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Old timers here may recall The Cod Wars? Iceland and Britain duked it out in three major confrontations, the navies ramming each other but not firing a shot.

Old timers here may recall The Cod Wars? Iceland and Britain duked it out in three major confrontations, the navies ramming each other but not firing a shot. There are some truly spectacular videos on YouTube etc.

Melting_Harps 7y ago
> Iceland and Britain duked it out in three major confrontations, the navies ramming each other but not firing a shot. Huh! I had no idea, and just did some research on it. Apparently it started in the 50s and ended in '76. It kind of gives further context to the Icelandic People's reaction regarding the 2008 Icesave scandal towards the UK. Who went on to put Iceland on the UK's Terrorist list. The UK got paid back in full by 2016. But I can easily see them being resentful for having the US intervene and stop them from trawling around the Icelandic coast. Sidenote: according to the this video, shots were fired, and one resulted in the UK having to pay Iceland for the inconvenience of commandeer it: https://youtu.be/bxu4_AgIL94?t=139 https://youtu.be/bxu4_AgIL94?t=139
- Wildgoose 7y ago
  It was Gordon Brown's government who did the stupidity of putting Iceland on a "terror" list. I remember objecting at the time - Iceland had my full sympathy, and that of many other English people.
- hanche 7y ago
  I remember this quite well. As I recall from the news, the incident went roughly like this: Icelandic coast guard vessel approaches British trawler, orders it to stop and haul in the trawl. Trawler refuses. Coast guard fires warning shots. Trawler keeps going. Coast guard calls up the trawler, tells them to assemble all crew at the aft end, as they are going to fire on the bow. Crew moves aft, shots fired as promised. Now damaged trawler escorted to harbour. All very civilised. I think it was after this incident that Iceland started figuring out how you can cut the trawl instead. Losing a trawl is a major loss; these things are expensive.
MrDresden 7y ago
I would recommend BBC's Seriously podcast who did an episode in october '18 about the Cod Wars. The Icelandic trawl cutters from the conflict were a big national pride here, and growing up in Iceland in the 80's you'd hear the stories about how the Icelandic coastguard outwited the British navy recited quite often.

Melting_Harps 7y ago

> Iceland and Britain duked it out in three major confrontations, the navies ramming each other but not firing a shot. Huh! I had no idea, and just did some research on it. Apparently it started in the 50s and ended in '76. It kind of gives further context to the Icelandic People's reaction regarding the 2008 Icesave scandal towards the UK. Who went on to put Iceland on the UK's Terrorist list. The UK got paid back in full by 2016. But I can easily see them being resentful for having the US intervene and stop them from trawling around the Icelandic coast. Sidenote: according to the this video, shots were fired, and one resulted in the UK having to pay Iceland for the inconvenience of commandeer it: https://youtu.be/bxu4_AgIL94?t=139 https://youtu.be/bxu4_AgIL94?t=139

Wildgoose 7y ago
It was Gordon Brown's government who did the stupidity of putting Iceland on a "terror" list. I remember objecting at the time - Iceland had my full sympathy, and that of many other English people.
hanche 7y ago
I remember this quite well. As I recall from the news, the incident went roughly like this: Icelandic coast guard vessel approaches British trawler, orders it to stop and haul in the trawl. Trawler refuses. Coast guard fires warning shots. Trawler keeps going. Coast guard calls up the trawler, tells them to assemble all crew at the aft end, as they are going to fire on the bow. Crew moves aft, shots fired as promised. Now damaged trawler escorted to harbour. All very civilised. I think it was after this incident that Iceland started figuring out how you can cut the trawl instead. Losing a trawl is a major loss; these things are expensive.

MrDresden 7y ago

I would recommend BBC's Seriously podcast who did an episode in october '18 about the Cod Wars. The Icelandic trawl cutters from the conflict were a big national pride here, and growing up in Iceland in the 80's you'd hear the stories about how the Icelandic coastguard outwited the British navy recited quite often.