Battle of the River Plate

13–17 December 1939

13 December, 6:05 a.m.

Attack at once

Commodore Harwood has concentrated his three cruisers off the River Plate. The day before, he signalled how they would fight a pocket battleship.

“My policy with three cruisers in company versus one pocket battleship. Attack at once by day or night.”
Commodore Henry Harwood, Ajax, Signal of 12 December 1939, in his despatch, London Gazette, 17 June 1947, p. 2760

BritishGermanWind SE

6:05 a.m.

13 December, 6:05 a.m.

Attack at once

Commodore Harwood has concentrated his three cruisers off the River Plate. The day before, he signalled how they would fight a pocket battleship.

“My policy with three cruisers in company versus one pocket battleship. Attack at once by day or night.”
Commodore Henry Harwood, Ajax, Signal of 12 December 1939, in his despatch, London Gazette, 17 June 1947, p. 2760

The battle

At dawn on 13 December 1939 three cruisers of Commodore Henry Harwood’s South America Division met the German Panzerschiff Admiral Graf Spee some 240 miles east of the River Plate. With six 11-inch guns, the commerce raider outranged and outgunned each of them.

Harwood split his force to divide her fire. In 82 minutes Exeter was wrecked and Ajax lost two turrets, but Graf Spee was hit too, and she broke away west. Ajax and Achilles shadowed her all day into neutral Montevideo.

Granted only a short stay, and seeing no prospect of breaking out, Captain Hans Langsdorff took her out on 17 December and scuttled her off Montevideo. Seventy-two British and thirty-six German sailors had been killed.

Reading the chart

Times are the squadron’s clock, two hours behind Greenwich; Montevideo’s clocks were probably an hour behind that.
Positions in the action come from the Admiralty’s 1940 track chart, which marks every ship at ten-minute intervals, anchored to Harwood’s 05:20 position of 34°34′ S, 49°17′ W. Between the marks the ships move in straight lines, so the sharpest turns are softened.
The chart draws Ajax and Achilles as one track; here Achilles keeps close company with the flagship. Exeter’s course after 07:40 is uncertain.
The chase to Montevideo is drawn at Graf Spee’s average of about 22 knots between the times the reports tie to places. The shadowers’ places are approximate.
Sources differ: Graf Spee anchored at 00:50 (Harwood) or 00:10 (the 1940 account), the scuttling is timed between 20:45 and 20:55, and Exeter’s dead are given as 61, 63 or 64.
Ships are drawn far larger than life. Rates of fire follow the reports roughly: the cruisers fired about a broadside every half minute, Graf Spee’s 11-inch guns more slowly.
Harwood’s despatch (1947) and the Admiralty’s 1940 account are out of Crown copyright; the quotes were checked against the printed pages. The New Zealand histories are still in copyright and are not quoted.

The ships

AjaxBritishLight cruiser, Harwood’s flagship, eight 6-inch in four twin turretsCapt. C. H. L. Woodhouse, with Commodore Henry HarwoodA delay-action 11-inch shell knocked out her two after turrets at 07:25. 7 killed and 15 wounded.
AchillesBritishLight cruiser of the New Zealand Division, eight 6-inch in four twin turretsCapt. W. E. Parry (wounded)Splinters killed four men in her director tower. She shadowed Graf Spee alone into the Plate. 4 killed and 9 wounded.
ExeterBritishHeavy cruiser, six 8-inch in three twin turretsCapt. F. S. BellHit by at least five 11-inch shells; all her turrets out of action by 07:30. Sent to the Falklands. About 61 killed and 23 wounded.
CumberlandBritishHeavy cruiser, eight 8-inchCapt. W. H. G. FallowfieldCame up from the Falklands in 34 hours, arriving on the night of 14 December.
SeafoxBritishAjax’s Fairey Seafox floatplaneLt. E. D. G. Lewin, pilotSpotted the fall of shot through the action, and reported Graf Spee’s end on 17 December.
ShakespeareBritishBritish merchant steamer, 5,029 tonsPassed by Graf Spee during the chase, stopped and blowing off steam.
Admiral Graf SpeeGermanPanzerschiff (“pocket battleship”), six 11-inch in two triple turrets, eight 5.9-inchKapitän zur See Hans LangsdorffHit by two 8-inch and eighteen 6-inch shells by the German count. Scuttled off Montevideo on 17 December. 36 killed and 60 wounded.
TacomaGermanGerman merchant shipTook off most of Graf Spee’s crew and followed her out; interned by Uruguay.

Battle of the River Plate

Attack at once

Attack at once

The battle

Reading the chart

The ships

Sources

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