View source for German tanker Altmark

{{Short description|Supply vessel of the Admiral Graf Spee (1939–1942)}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=Altmark schiff norwegen joessingfjord.jpg
|Ship caption=''Altmark'' in early 1940, Jøssingfjord, Norway
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=[[Nazi Germany]]
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Nazi Germany|naval}}
|Ship name= ''Altmark''
|Ship namesake=[[Altmark]]
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=[[Howaldtswerke]], [[Kiel]]
|Ship laid down=15 June 1936
|Ship launched=13 November 1937
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=14 August 1939
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck= 
|Ship renamed=''Uckermark'', 6 August 1940
|Ship homeport=
|Ship motto=
|Ship nickname=
|Ship fate=Destroyed by accidental explosion, 30 November 1942
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.german-navy.de/kriegsmarine/ships/auxships/uckermark/tech.html |title=Uckermark Technical Data |publisher=www.german-navy.de |access-date=2009-11-07 }}</ref>
|Ship type= 
|Ship displacement= {{convert|20858|t|LT|0|abbr=on}} full load
|Ship length=
*{{convert|178.25|m|ftin|0|abbr=on}} [[Length overall|o/a]]
*{{convert|174.65|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} [[Length at the waterline|w/l]]
|Ship beam= {{convert|22|m|ftin|abbr=on}} 
|Ship draught= {{convert|9.3|m|ftin|abbr=on}} 
|Ship propulsion=4 × MAN 9-cylinder [[diesel engine]]s, {{convert|22000|shp|0|abbr=on}}, 2 shafts
|Ship speed= {{convert|21.1|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship range= {{convert|12500|nmi|km|abbr=on}} at {{convert|15|kn|abbr=on}}
|Ship complement=94–208
|Ship sensors=
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament=
*3 × {{convert|15|cm|in|abbr=on}} L/48 C36 guns
*2 × {{convert|3.7|cm|in|abbr=on}} [[Flak]]
*4 × {{convert|2|cm|in|abbr=on}} Flak
*8 × [[machine gun]]s
|Ship notes=
}} 
|}

[[Image:Altmark Incident.jpg|thumb|German dead are brought ashore for burial after the incident.]]
'''''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]]" {{ship|German pocket battleship|Admiral Graf Spee||2}} and her subsequent involvement in the "[[Altmark Incident]]". In 1940 she was renamed '''''Uckermark'''''<ref>{{cite web |title=Uckermark (+1942)|url=https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?194971 |website=WreckSite |publisher=The Wrecksite Read |access-date=5 January 2020}}</ref> and used as supply tanker for the battleships {{ship|German battleship|Scharnhorst||2}} and {{ship|German battleship|Gneisenau||2}} during [[Operation Berlin (Atlantic)|Operation Berlin]] before sailing to Japan in September 1942 as a [[Blockade runner|blockade breaker]]. 

Footage of ''Altmark'' appears briefly in the 1942 British wartime propaganda movie ''The Day Will Dawn''.<ref>{{Citation|last=French|first=Harold|title=The Day Will Dawn|date=1942-06-08|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034639/|type=Drama, War|publisher=Paul Soskin Productions|access-date=2022-02-25}}</ref> 

== The Altmark Incident ==
{{main|Altmark Incident}}{{More citations needed section|date=March 2022}}
''Altmark'' (Captain Heinrich Dau) was assigned to support ''Admiral Graf Spee'' during her raid in the [[Atlantic Ocean|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 [[Norway|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|F03|6}}.<ref name="TaylorMorgan2011">{{cite book|author1=Bruce Taylor|author2=Daniel Morgan|title=U-Boat Attack Logs: A Complete Record of Warship Sinkings from Original Sources 1939–1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aBXOAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA141|access-date=5 January 2020|date= 2011|publisher=Pen and Sword|isbn=978-1-4738-2003-6|page=141}}</ref> 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. Hitler had long feared Norway would be insufficiently resolute to protect the German iron-ore traffic that passed legitimately along the Norwegian littoral and after earlier discussions with Admiral [[Erich Raeder]] and [[Vidkun Quisling]] had decided already on 14 December 1939 to ultimately invade the country.  On 19 February 1940 he ordered intensified planning for attacks on Norway and Denmark, which eventually took place on 9 April 1940 under the code name [[Operation Weserübung]].<ref name="Altmark Affair">{{cite book |author=Willi Frischaur & Robert Jackson |title=The Altmark Affair |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers (United States)|Macmillan]] |year=1955 |location=New York}}</ref>{{rp|244}}

The British justification for the attack on the ''Altmark'' was set out in a Note to the Norwegian Government from Foreign Secretary [[E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax|Lord Halifax]] dated 10 March 1940. The problem the British Government faced was the wording of [[Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)|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 (Atlantic)|Operation Berlin]], which involved the battleships {{ship|German battleship|Scharnhorst||2}} and {{ship|German battleship|Gneisenau||2}} 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 {{ship|German auxiliary cruiser|Michel||2}} on the way, arriving at [[Yokohama]] on 24 November 1942. ''Uckermark'' was then intended as the replenishment ship for the German raider {{ship|German auxiliary cruiser|Thor||2}}, which was raiding merchant shipping in the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean areas.

On 30 November 1942, ''Uckermark'' was anchored at Yokohama, Japan, next to ''Thor'' and the captured Australian passenger liner [[SS Nankin|SS ''Nankin'']], carrying a load of explosives, which ''Thor'' had captured in March five days out from [[Fremantle, Western Australia|Fremantle]], [[Australia]], en route to [[Colombo]], [[Ceylon]]. While the crew was at lunch, ''Uckermark'' suffered an explosion and fire which spread to ''Nankin'', resulting in a larger explosion that sunk the ''Uckermark'', ''Thor'', and ''Nankin'' and destroyed a portion of the docks.<ref>{{Cite web |title=SS Nankin |url=https://www.far-eastern-heroes.org.uk/Experiences_of_Cecil_Saunders/html/ss_nankin.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323151325/https://www.far-eastern-heroes.org.uk/Experiences_of_Cecil_Saunders/html/ss_nankin.htm |archive-date=2022-03-23 |access-date=2022-03-23 |website=www.far-eastern-heroes.org.uk}}</ref> 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|MS ''Bidwell'']] at [[Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania]], in 1932. Fifty-three crewmen from ''Uckermark'' died in the explosion. The severely damaged ship was beyond repair and was scrapped.([[:ja:横浜港ドイツ軍艦爆発事件]])

Some of the survivors of the ship were sent to France on the [[blockade runner]] ''[[German ship Doggerbank|Doggerbank]]'' and perished when the ship was mistakenly sunk by the {{GS|U-43|1939|6}} on 3 March 1943 with all but one of the 365-strong crew lost at sea.<ref name=Net>{{cite web|url=http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/2707.html|title=Ships hit by U-boats: ''Doggerbank''|last=Helgason|first=Guðmundur|website=German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net|access-date=16 May 2010}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|auto=yes|d=Q442718}}
* [http://www.german-navy.de/kriegsmarine/ships/auxships/uckermark/operations.html ''Uckermark'' : Operational History]

{{Portal bar|Germany|Energy}}
{{coord|35|23|50|N|139|38|50|E|display=title}}
{{Supply ships of the Kriegsmarine, Western Section}}
{{Dithmarschen class replenishment tanker}}
{{February 1940 shipwrecks}}
{{November 1942 shipwrecks}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Altmark}}
[[Category:World War II auxiliary ships of Germany]]
[[Category:1937 ships]]
[[Category:Oil tankers]]
[[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean]]
[[Category:Tankers of Germany]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in February 1940]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in November 1942]]