German tanker Altmark

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The German tanker Altmark in Jøssingfjord, Norway, February 1940

Altmark was a German 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. She was built in Hamburg in 1938 by Blohm and Voss, was 141 metres long and had a gross tonnage of 7,021.

[edit] The Altmark Incident

Altmark was assigned to support Admiral Graf Spee during her raid in the South Atlantic. Seamen rescued from the ships sunk by Admiral Graf Spee were transferred to Altmark. After Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled by her crew in Montevideo, Altmark attempted to return to Germany, steaming around the north of Great Britain and then along the Norwegian coast. Discovered by British planes and pursued by the British destroyer HMS Cossack, she fled into Norwegian waters in February 1940 with 303 British merchant seamen prisoners on board. On 16 February 1940 she was boarded by sailors from Cossack who killed seven of the Altmark crew and freed the captive merchant sailors. The boarding was a breach of Norwegian neutrality and would be pivotal for the subsequent German decision to invade Norway and Denmark in April 1940.

[edit] Subseqent History

The ship, renamed Uckermark on 6 August 1940, then resumed her role as a support ship.

On 9 September 1942 she left France to make her way to Japan, supplying the auxiliary cruiser Michel on the way, and arriving in Yokohama on 24 November 1942. Uckermark became the support 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 Nankin, which Thor had captured in March five days out from Fremantle, Australia, en route to Colombo, Ceylon. While the crew was eating lunch, Uckermark suffered a huge explosion which ripped the vessel apart. Uckermark, Thor, and Nankin were sunk by the explosion. The cause of the explosion was thought to be a spark from tools used by a repair gang working near the fuel tanks. 43 crewmen from Uckermark died in the explosion. The severely damaged ship was beyond repair and was scrapped.