The incident's legacy for raiding and neutrality

Broader plans for Germany's invasion of Norway were already under way, so the Altmark incident did not cause it. The rescue nevertheless renewed British interest in raiding operations, which had played a more limited role in the First World War than in the Napoleonic Wars. Mobilization and family separation made the Phoney War anxious even when little fighting was visible to the British public. The River Plate battle and the Altmark rescue provided tangible successes during that wait. Their value therefore included relief and confidence at home alongside military results. For Norway, the episode exposed how little security neutrality offered without sufficient means or allies to enforce it. That experience may help explain Norway's later NATO membership and other security relationships.