13th December 39

[Spood]

06.10am local time off the East coast of South America near Montevideo, smoke sighted on the horizon from the lookout post on HMS Ajax. HMS Exeter peels away from formation to investigate, 06.18am she opens fire as she is straddled by shells from Graf Spee. So begins the battle of the River Plate, the first major see battle of WW2 which was to last 78 minutes and result in the loss of sixty four British seamen and thirty seven German sailors.

Despite the advantages of the pocket battleship, a broadside from her main 11in guns weighing 4140lbs against the combined 3400lbs of the three British ships, the cruisers caused enough damage to make the German captain retreat to the harbour at Montevideo.

Following days of deception by the British in which they convinced the German captain that much heavier units were converging on the estuary he scuttled his ship on Dec 17th rather than risk a breakout.

[Joris]

That was quite a stunt to pull that off! Thanks for this post.

[Jack]

Thanks Spood that is a great top up of knowledge!

[Snapper]

You may have seen that the Uruguayan authorities began raising sections of the Graf Spee in 2005. I think they plan to put them on display. The film Battle of the River Plate is always worth a look; you may even get a cheap DVD of it. The makers used a serving US Navy cruiser to replicate the Graf Spee. Anthony Quayle was Admiral Harwood and Peter Finch was Captain Lang. A good sunday afternoon matinée.

[Karoshi]

T'was the USS Salem a Heavy Cruiser.