Karl Haushofer
By this time, the Atlantic Fleet was becoming more fully involved in the Battle of the Atlantic. In July 1941, at the request of the Icelandic government, the United States had occupied Iceland – the strategic island which, as the German geopolitician Karl Haushofer wrote, lay pointed "like a pistol ... at the United States" — and had established bases at the barren ports of Reykjavík and Hvalfjörður. Marine wags soon nicknamed these places "Rinky Dink" and "Valley Forge", respectively.