Thread: The #GreatestRaid came about through absolute necessity. The one thing large warships need for sustained operations over the course of a war is a dock that can house them. You can’t fight a ship for years on end with maintenance. /1/ The German warship Tirpitz was one of the deadliest; a battleship of such capability that her mere presence in a naval theatre had significant consequences. In January 1942, it looked like she might make the run from the Norwegian coast into the Atlantic for convoy raiding. /2/