ALTMARK
The steam tanker Altmark was delivered in 1939 from Howaltswerke in Kiel Germany. She was very much a high-end vessel with a quadruple diesel engine setup driving two shafts through reduction gears. She also was fitted with cargo holds and prisoner holding compartments, for she was outfitted as a supply tanker for raiders. She immediately entered service as the support vessel for the commerce raiding cruise of the German “pocket battleship” Admiral Graf Spee.
Unlike the commerce raider Atlantis, Graf Spee did not depend on subterfuge to catch her prey; instead she was a Navy combatant that sailed into the south Atlantic to challenge just about anything the British could bring to bear, while also able to outrun true battleships.
Between September and December 1939, the Graf Spee sank nine vessels totaling 50,089 gross tons before being confronted by three British cruisers at the Battle of the River Plate on 13 December. While the Graf Spee inflicted heavy damage on the British ships, she too was damaged and was forced to put into port at Montevideo, Uruguay. Convinced by false reports of superior British naval forces gathering offshore the Graf Spee was scuttled.
As supplier for a raider, Altmark’s job was to stay out of sight and only meet up with the Graf Spee for refueling and resupply and to accept prisoners from ships sunk by Graf Spee. When the Graf Spee got caught, Altmark was carrying 303 British merchant seaman aboard, and had to find her way back to Germany. She had reached the neutral Norwegian coast when spotted by British aircraft and Royal Navy vessels went in pursuit. Altmark decided to run south in Norwegian coastal waters hoping to avoid a British challenge to Norwegian neutrality, but the British decided to board the Altmark, managed to do after Altmark ran aground. Much of the German crew escaped on the ice while the British sailors freed the British prisoners aboard the Altmark, but did not further damage the Altmark in order to not further violate rules of neutrality.
While Altmark had first violated neutrality by transporting prisoners of war in neutral waters, the Germans used the British incursion against the Altmark as one of their excuses to invade Denmark and Norway in April of 1940. Altmark was refloated and restored and renamed Uckermark and resumed her role as support ship. In 1942 she escaped the allied blockade of Germany and arrived in Yokohama to support the German Raider Thor.
On November 30, 1942 the Thor, Uckermar, and a captured Australian passenger liner named Nankin were anchored next to each other in Yokohama. While the crew was eating lunch a huge explosion ripped the vessels apart, causing all three vessels to sink. It was thought the explosion was caused by a spark from tools used near the fuel tanks; 43 crewmen of the Uckermark died in the explosion.
The model
Henry Scheafer completed this model in 2009. It is not known if this model was scratch built or a kit. It is interesting to note that the vessel flies the German imperial flag instead of the swastika, which would have been more likely in that era.
