Yeah, forgot to actually say that she wasn't allowed to re-fuel. Thanks for clarifying. The rules are quite strict, you can only dock for 24 hours, or you risk having the ship interned, unless you can argue that the ship isn't seaworthy enough to leave port, e.g. hole in the hull at or below waterline or rudder steering not working or whatever. The Graf Spee was kept in port by the British dispatching a ship from port every 24 hours and under international law, a hostile ship could not leave port until 24 hours afterwards. The ships leaving port effectively stopped the Graf Spee leaving.
Although not allowed, some countries would turn a blind eye to what they knew was going on, or it was succesfully concealed.
__________________
--------------------------------
This space left intentionally blank.
|