Iceland in the Cold War Iceland, as the United Kingdom conceded to a Icelandic exclusive fishery zone following threats that Iceland would leave NATO. As a result, British fishing communities lost access to rich areas and were devastated, with thousands of jobs lost. The term "cod war" was coined by a British journalist in early September 1958. None of the Cod Wars meets any of the common thresholds for a conventional war, though, and they may more accurately be described as militarized interstate disputes. There is only one confirmed death during the Cod Wars: an Icelandic engineer killed in the Second Cod War. Iceland hosted
Cod Wars would generally protect the British trawling fleet. Over the course of this Cod War, a total of 32 British frigates had entered the contested waters. On 19 July 1974, more than nine months after the signing of the agreement, one of the largest wet fish stern trawlers in the British fleet, "C.S. Forester", which had been fishing inside the limit, was shelled and captured by the Icelandic gunboat V/s "Þór" after a pursuit. "C. S. Forester" was shelled with non-explosive ammunition after repeated warnings. The trawler was hit by at least two rounds, which damaged the engine room and a