boat force as part of their renewed neutrality protection duties was the escort and inspection of vessels belonging to the warring parties. One of these missions included the control and escort of the German auxiliary tanker in February 1940. Altmark was returning to Germany after having supported the German pocket battleship in the South Atlantic. On her return voyage to Germany she was carrying 299 British merchant sailors as prisoners of war (POWs), and entered Norwegian waters north of Trondheimsfjord on 14 February 1940. The transport of POWs through neutral territorial waters was not in violation of public international law, and as Norwegian authorities feared an incident between the German ship and the Royal Navy the ship was allowed passage through the restricted areas at Bergen. The passage at Bergen was in violation of official Norwegian neutrality regulations as the tanker was a state-operated vessel of a warring party. As Altmark proceeded southwards to Germany she was escorted along the way by various Norwegian warships. On the day after she entered Norwegian waters, 15 February, the Altmark was spotted by British reconnaissance aircraft and soon after confronted by a force of six Royal Navy destroyers. In an effort to avoid capture Altmark sought shelter in the Jøssingfjord, in the area between Egersund and Flekkefjord, now under the escort of Kjell and fellow torpedo boat . Ignoring protests from the Norwegian naval vessels, which commanders were under direct orders not to fire at the British, the destroyer entered Jøssingfjord at 2220hrs on 16 February and boarded the German ship, killing six, mortally wounding one of the German crew and freeing the British prisoners. The failure of Kjell and the other Norwegian warships to intervene in the blatant neutrality violation led Hitler to speed up plans for a German invasion of Norway, six days after the incident appointing General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst as commander of the operation. One of the immediate German reactions to the incident was a demand that the commanders of Kjell and Skarv be dismissed, although this was quickly dropped following the recommendation of the German legation in Oslo. The Norwegian government on its part issued strong protests to the UK government, President of the Norwegian Parliament C. J. Hambro stating that the united Norwegian parliament and people protested the British intrusion at Jøssingfjord. U-21 Another incident occurred the following month when, on 27 March 1940, the accidentally ran