How the British leadership reacted to Vian's Altmark raid

What was the British government's reaction to Vian after the Altmark incident?

Churchill strongly approved, and Vian became an early choice for later difficult assignments.

The political risk did not derail Vian's career because the operation recovered British prisoners and was judged to have been handled decisively. Churchill, Dudley Pound, and Andrew Cunningham thereafter treated him as a leading choice when the Royal Navy faced a difficult operational problem.