or is a
fjord
In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...
in
Alta Municipality
Alta (; ; ; ) is the most populated List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Finnmark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Alta (town), town of Alta. Some of the main villages in the ...
in
Finnmark
Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...
county,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
. The long fjord branches off the main
Altafjorden
The Altafjord (; ; ) is a fjord in Alta Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The long fjord stretches from the town of Alta in the south to the islands of Stjernøya and Seiland. The long river Altaelva empties into the fjord at the tow ...
. The village of
Kåfjord and the
Kåfjord Church
Kåfjord Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Gáivuotna Municipality (''Kåfjord'') in Troms county, Norway. It is located in the village of Olderdalen. It is the church for the Kåfjord parish which is part of the Nord-Troms ...
both lie along the northern coast of the fjord. The
European route E06
European route E6 (, , or simply E6) is the main north–south thoroughfare through Norway as well as the west coast of Sweden. It is long and runs from the southern tip of Sweden at Trelleborg, into Norway and through almost all of the countr ...
highway follows the northern shoreline of the fjord. A bridge over Kåfjorden was built in 2013 to shorten the E6 highway route around the fjord.
The fjord was the anchorage of the
German battleship ''Tirpitz'' for much of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, which was attacked by British
midget submarines
A midget submarine is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to six or nine, with little or no on-board living accommodation. They normally work with mother ships, from which they are launched an ...
during
Operation Source
Operation Source was a series of attacks to neutralise the heavy German warships – ''Tirpitz'', ''Scharnhorst'', and ''Lützow'' – based in northern Norway, using X-class midget submarines.
The attacks took place in September 1943 at K� ...
in 1943 and by aircraft during
Operation Tungsten
Operation Tungsten was a Second World War Royal Navy air raid that targeted the German battleship Tirpitz, German battleship ''Tirpitz''. The operation sought to damage or destroy ''Tirpitz'' at her base in Kåfjorden (Alta), Kaafjord in the ...
,
Operation Mascot
Operation Mascot was an unsuccessful British carrier air raid conducted against the German battleship ''Tirpitz'' at her anchorage in Kaafjord, Norway, on 17 July 1944. The attack was one of a series of strikes against the battleship launc ...
,
Operation Goodwood
Operation Goodwood was a British offensive during the Second World War, which took place between 18 and 20 July 1944 as part of the larger battle for Caen in Normandy, France. The objective of the operation was a limited attack to the south, ...
and
Operation Paravane
Operation Paravane was a British air raid of World War II that inflicted heavy damage on the German battleship ''Tirpitz'', at anchor in Kaafjord in the far north of German-occupied Norway. The attack was conducted on 15 September 1944 by ...
in 1944.
See also
*
List of Norwegian fjords
This list of Norwegian fjords shows many of the fjords in Norway. In total, there are about 1,190 fjords in Norway and the Svalbard islands. The sortable list includes the lengths and locations of those fjords.
Fjords
See also
* List of gla ...
References
Fjords of Finnmark
Alta, Norway
{{Norway-fjord-stub