sending in a big strike force is difficult in the North Atlantic. Norwegian fjords were heavily protected by mines , U Boats and naval batteries. best way to attack would have been heavy bombing by the RAF and Coastal command. If she had been allowed to get up a head of steam the tirpitz could extend on destroyers and corvettes quite quickly ( her main sea going threat) . If let out into the North Atlantic she could hide for months at a time as there would be no obvious destination for her . the Pacific on the other hand though bigger has strategic locations where you can look for enemy shipping.
While at sea she would also be under protection from the wolf pack . This meant that even if found surface forces would have to counter the U boat threat before giving chase . Once again allowing her to build steam and escape. This was not the case in the Pacific for the Americans as the IJN had a small U boat force compared to Germany's . The two theatres were two different styles of war.
The safest and least costly to lives was aerial bombardment . Least costly because even though many crews were lost it would total less than the possible number of seamen , merchant marines , troops in troop carriers , tonnage of supplies , and therefore possible deaths of other service men due to lack of required items and materials being shipped in from the US . It would also have slowed down the supplies to the USSR (which were slow to start with) .
I think i may have set the case for the "acceptable losses " encountered for the destruction of the Tirpits.
Thank you
