Neat Nordic Navigation

Narvik is truly spectacular!! Set on the Ofotfjorden in Nordland, north of the Norwegian Arctic Circle (but who would know it since it was 25° again today!), the views from Narvikfjellet (the famous ski mountain which we visited via gondola) left me speechless. Our pictures don't do it justice...
Narvik has a really interesting WW2 story with the Battle of Narvik taking place in the Ofotfjorden in May, 1940. Norway took a neutral stance during the second war but was attractive to both the Allies and the Germans for its proximity to the valuable Swedish iron ore. They would use this for weaponry if they could monopolise the waterways. While Norway tried to maintain their neutrality, ten battleships entered the Ofotfjorden, the deep fjord carved by an ancient glacier. Neutrality is a difficult thing to maintain, though, when facing fully armed battleships and within a couple of weeks, ships were sunk and lives were lost. The Allies were victorious in this battle but not in the long term ... German forces shortly occupied Narvik and stayed for 5 more years, trying to " improve the Aryan race". Why am I recounting all of this? Good question ... thanks for asking 😉 The thing that interested my nerdy brain most of all was the fact that the Germans hardly hit a target during the Battle of Narvik because they miscalculated the effect the magnetic north pole would have on their torpedo's, made of iron and steel. The magnetic pole simply pushed their torpedo's a degree off target. How interesting is that?!! Well, I thought so anyway ...Leggi altro