Cod Wars The Cod Wars , also called the Icelandic Cod Wars ( , " the cod war " , or " Landhelgisstríðin " , " the war for the territorial waters " ) , were a series of confrontations in the 1950s and 1970s between the United Kingdom and Iceland regarding fishing rights in the North Atlantic . In 1972 , Iceland unilaterally declared an exclusive economic zone ( EEZ ) extending beyond its territorial waters , before announcing plans to reduce overfishing . It policed its quota system with the Icelandic Coast Guard , leading to a series of net - cutting incidents with British trawlers that fished the areas . As a result , the Royal Navy deployed warships and tugboats to act as a deterrent against any future harassment of British fishing crews by the Icelandic craft , resulting in direct confrontations between Icelandic patrol vessels and British warships , which included ramming incidents . The dispute ended in 1976 after Iceland threatened to close a major NATO base in retaliation for Britain ' s deployment of naval vessels within the disputed 200 nautical mile ( 370 km ) limit . The British government conceded , and agreed that after 1 December 1976 British trawlers would not fish within the previously disputed area . Background and history . Iceland ' s population was at that time almost exclusively dependent on fishing as a source of income . With increases in fishing ability enabled by steam power in the latter part of the 19th century , pressure was exerted on boat owners and skippers to exploit new grounds . Large catches in Icelandic waters meant voyages across the North Atlantic became more regular . In 1893 , the Danish Government , which governed Iceland and the Faroe Islands , claimed a fishing limit of around their shores . British trawler owners disputed this claim and continued to send their ships to Icelandic waters . Danish gunboat s patrolling the area escorted a number of vessels to port , fined them and confiscated their catch . The British Government did not recognise this claim , on the grounds that setting such a precedent would lead to similar claims by nations which surrounded the North Sea , which would be damaging to the British fishing industry . In 1896 , the United Kingdom made an agreement with Denmark which allowed for British vessels to use any Icelandic port for shelter , provided they stowed their gear and trawl nets . In return , British vessels were not to fish east of a line from Illunypa to Thornodesker Islet . In April 1899 , the steam trawler " Caspian " was fishing off the Faroe Islands when a Danish gunboat tried to arrest her for allegedly fishing illegally inside the limits . The trawler refused to stop and was fired upon . Eventually the trawler was caught , but before going aboard the Danish vessel , the skipper ordered the Mate to make a dash for it . The " Caspian " set off at full speed . The gunboat fired several shots at the unarmed boat , but could not catch up with the trawler , which returned heavily damaged to Grimsby . On board the Danish gunboat , the skipper of the " Caspian " was lashed to the mast . A court held at Thorshavn convicted him on several counts including illegal fishing and attempted assault , and he was jailed for thirty days . With many British trawlers being charged and fined by Danish gunboats for fishing illegally within the 13 mile ( 24 . 1 km ) limit ( which the British Government refused to recognise ) , the British press began to enquire why this Danish action against British interests was allowed to continue without intervention by the Royal Navy . The issue was left largely unresolved , and the reduction in fishing activity brought about by the First World War effectively ended the dispute . The First Cod War . The First Cod War lasted from 1 September until 12 November 1958 . It began as soon as a new Icelandic law that expanded the Icelandic fishery zone , from , came into force at midnight on 1 September . The British declared that their trawlers would fish under protection from their warship s in three areas : out of the Westfjords , north of Horn and to the southeast of Iceland . All in all , 20 British trawlers , 4 warships and a supply vessel were inside the newly declared zones . This deployment was expensive ; in February 1960 Lord Carrington , the minister responsible of the Royal Navy , reported that his ships near Iceland had expended half a million pounds sterling worth of oil since the new year and that a total of 53 British warships had taken part in the operations . Against this Iceland could deploy seven Patrol vessels and a single PBY - 6A Catalina flying boat . Many incidents followed , such as the one on 4 September , when the V / s " Ægir " , an Icelandic patrol vessel , attempted to take a British trawler off the Westfjords , but was thwarted when HMS " Russell " intervened , and the two vessels collided . On 6 October , V / s " María Júlía " fired three shots at the trawler " Kingston Emerald " , forcing the trawler to escape to sea . On 12 November , V / s " Þór " encountered the trawler " Hackness " which had not stowed its nets legally . " Hackness " did not stop until " Þór " had fired two blanks and one live shell off its bow . Once again , HMS " Russell " came to the rescue and its shipmaster ordered the Icelandic captain to leave the trawler alone as it was not within the limit recognised by the British government . " Þór ' s " captain , Eiríkur Kristófersson , said that he would not do so , and ordered his men to approach the trawler with the gun manned . In response , the " Russell " threatened to sink the Icelandic boat if it so much as fired one shot at the " Hackness " . More British ships then arrived and the " Hackness " retreated . Eventually Britain and Iceland came to a settlement , which stipulated that any future disagreement between Iceland and Britain in the matter of fishery zones would be sent to the International Court of Justice in the Hague . In total the First Cod War saw a total of 37 Royal Navy ships and 7 , 000 sailors protecting the fishing fleet from 6 Icelandic gunboats and their 100 coast guards . The Second Cod War . The Second Cod War between the United Kingdom and Iceland lasted from September 1972 until the signing of a temporary agreement in November 1973 . On 1 September 1972 , the enforcement of the law that expanded the Icelandic fishery limits to began . Numerous British and West German trawlers continued fishing within the new zone on the first day . The Icelandic leftist coalition which governed at the time ignored the treaty that stipulated the involvement of the International Court of Justice . It said that it wasn ' t bound by agreements made by the previous centre - right government , with Lúdvik Jósepsson , the fisheries minister , stating that " the basis for our independence is economic independence " . The next day , V / s " Ægir " chased 16 trawlers , in waters east of the country , out of the 50 nmi zone . On September 5 , 1972 , at 10 : 25 , V / s " Ægir " , under Guðmundur Kjærnested ' s command , encountered an unmarked trawler fishing northeast of Hornbanki . The master of this black - hulled trawler refused to divulge the trawler ' s name and number , and , after being warned to follow the Coast Guard ' s orders , played " Rule , Britannia ! " over the radio . At 10 : 40 the net cutter was deployed into the water for the first time and " Ægir " sailed along the trawler ' s port side . The fishermen tossed a thick nylon rope into the water as the patrol ship closed in , attempting to disable its propeller . After passing the trawler , " Ægir " veered to the trawler ' s starboard side . The net cutter , behind the patrol vessel , sliced one of the trawling wires . As V / s " Ægir " came about to circle the unidentified trawler , its angry crew threw coal as well as garbage and a large fire axe at the Coast Guard vessel . A considerable amount of swearing and shouting came through the radio , which resulted in the trawler being identified as " Peter Scott " ( H103 ) . During this war , the Icelandic Coast Guard started to use net cutters to cut the trawling lines of non - Icelandic vessels fishing within the new exclusion zone . On 18 January 1973 , the nets of eighteen trawlers were cut . This forced the British seamen to threaten to leave the Icelandic fishery zone unless they had the protection of the Royal Navy . The day after , large , fast tugboats were sent to their defence . The first was the " Statesman " . The British considered this insufficient , and formed a special group to defend the trawlers . On 23 January 1973 , the volcano Eldfell on Heimaey erupted and the Coast Guard needed to divert its attention to rescuing the inhabitants of the small island . On 17 May , the British trawlers left the Icelandic waters , only to return two days later with British frigates . The Icelandic lighthouse tender V / s " Árvakur " collided with four British vessels on 1 June and six days later V / s " Ægir " collided with HMS " Scylla " , when it was reconnoitring for icebergs off the Westfjords , even though no trawlers were present . On 29 August the Icelandic Coast Guard suffered the only fatality of the conflict after V / s " Ægir " collided with yet another British frigate . An engineer on board the Icelandic vessel died by electrocution from his welding equipment after sea water flooded the compartment where he was making hull repairs . On 16 September , Joseph Luns , Secretary - General of NATO , arrived in Reykjavík to talk with Icelandic ministers , who had been pressed to leave NATO as it had been of no help to the Icelandic people in the conflict . ( Britain and Iceland both being members , the Royal Navy made use of Icelandic bases in the cold war as part of its primary NATO duty of guard of the Greenland - Iceland - UK gap , particularly against Soviet submarines . ) After a series of talks within NATO , British warships were recalled on 3 October . An agreement was signed on 8 November which limited British fishing activities to certain areas inside the 50 nmi limit , resolving the dispute that time . The resolution was based on the premise that British trawlers would limit their annual catch to no more than 130 , 000 tons . This agreement expired in November 1975 , and the third " Cod War " began . " C . S . Forester " incident . On 19 July 1974 , more than nine months after the signing of the agreement , one of the largest wet fish stern trawler s in the British fleet , " C . S . Forester " , which had been fishing inside the 12 nmi limit was shelled and captured by the Icelandic gunboat V / s " Þór " after a 100 - mile long pursuit . " C . S . Forester " was shelled with non - explosive ammunition after repeated warnings . The trawler was hit by at least two rounds , which damaged the engine room and a water tank . She was later boarded and towed to Iceland . Skipper Richard Taylor was condemned to 30 days of imprisonment and fined £5000 . He was released on bail after the owners paid £2232 . The trawler was also allowed to depart with a catch of 200 tons of fish . Her owners paid a total of £26300 for the release of the ship . The Third Cod War . The Third Cod War ( November 1975 – June 1976 ) occurred between the United Kingdom and Iceland . Iceland had declared that the ocean up to 200 nautical miles ( 370 km ) from its coast fell under Icelandic authority . The British government did not recognise this large increase to the exclusion zone , and as a result , there came to be an issue with British fishermen and their ' incursion ' into the disputed zone . The ' war ' , which was the most hard fought of the Cod Wars , saw British fishing trawlers have their nets cut by the Icelandic Coast Guard , and there were several incidents of ramming by Icelandic ships and British trawlers , frigates and tugboats . One of the more serious incidents occurred on 11 December 1975 . As reported by Iceland , V / s " Þór " , under the command of Helgi Hallvarðsson , was leaving port at Seyðisfjörður , where it had been minesweeping , when orders were received to investigate the presence of unidentified foreign vessels at the mouth of the fjord . These vessels were identified as three British ships , " Lloydsman " , an ocean going tug which was three times bigger than V / s " Þór " , " Star Aquarius " , an oil rig supply vessel of British Ministry of Agriculture , Fisheries and Food , and her sister ship " Star Polaris " . They were sheltering from a force nine gale within Iceland ' s territorial waters . In the Icelandic account , when ordered to leave Icelandic territorial waters by " Þór " ´s commander the three tugboats initially complied . But around two nautical miles ( 4 km ) from the coast the " Star Aquarius " allegedly veered to starboard and hit " Þór " ´s port side as the Coast Guards attempted to overtake her . Even as " Þór " increased speed , the " Lloydsman " again collided with its port side . The " Þór " had suffered considerable damage by these hits so when the " Star Aquarius " came about , a blank round was fired from " Þór " . This didn ' t deter the " Star Aquarius " as it hit " Þór " a second time . Another shot was fired from " Þór " as a result , this time a live round that hit " Star Aquarius " ' s bow . After that the tug - boats retreated . V / s " Þór " , which was close to sinking after the confrontation , sailed to Loðmundarfjörður for temporary repairs . The British reports of the incident differ considerably , maintaining that " Þór " attempted to board one of the tug - boats , and as " Þór " broke away the " Lloydsman " surged forward to protect the " Star Aquarius " . Captain Albert MacKenzie of the " Star Aquarius " said the " Þór " approached from the stern and hit the support vessel before it veered off and fired a shot from a range of about . Niels Sigurdsson , the Icelandic Ambassador in London , said " Þór " had been firing in self - defence after it had been rammed by British vessels . Iceland consulted the United Nations Security Council over the incident , which declined to intervene . A second incident occurred in January 1976 , when HMS " Andromeda " collided with the " Þór " . " Þór " sustained a hole in its hull , while the " Andromeda " ' s hull was dented . The British Ministry of Defence said that the collision represented a " deliberate attack " on the British warship " without regard for life " . The Icelandic Coast Guard on the other hand insisted " Andromeda " had rammed " Þór " by " overtaking the boat and then swiftly changing course " . On 19 February 1976 the British Minister of Agriculture , Fisheries and Food announced that a trawlerman from Grimsby had become the first British casualty of the Third Cod War , when a hawser hit and injured him after Icelandic vessels cut a trawl . Britain deployed a total of 22 frigates . In addition to the frigates , the British also deployed a total of seven supply ships , nine tug - boats , and three support ships to protect its fishing trawlers , although only six to nine of these vessels were on deployment at any one time . Iceland deployed four patrol vessels ( V / s " Óðinn " , V / s " Þór " , V / s " Týr " , and V / s " Ægir " ) and two armed trawlers ( V / s " Baldur " and V / s " Ver " ) . The Icelandic government tried to acquire U . S . Asheville class gunboat s , and when denied by the American government they tried to get Soviet Mirka class frigate s . A more serious turn of events came when Iceland threatened closure of the NATO base at Keflavík , which would have severely impaired NATO ' s ability to defend the Atlantic Ocean from the Soviet Union . As a result , the British government agreed to have its fishermen stay outside Iceland ' s 200 nautical mile ( 370 km ) exclusion zone without a specific agreement . On the evening of 6 May 1976 , after the outcome of the Third Cod War had already been decided , the V / s " Týr " was trying to cut the nets of the trawler " Carlisle " , when Captain Gerald Plumer of the HMS " Falmouth " ordered it rammed . The " Falmouth " at the speed of 22 + knots ( 41 + km / h ) rammed the " Týr " , almost capsizing her . The " Týr " did not sink and managed to cut the nets of " Carlisle " , after which the " Falmouth " rammed it again . The " Týr " was heavily damaged and propelled by only a single screw and pursued by the tug - boat " Statesman " . In this dire situation , Captain Guðmundur Kjærnested gave orders to man the guns , in spite of the overwhelming superiority of firepower the " Falmouth " enjoyed , to deter any further ramming . Results . Iceland achieved its overall aims , to the detriment of the already declining British fisheries , severely affecting the economies of northern fishing ports in the UK , such as Grimsby , Hull and Fleetwood . A multimillion - pound compensation deal and apology were granted by the British government in 2012 for fishermen who lost their livelihoods in the 1970s . More than 35 years after the workers lost their jobs , the £1 , 000 compensation offered to 2 , 500 fisherman was criticised for being too little , too late .