January 7, 1972
A British naval frigate collided with an Icelandic gunboat inside the 200 mile exclusion zone for foreign trawlers Iceland iwas enforcing since 1958. This was known as “the cod war,” with both sides claiming different legal rights. Iceland eventually won (after threatening to withdraw from NATO), and the 200-mile exclusive economic limit became the United Nations standard in 1982. The loss of the Icelandic fishing grounds was devastating to the British fishing industry.
