It’s a cool, drizzling morning somewhere in the Southern Atlantic Ocean. German panzerschiff, Admiral Graf Spee, patrols the seas seeking out lone and helpless Allied merchant vessels. The commander of the German warship, Kapitan-zur-see Langsdorff is standing on the bridge, looking at the broad expanse of the sea. He looks deep in thought. Then, one of the lookouts raises an alarm. “The service in the Kriegsmarine is rarely boring,” the Captain thought. At some distance to the south-east a convoy protected by what seemed to be two destroyers was spotted. "Full ahead,” he ordered with no hesitation. One of the first naval engagements of the Battle of the Atlantic, was about to begin. This video is sponsored by CuriosityStream! If it’s documentaries on technology, the sciences, nature and, yes, history then we strongly recommend you check out CuriosityStream. An absolutely massive online library of streaming content, you’d be hard pressed to find a more comprehensive collection of informative and educational resources. And new content is being added constantly. If you enjoy today’s video, then perhaps you should look into, Five Submarines Against the Nazis the story of a ragtag group of submarines that turned the tide of naval domination in World War 2. Help support our channel. Hit the link in the description below and not only will you be supporting us but you’ll receive a 25% discount off CuriosityStreams regular yearly subscription. That’s unlimited access to award winning documentaries for less than 2 dollars a month! Follow the link in the description below, and stay curious! It's the second half of August 1939, less than two weeks before the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe. The German heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee, former flagship of the Kriegsmarine, weighs anchor and departs the naval base of Wilhelmshaven, attempting to sneak through the patrols of the British Royal Navy and disappear into the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean. By the time the war started in the beginning of September, Graf Spee had already managed to cross the waters directly controlled by the Royal Navy and was free to steam straight into the Southern Atlantic to take a suitable position for an upcoming mission. Since many of the iconic warships of the German Navy were still unfinished by autumn 1939, the main objective that the Kriegsmarine had early in the war was to disrupt allied merchant traffic, and the Graf Spee was one of the vessels to carry out this plan. On the 26th of September, the ship’s commander Kapitan-zur-see Hans Langsdorff received a message from Berlin authorizing him to set things in motion. The hunt for allied merchant shipping was afoot. The next ten weeks turned out to be a dangerous time for allied merchant shipping in the Southern Atlantic. Set loose, the Graf Spee prowled the area, managing to stop and sink several British trading vessels. Though captain Langsdorff adhered to international treaties and made sure there were no fatalities on the enemy side, the loss of cargo ships and disruption of shipping lanes immediately brought him the attention of the Admiralty. As keeping maritime trade free from German threat was vital for the British economy, several hunting groups consisting of British and French warships were formed in no time with clear orders track down and neutralize Admiral Graf Spee. But weeks passed, and the German raider evaded confrontation with the enemy warships, while still posing a threat to allied maritime trade in the area. On December 7th Graf Spee sank her 9th victim, and the total tonnage she put under the waves exceeded 50,000t. It was quite an achievement for captain Langsdorff, who then
turned his attention to the waters off the coast of Uruguay, as the documents found on one of the stopped ships hinted at an allied convoy moving through the area. Graf Spee arrived at her new hunting grounds on the 12th of December commencing a search for prey. Early the next morning German lookouts spotted a ship looming in the distance, promptly identified as a convoy escort. Seemingly, the intercepted documents proved to be correct and the successful streak of the German raider was about to be continued. The Graf Spee gained speed to close the distance and intercept the enemy vessel. But as the Germans got closer, the enemy ship gradually took shape. Much to Langsdorff’s confusion it was not an ordinary convoy escort, but a Royal Navy task force: HMS Exeter, a York-class heavy cruiser, accompanied by two light cruisers HMS Ajax and Achilles. The three warships made up the Force G, commanded by commodore Henry Harwood, who had been searching for the Graf Spee for the last couple of months. Captain Langsdorff had clear orders to avoid combat with enemy warships, yet it was already too late to turn back and withdraw unnoticed. The German sailors braced for an upcoming encounter as the Graf Spee steamed full ahead to challenge the opponents. Finally, from a distance of nine nautical miles her main artillery thundered and the first salvo landed dangerously close to the Exeter. Soon the British guns answered and the Exeter took a sharp turn to port to split the task force into two divisions making best use of the numerical advantage the British cruisers had over the Graf Spee. Commodore Harwood's plan to split the gunfire of the German raider, although risky, was his best bet to defeat the enemy. The British were well aware of the capabilities of their adversary. Admiral Graf Spee was a peculiar example of the warship design hampered by the naval treaties, which forbade the German navy from commissioning any new vessels that displaced more than 10,000 tons. Because of this restriction, the design of Graf Spee and other Deutschland-class armored ships introduced a set of innovative features to save as much weight as possible. Extensive use of new light alloys, welding and the application of diesel engines as main propulsion allowed German engineers to roughly meet the displacement limit while still managing to equip the ships with some quite remarkable main armaments. Six 280mm guns mounted in two turrets were extraordinarily big for a ship this size and meant that Admiral Graf Spee was the one to shout the odds in this battle. The next thirty minutes were enough to showcase the substantial firepower advantage the Graf Spee had over Harwood’s task force and why she was often referred to by the British as the “pocket battleship”. A number of 280mm shells reached the Exeter, severing two of her three turrets, disabling communications and starting major fires aboard. Though the Exeter valiantly fought back, scoring a couple of hits with her 203mm guns, commodore Harwood, realising that the heavy cruiser was in deep trouble, promptly ordered the Ajax and Achilles to close the distance and put pressure on the Germans. In turn the Graf Spee rapidly changed course to avoid the Exeter’s torpedoes, and focused fire on the approaching light cruisers. As the artillery exchange continued, the German gunners managed to land a couple of high explosive shells on the Ajax resulting in splinter fragments killing a dozen of her crew. Up until this moment, the battle was going quite favourably for the German raider, but slowly, the situation grew more and more complicated for captain Langsdorff. The heavy cruiser Exeter, despite receiving a serious beating, still tried to carry the torch of being the largest ship in the task force and, steaming with full speed, used her last working turret to assist the Ajax and Achilles. The dogged resilience of the Exeter’s crew soon brought them back to the attention of the Graf Spee. Langsdorff ordered his main artillery to target the approaching heavy cruiser and another duel between the two ships ensued. Once again the difference in armament was clearly apparent. Within the next 30 minutes more and more 280 mm German shells tore through the hull and superstructure of the Exeter, disabling her last working turret and causing her to severely list. Although the British heavy cruiser scored a few minor hits on the Graf Spee, the heavy damage she sustained meant that continuing the fight would mean her certain demise, so the Exeter’s captain promptly disengaged. Although the German captain had a real chance of finishing the Exeter off, he switched his focus to the remaining threat presented by the light cruisers. Yet just after launching a couple of opening salvos that dealt significant damage to the Ajax, Langsdorff received a dire report that the onboard oil purification plant was crippled, most likely in the fight against the Exeter. Since the diesel engines installed on the Graf Spee could only use processed fuel, this meant that Langsdorff was compelled to find the closest port as soon as possible for his ship to undergo critical repairs. He picked the nearby port of Montevideo and proceeded south west, while the damaged British cruisers shadowed the pocket-battleship. This ninety minute long naval struggle took, in total, 109 lives from both sides, but the story does not end there. Roughly sixteen hours later, shortly before midnight the Admiral Graf Spee entered the River Plate estuary and dropped anchor in the port of Montevideo, the capital of neutral Uruguay. There, the German crew hastened to immediately begin the necessary repairs and maintenance, as the Graf Spee was only allowed to stay for 24 hours to perform repairs in order to comply with the Hague Convention. Yet due to the jostling of German and British diplomats, this period was eventually extended to 72 hours. In the morning of the next day, the German commander assessed his position. The magazines for the big caliber guns were depleted, there were barely enough shells for a twenty minute bombardment. The repairs of the fuel systems were going slow, and in reality needed approximately two weeks. On top of that, the German Naval Command forbade the ship from being interned. The situation was worrying, even more so because of the widespread rumours circulating around the city. Allegedly, the British forces watching over the Graf Spee’s stay in Uruguay were growing in numbers, as a battlecruiser and aircraft carrier arrived to strengthen the force of the Ajax and Achilles waiting outside the three mile line. Captain Langsdorff couldn’t verify these rumours, as the onboard Arado float-plane was disabled due to damage some days earlier. At last, pressed by his own command on the one side and by the British-leaning authorities of Montevideo on the other, Captain Langsdorff made a decision. On the evening of the 17th of December, before a huge crowd gathered in the port, the German panzerschiff Admiral Graf Spee weighed anchor and slowly steamed south-west, upon stopping by around six nautical miles off the port. Some minutes later, a huge blast rocked the ship and it was quickly covered in smoke and flames. The scuttling charges did their job, and in no time the hull settled on an even keel in the shallow waters of the River Plate estuary. Hans Langsdorff was successfully led to believe by the British intelligence that a far more powerful Royal Navy task force was gathered to fight the German pocket-battleship. But in fact, only one border-obsolete heavy cruiser was able to arrive on time. Nevertheless, thanks to the British deception many lives were saved that day. A couple of days later, upon making sure that his entire crew of a thousand men was transferred to and safe within nearby Buenos Aires, Captain Hans Langsdorff retreated to his hotel room, lay down on the Graf Spee’s battle ensign and shot himself, thus tying his own fate to that of the ship. The battle in the River Plate estuary was a substantial yet unanticipated victory for the British Royal Navy. An example of how valour in the face of an enemy with superior firepower can still win the day an early boost to the moral of the British sailors with a long war ahead.
