The
Battle of The River Plate was an important
naval battle in the early years of
World War II. It was fought by three
British cruisers and a
German pocket battleship by the name of
Graf Spee.
Before the Battle
The
Graf Spee was tasked with raiding
commerce vessels in the
Atlantic Ocean, commanded by
Captain Hans Langsdorf. She set sail before the
declaration of war, slipping her moorings on the 24th of
August 1939 from
Wilhelmshafen, in preparation for a possible role of denying
Britain the vital supplies she needed to succeed at
wartime.
She succeeded admirably in this task, sinking the steamer
HMS Clement on the 26th of
September 1939 in the
Atlantic, and following this with the
Newton Beech, the
Ashlea, the
Huntsman and the
Trevanion without her presence being detected. She then moved to the
Indian Ocean around the
Cape of Africa, and sunk the
Africa Shell, before returning to the
South Atlantic looking for more quarry.
She intercepted the
Doric Star soon after, which managed to signal the
R-R-R message to the
Admiralty before being boarded, her crew incarcerated and the ship
scuttled. This gave the
British a position for her, and the hunt began.
The Hunt for the Graf Spee
With her position known, the
British scrambled as many
warships as they could spare in an attempt to locate and sink the Graf Spee. These ships were organised into
squadrons. A total of 4
battleships, 14
cruisers and five
aircraft carriers were engaged in the hunt.
One of these squadrons, perhaps the weakest and most vulnerable to the Graf Spee's formidable armaments, was Force 'G'.
Commodore Henry Harwood, the squardron commander, using a combination of
common sense and
strategic thinking, determined that the Graf Spee was likely heading towards the
River Plate estuary. He ordered his squadron, consisting of the 8-inch
cruiser HMS Exeter and the 6-inch cruisers
HMS Achilles and
HMS Ajax to set sail for a position 150
miles
east of the
River Plate estuary. The hunt was on.
Contact with the Graf Spee
At 06:13 on the 13th of
December, the
Exeter saw smoke, and reported a sighting of a possible
pocket battleship.
Harwood split his squadron into two sections, the
Exeter in one and the
Ajax and
Achilles in the other, with the hope of dividing the fire of the vastly
superior Graf Spee, the ordered both units to sail with all possible speed towards the sighting.
Meanwhile, the Graf Spee, having detected the
British fleet, began to close to investigate, when it discovered it was heading towards a group of warships.
Captain Langsdorf immediately ordered the
Graf Spee to close on the
Exeter, with the hope of engaging her before she was ready to make battle.
The Battle
Harwood's
battle plan was to try to attack the
Graf Spee from both sides with his divided force; he hoped to divide the fire of the
Graf Spee's formidable 11-inch guns, and to make use of the superior
manoeuvrability of his
cruisers.
As soon as the
Exeter was in range the
Graf Spee opened fire, hitting the 'B' turret, and putting it out of action. She also hit the
starboard torpedo launchers, and caused
splinter damage to the
bridge, which wounded the
captain of the
Exeter,
Captain Bell.
Exxter returned fire, causing damage to the
control tower. The
Ajax and
Achilles also engaged the
Graf Spee, forcing her to divert her attention from the
Exeter. As the
Graf Spee was shelling the two smaller cruisers, the
Exeter launcher torpedoes at her, causing her to manoeuver to avoid them.
Harwood's strategy was working, although at great cost to the
Exeter, which by this time was badly damaged and taking on water.
In defence of the
Exeter the
Ajax closed, and managed to damage the
turrets of the enemy vessel, and causing a fire on board, but sustaining heavy damage to herself.
Harwood then received reports that the squadron was low on
ammunition, so they retired to a safe distance and lay chase to the
Graf Spee, while she ran for
Montevideo to make repairs.
The
Graf Spee entered
Montevideo harbour, in the
neutral country of
Uruguay, at midnight. The battle was over with neither side immediately appearing as
victor.
Diplomacy in Montevideo
Captain Langsdorf wanted to spend 15 days in
Montevideo to make repairs, of which included the 6-
foot hole in her
bows. The
British, however, did not want to see the
Graf Spee return to her
commerce raiding role, and began sending orders to divert the rest of the
fleet to the mouth of the
River Plate, in order to intercept her when she returned to the
ocean. Unfortunately, the main
battle group was still over a thousand miles away, but nevertheless they circulated
rumours that a fleet was waiting to destroy the ship when she emerged from the harbour.
The
British and the
French (who at this point were still at war with
Germany) then pursued a
diplomatic route, in an attempt to force the
Graf Spee to sail as soon as possible. Under the terms of the
Hague Convention, the
British wanted the
Graf Spee to set sail in less than 24 hours after she had arrived. The
German ambassador attempted to stall this effort, without much luck. The
Uruguayan government, friendly to the
allies, accepted this, and ordered the
Graf Spee to sail once all repairs to make her
seaworthy had been made.
The
British argued that since the
Graf Spee had sailed for 300 miles since the
battle, she was already
seaworthy. The
Uruguayans inspected the
Graf Spee and determined that this was the case. There was then a dramatic reversal of strategy.
Realising that if the
Graf Spee were to sail at this point, the
British would be unable to
sink her, they then reversed their
diplomatic strategy and invoked an old
maritime law, which stated that if a
mechant vessel and a
warship belonging to two countries at war with each other were
harboured in the same place, then the
warship must give the
merchantman 24 hours of
grace once it has sailed. The
French then sailed a merchantman, hoping to delay the
Graf Spee further while reinforcements arrived. The
HMS Cumberland, another 8-inch cruiser of the same class as the
Exeter, had indeed sailed from the
Falkland Islands, but this addition to the already
battle damaged fleet was not enough to sink the
Graf Spee.
Langsdorf was presented with a difficult choice. After receiving orders from
Berlin not to allow the
ship to be interned in
Uruguay under the terms of the
Hague Convention, he could either leave the harbour and fight, or
scuttle his ship.
Deciding on the latter, as he believed his ship was too damaged to face the
fleet he was told waited for him, he transferred most of his crew to a
support vessel, and set sail for the
river. The
British prepared to fight, and sent up a
spotter plane.
At 4 miles out, the
Graf Spee dropped
anchor, evacuated the remaining crew and her
Captain, then was destroyed by six large explosions, which set fire to her and eventually sunk her, at 2000 hours, on the 17th of December 1939.
The Aftermath
The crew were interned in
Argentina for the duration of the war, and finally released in 1946. The captive merchant crews from the
Graf Spee were taken back to
Britain, with not a single life lost among them, both in the sinking of their ships and during the battle that followed.
Captain Hans Langsdorf committed suicide three days after the
Graf Spee was scuttled, wrapped in the
German ensign in his
hotel room.
The Battle of the
River Plate is one of the most remarkable naval encounters of the war, if not for its size but for the public interest it generated, and for the fascinating
diplomatic manoeuvers it generated.
Sources include the Graf Spee website, at
http://www.grafspee.com, the Battle of the River Plate website at
http://members.tripod.com/~colemangr/River_Plate.htm and the World at War website at
http://www.angelfire.com/journal/worldatwar/riverplate.html.
It should be noted that a
film was made of the
battle in 1956, starring
John Gregson and
Anthony Quayle of the same name. It's a very good
war film, and a must see for any
naval buff.