleet carriers supported by major elements of the Home Fleet, but was called off as a result of adverse weather conditions.

Force 7 was based on the fleet carriers Furious and Victorious, the heavy cruisers Berwick and Devonshire, and the destroyers Wakeful, Wager, Whelp, Wizard and Nubian, which departed Scapa Flow in the Orkney islands group on 28 May. The destroyers Marne, Meteor, Matchless, Musketeer and Milne arrived in the Skaalefjord of the Faerie islands group from Scapa Flow and then joined Force 7 at sea.

The battleships Duke of York and Anson, light cruisers Bermuda and Jamaica, and destroyer Wessex (soon supplemented by Nubian and Whelp detached from Force 7) also sailed from Scapa Flow to support 'Tiger Claw'. This force of heavier warships made sure that it as in a position to be seen by German reconnaissance aircraft in a position to the east of the Faeroe islands group before returning to Scapa Flow.