Altmark used searchlights to dazzle Cossack's bridge and maneuvered in an attempt to crush the smaller ship. Cossack's navigator and helmsman avoided the worst of the collision, and the ships' contact let the first boarders scramble or swing across. The boarding party combined Cossack's personnel with healthy sailors from the illness-stricken cruiser Aurora, producing accounts of destroyer officers with pistols and cruiser officers carrying swords. They freed 299 prisoners and defeated a German attempt to retake the ship, backed by Cossack's close-range and 4.7-inch guns.
Chapter · 23:55-27:29
Boarding Altmark and freeing 299 prisoners
Cossack's maneuvering and a mixed destroyer-cruiser boarding party turned a dangerous collision attempt into a successful prisoner rescue.