Altmark incident

Naval skirmish in World War II. The Altmark, a German auxiliary cruiser, was intercepted on 15 February 1940 by the British destroyer Intrepid off the coast of Norway. It was carrying the captured crews of Allied merchant ships sunk by the German battleship Admiral Graf Spee in the South Atlantic, and took refuge in Jösing fjord, where it was cornered by HMS Cossack, under Captain Vian, and ran aground. Vian's men released 299 British merchant sailors.