Draken Harald Hårfagre
Draken Harald Hårfagre () is a large Viking longship built in the municipality of Haugesund, Norway. "Draken Harald Hårfagre" brings the seafaring qualities of a warship from the old Norse sagas to life. It is a ship that combines ocean-crossing sailing capabilities with a warship's use of oars.
Odd Isaachsen Willoch
As part of the Royal Norwegian Navy's efforts to protect and defend Norway's neutrality in the Second World War "Norge" and "Eidsvold", the largest and most heavily armed Norwegian warships in service, had been based in Narvik. The 4,000 ton vessels and their commanders and crews were under orders to fire at any intruder, Narvik was under any and all circumstances to be defended by force. During the night of 8/9 April 1940 reports started coming in of German attacks further south in Norway, in the Oslofjord, at Bergen and at Trondheim. It was still, however, unclear of who would reach Narvik first, the Germans or the British. It was known to the Norwegian commanders that the Royal Navy operated with a large force just off Northern Norway and it was therefore anticipated that these naval forces might attack Narvik to destroy the numerous German cargo ships in the port. In all there were 25 civilian ships of various nationalities in the port of Narvik in the morning of 9 April 1940. For several weeks the Norwegian coastal defence ships had been preparing for war, carrying out intense gunnery exercises with live ammunition. The situation had been steadily become more and more tense since the Altmark Incident on 16 February 1940.