A reinforced patrol hunts Altmark in neutral Norway

Tribal-class destroyers normally worked the Norwegian patrol in groups of three or four, but the hunt for Altmark assembled six destroyers and additional boarding personnel. Altmark had supplied Admiral Graf Spee and now carried captured British merchant sailors toward Germany while presenting herself to Norway as an ordinary merchant vessel. The Royal Navy knew the prisoners were aboard and repeatedly urged Norwegian authorities to search her. Norway preferred to accept the ship's papers because enforcing neutrality against Germany risked dragging a divided country into the war. The standoff reverses the Asama Maru problem: this time Britain wanted a neutral state to stop enemy-held British merchant seamen from being carried home as long-term prisoners.