Altmark

Sunk

Type	Auxiliary
War	Second World War
Main guns	3 × 5.9″ guns

Service

to 1941	Altmark	Germany
from 1941	Uckermark Renamed	Germany

Graf Spee's supply ship. In February 1940 the destroyer Cossack boarded her in the Jøssingfjord in neutral Norway and freed 299 British merchant seamen with the cry "The Navy's here!". Renamed Uckermark, she blew up at Yokohama in November 1942, destroying the raider Thor.

Ship Altmark in early 1940 Jøssingfjord, Norway Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Armament and specifications

Armament

3 × 15 cm (5.9 in) L/48 C36 guns
2 × 3.7 cm (1.5 in) Flak
4 × 2 cm (0.79 in) Flak
8 × machine guns

Builder	Howaldtswerke, Kiel
Laid down	15 June 1936
Launched	13 November 1937
Commissioned	14 August 1939
Displacement	20,858 t (20,529 long tons) full load
Length	178.25 m (584 ft 10 in) o/a 174.65 m (573 ft) w/l
Speed	21.1 knots (39.1 km/h; 24.3 mph)
Complement	94–208

As built, from the ship's Wikipedia article. Figures there may cover later refits too.

Career

Launched

13 November 1937

Altmark incident

Survived

16 February 1940

Ran aground; prisoners freed

Renamed Uckermark

1941 · Renamed

Fate

Sunk

Destroyed by accidental explosion, 30 November 1942