The Ferry DF Hydro was sunk by an explosion from a timebomb, planted by the Norwegian Resistance, killing 18 people, of which 14 were civilians. The Germans used the ferry to transport deuterium oxide aka heavy water over lake Tinnsjøen, for further transportation to Germany to be used in their nuclear bomb research project.
It was of the utmost importance that the heavy water didn’t reach its destination, which is why the resistance organisation were willing to accept civilian casualties.
Extraordinary times requires extraordinary measures…
After the sinking of the ferry, some said that the operation was completely unjustified because the germans had learned about it before hand and switched the barrels of heavy water with regular water and furthermore, that the resistance organisation knew about this, which they denied ever hearing about.
In 1993 a barrel from the wreck of DF Hydro was raised and examination of its contents proved that it did in fact contain heavy water…
The heavy water from this barrel was poured into glass vials which were distributed for free to anyone who wanted a piece of this important part of history.
I signed up for one, of course,
Worthy off similar moral and philosophical debate is a lengthy discussion in the book, Masters of the Air, concerning a plan to bomb Auschwitz during WW2. There were convincing arguments on both sides of the debate, including proponents from the Jewish community for taking action.
