Altmark was a German oil tanker and supply vessel, one of five of a class built between 1937 and 1939. She is best known for her support of the German commerce raider, the "pocket battleship" Admiral Graf Spee and her subsequent involvement in the "Altmark Incident". In 1940 she was renamed the Uckermark[2] and used as supply tanker for the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau during Operation Berlin before sailing to Japan on September 1942 as a blockade breaker.
Altmark (Captain Heinrich Dau) was assigned to support Admiral Graf Spee during her raid in the South Atlantic between September and December 1939. Seamen rescued from the ships sunk by Admiral Graf Spee were transferred to Altmark. After Admiral Graf Spee was heavily damaged by British cruisers in Battle of the River Plate and subsequently scuttled by her crew, in the Río de la Plata in December 1939, Altmark attempted to return to Germany, steaming around the north of Great Britain and then within the Norwegian littoral. On 14 February 1940 Altmark, proceeding south within Norwegian territorial waters, was discovered by three British Lockheed Hudson Mk.II aircraft from RAF Thornaby and pursued by several British destroyers led by HMS Cossack.[4] Late on 16 February 1940 in Jøssingfjord she was fired upon while the Norwegian Navy stood by and took no action save for raising a protest flag. The German tanker then received a boarding party from HMS Cossack. During an attempted escape across the ice, seven of the Altmark crew were shot down. During the skirmish Altmark was run onto the rocks. It had been the British intention to tow the ship back to a Scottish port, but the damage to the tanker's stern frustrated this idea.
An attack by one belligerent upon its enemy in neutral waters is a breach of neutrality, in this case a breach of Norwegian neutrality by Britain. Because Hitler feared Norway would be insufficiently resolute to protect the German iron-ore traffic that passed legitimately along the Norwegian littoral and earlier had decided on 14 December 1939 on the invasion of Norway after discussions with Admiral Erich Raeder and Vidkun Quisling, ordered intensified planning on 19 February 1940 for attacks on Norway and Denmark, which eventually took place on 9 April 1940 under the code name Operation Weserübung.[5]: 244
The British justification for the attack on the Altmark was set out in a Note to the Norwegian Government from Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax dated 10 March 1940. The problem the British Government faced was the wording of The Hague Convention XIII of 1907 to which it was a signatory. Article 10 provides that: "The neutrality of a Power is not affected by the mere passage through its territorial waters of warships or prizes belonging to belligerents."
This meant that the Altmark was within its rights to sail through Norwegian waters with prisoners aboard providing that it did not come to a protracted stop longer than 24 hours. In the diplomatic letter, the British government confirmed that it was not contrary to the law of neutrality to sail a prison ship through neutral waters, and Britain often did this herself. In fact the British complaint had nothing to do with the prisoners. Altmark was a fleet tanker assimilated to a warship and was proceeding to Germany from the Atlantic by the north-about route. Instead of sailing down the North Sea as he would do in peacetime, the master of the Altmark had elected to sail the entire leg of the voyage southwards within Norwegian territorial waters in order to attract immunity from attack there under international law. There was no other reason for him to want to voyage through waters so dangerous to navigation. With no valid breach of international law, the British excused their violation of international law by contriving that the Altmark's course abused international law even without a violation, and since the Norwegians had declined to stop a voyage that was not in violation of international convention the British Admiralty decided it was justified in taking action contrary to law, essentially announcing that it had the right to determine what course an enemy ship must travel to be entitled to the protections of international law.
The question remains unresolved to this day as to whether, as the Hague Conventions stood in 1940, a warship could legitimately seek immunity from attack in neutral waters by widely varying its course to reach them.
Subsequent history
The ship, renamed Uckermark on 6 August 1940, then resumed the role for which she had been built. During Operation Berlin, which involved the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau between January and March 1941, Uckermark, under Captain Zatorski, was a supply ship and scout attached to the squadron. As the result of her reports the battleships were directed to various merchant vessels, which were then sunk.
On 9 September 1942 she left France for Japan with a cargo of vegetable oil and fuel, supplying the auxiliary cruiser Michel on the way, arriving at Yokohama on 24 November 1942. Uckermark was then intended as the replenishment ship for the German raider Thor, which was raiding merchant shipping in the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean areas.
On 30 November 1942, Uckermark was anchored in Yokohama, Japan, next to Thor and the Australian passenger liner SS Nankin, carrying a load of explosives, which Thor had captured in March five days out from Fremantle, Australia, en route to Colombo, Ceylon. While the crew was at lunch, Uckermark suffered an explosion and fire which spread to the Nankin resulting in a larger explosion that sunk the Uckermark, Thor, and Nankin and destroyed a portion of the docks.[6] The cause of the fire and explosions was thought to be a spark from tools used by a repair gang working near the cargo tanks igniting residual gasoline. The Uckermark had delivered 5000 tons of gasoline to Yokohama. It is unknown if the ship had an inerting system for its cargo tanks installed, but as tanker vessels with inerting systems were uncommon at the time the ship was built it is likely that combined with wartime stresses the lack of (or inoperability of) an inerting system contributed significantly to the power of the initial explosion. A comparable incident was the explosion of the MS Bidwell at Marcus Hook, PA in 1932. 53 crewmen from Uckermark died in the explosion. The severely damaged ship was beyond repair and was scrapped.
Some of the survivors of the ship were sent to France on the blockade runnerDoggerbank and perished when the ship was mistakenly sunk by the German submarine U-43 on 3 March 1943 with all but one of the 365 strong crew lost at sea.[7]
^"Uckermark (+1942)". WreckSite. The Wrecksite Read. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
^French, Harold (1942-06-08), The Day Will Dawn (Drama, War), Paul Soskin Productions, retrieved 2022-02-25
^Bruce Taylor; Daniel Morgan (9 November 2011). U-Boat Attack Logs: A Complete Record of Warship Sinkings from Original Sources 1939-1945. Pen and Sword. p. 141. ISBN978-1-4738-2003-6. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
^Willi Frischaur & Robert Jackson (1955). The Altmark Affair. New York, NY: Macmillan.
^"SS Nankin". www.far-eastern-heroes.org.uk. from the original on 2022-03-23. Retrieved 2022-03-23.
^Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit by U-boats: Doggerbank". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
german, tanker, altmark, altmark, german, tanker, supply, vessel, five, class, built, between, 1937, 1939, best, known, support, german, commerce, raider, pocket, battleship, admiral, graf, spee, subsequent, involvement, altmark, incident, 1940, renamed, ucker. Altmark was a German oil tanker and supply vessel one of five of a class built between 1937 and 1939 She is best known for her support of the German commerce raider the pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee and her subsequent involvement in the Altmark Incident In 1940 she was renamed the Uckermark 2 and used as supply tanker for the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau during Operation Berlin before sailing to Japan on September 1942 as a blockade breaker Altmark in early 1940 Jossingfjord NorwayHistoryNazi GermanyNameAltmarkNamesakeAltmarkBuilderHowaldtswerke KielLaid down15 June 1936Launched13 November 1937Commissioned14 August 1939RenamedUckermark 6 August 1940FateDestroyed by accidental explosion 30 November 1942General characteristics 1 Displacement20 858 t 20 529 long tons full loadLength178 25 m 584 ft 10 in o a 174 65 m 573 ft w lBeam22 m 72 ft 2 in Draught9 3 m 30 ft 6 in Propulsion4 MAN 9 cylinder diesel engines 22 000 shp 16 405 kW 2 shaftsSpeed21 1 knots 39 1 km h 24 3 mph Range12 500 nmi 23 200 km at 15 kn 28 km h 17 mph Complement94 208Armament3 15 cm 5 9 in L 48 C36 guns 2 3 7 cm 1 5 in Flak 4 2 cm 0 79 in Flak 8 machine gunsGerman dead are brought ashore for burial after the incident Footage of the Altmark appears briefly in the 1942 British wartime propaganda movie The Day Will Dawn 3 Contents 1 The Altmark Incident 2 Subsequent history 3 References 4 External linksThe Altmark Incident EditMain article Altmark IncidentThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed March 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Altmark Captain Heinrich Dau was assigned to support Admiral Graf Spee during her raid in the South Atlantic between September and December 1939 Seamen rescued from the ships sunk by Admiral Graf Spee were transferred to Altmark After Admiral Graf Spee was heavily damaged by British cruisers in Battle of the River Plate and subsequently scuttled by her crew in the Rio de la Plata in December 1939 Altmark attempted to return to Germany steaming around the north of Great Britain and then within the Norwegian littoral On 14 February 1940 Altmark proceeding south within Norwegian territorial waters was discovered by three British Lockheed Hudson Mk II aircraft from RAF Thornaby and pursued by several British destroyers led by HMS Cossack 4 Late on 16 February 1940 in Jossingfjord she was fired upon while the Norwegian Navy stood by and took no action save for raising a protest flag The German tanker then received a boarding party from HMS Cossack During an attempted escape across the ice seven of the Altmark crew were shot down During the skirmish Altmark was run onto the rocks It had been the British intention to tow the ship back to a Scottish port but the damage to the tanker s stern frustrated this idea An attack by one belligerent upon its enemy in neutral waters is a breach of neutrality in this case a breach of Norwegian neutrality by Britain Because Hitler feared Norway would be insufficiently resolute to protect the German iron ore traffic that passed legitimately along the Norwegian littoral and earlier had decided on 14 December 1939 on the invasion of Norway after discussions with Admiral Erich Raeder and Vidkun Quisling ordered intensified planning on 19 February 1940 for attacks on Norway and Denmark which eventually took place on 9 April 1940 under the code name Operation Weserubung 5 244 The British justification for the attack on the Altmark was set out in a Note to the Norwegian Government from Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax dated 10 March 1940 The problem the British Government faced was the wording of The Hague Convention XIII of 1907 to which it was a signatory Article 10 provides that The neutrality of a Power is not affected by the mere passage through its territorial waters of warships or prizes belonging to belligerents This meant that the Altmark was within its rights to sail through Norwegian waters with prisoners aboard providing that it did not come to a protracted stop longer than 24 hours In the diplomatic letter the British government confirmed that it was not contrary to the law of neutrality to sail a prison ship through neutral waters and Britain often did this herself In fact the British complaint had nothing to do with the prisoners Altmark was a fleet tanker assimilated to a warship and was proceeding to Germany from the Atlantic by the north about route Instead of sailing down the North Sea as he would do in peacetime the master of the Altmark had elected to sail the entire leg of the voyage southwards within Norwegian territorial waters in order to attract immunity from attack there under international law There was no other reason for him to want to voyage through waters so dangerous to navigation With no valid breach of international law the British excused their violation of international law by contriving that the Altmark s course abused international law even without a violation and since the Norwegians had declined to stop a voyage that was not in violation of international convention the British Admiralty decided it was justified in taking action contrary to law essentially announcing that it had the right to determine what course an enemy ship must travel to be entitled to the protections of international law The question remains unresolved to this day as to whether as the Hague Conventions stood in 1940 a warship could legitimately seek immunity from attack in neutral waters by widely varying its course to reach them Subsequent history EditThe ship renamed Uckermark on 6 August 1940 then resumed the role for which she had been built During Operation Berlin which involved the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau between January and March 1941 Uckermark under Captain Zatorski was a supply ship and scout attached to the squadron As the result of her reports the battleships were directed to various merchant vessels which were then sunk On 9 September 1942 she left France for Japan with a cargo of vegetable oil and fuel supplying the auxiliary cruiser Michel on the way arriving at Yokohama on 24 November 1942 Uckermark was then intended as the replenishment ship for the German raider Thor which was raiding merchant shipping in the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean areas On 30 November 1942 Uckermark was anchored in Yokohama Japan next to Thor and the Australian passenger liner SS Nankin carrying a load of explosives which Thor had captured in March five days out from Fremantle Australia en route to Colombo Ceylon While the crew was at lunch Uckermark suffered an explosion and fire which spread to the Nankin resulting in a larger explosion that sunk the Uckermark Thor and Nankin and destroyed a portion of the docks 6 The cause of the fire and explosions was thought to be a spark from tools used by a repair gang working near the cargo tanks igniting residual gasoline The Uckermark had delivered 5000 tons of gasoline to Yokohama It is unknown if the ship had an inerting system for its cargo tanks installed but as tanker vessels with inerting systems were uncommon at the time the ship was built it is likely that combined with wartime stresses the lack of or inoperability of an inerting system contributed significantly to the power of the initial explosion A comparable incident was the explosion of the MS Bidwell at Marcus Hook PA in 1932 53 crewmen from Uckermark died in the explosion The severely damaged ship was beyond repair and was scrapped Some of the survivors of the ship were sent to France on the blockade runner Doggerbank and perished when the ship was mistakenly sunk by the German submarine U 43 on 3 March 1943 with all but one of the 365 strong crew lost at sea 7 References Edit Uckermark Technical Data www german navy de Retrieved 2009 11 07 Uckermark 1942 WreckSite The Wrecksite Read Retrieved 5 January 2020 French Harold 1942 06 08 The Day Will Dawn Drama War Paul Soskin Productions retrieved 2022 02 25 Bruce Taylor Daniel Morgan 9 November 2011 U Boat Attack Logs A Complete Record of Warship Sinkings from Original Sources 1939 1945 Pen and Sword p 141 ISBN 978 1 4738 2003 6 Retrieved 5 January 2020 Willi Frischaur amp Robert Jackson 1955 The Altmark Affair New York NY Macmillan SS Nankin www far eastern heroes org uk Archived from the original on 2022 03 23 Retrieved 2022 03 23 Helgason Gudmundur Ships hit by U boats Doggerbank German U boats of WWII uboat net Retrieved 16 May 2010 External links EditGerman tanker Altmark at Wikipedia s sister projects Media from Commons Data from Wikidata Uckermark Operational HistoryPortals Germany Energy Coordinates 35 23 50 N 139 38 50 E 35 39722 N 139 64722 E 35 39722 139 64722 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title German tanker Altmark amp oldid 1128975744, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
