Editing History of Norway (section)

===Government in exile===
{{further|Diplomatic history of World War II}}
The government in exile, including the royal family, escaped to London. Politics were suspended and the government coordinated action with the Allies, retained control of a worldwide diplomatic and consular service, and operated the huge Norwegian merchant marine. It organized and supervised the resistance within Norway. One long-term impact was the abandonment of a traditional Scandinavian policy of neutrality; Norway became a founding member of NATO in 1949.<ref>Erik J. Friis, "The Norwegian Government-In-Exile, 1940–45" in ''Scandinavian Studies. Essays Presented to Dr. [[Henry Goddard Leach]] on the Occasion of his Eighty-fifth Birthday'' (1965), p422-444.</ref> Norway at the start of the war had the world's fourth largest merchant fleet, at 4.8&nbsp;million tons, including a fifth of the world's oil tankers. The Germans captured about 20% of the fleet but the remainder, about 1000 ships, were taken over by the government. Although half the ships were sunk, the earnings paid the expenses of the government.<ref>I.C.B Dear and M.R.D. Foot, ''Oxford Companion to World War II'' (1995) pp&nbsp;818–23</ref><ref>Johs Andenaes, ''Norway and the Second World War'' (1966)</ref>