What was the Battle of the River Plate?
What was the Battle of the River Plate?
The Battle of the River Plate was fought in the South Atlantic on 13 December 1939 as the first naval battle of the Second World War.
What was the Battle of the River Plate and who won it?
Victory in the Battle of the River Plate, the first major naval engagement of the Second World War, was a great boost to British morale during the ‘Phoney War’. When war broke out in September 1939, the German pocket battleship Graf Spee, commanded by Hans Langsdorff, was patrolling in the Atlantic.
What happened during the Battle of the River Plate?
But the German warship’s subsequent withdrawal to the neutral Uruguayan port of Montevideo, and its dramatic scuttling by its own crew on 17 December, turned the Battle of the River Plate into a major British victory – and a welcome morale boost for the Allied cause during the ‘Phoney War’ that followed the fall of …
Who Sank Graf Spee?
But the Royal Navy recorded a spirit-lifting victory just days later, after British ships cornered the imposing German warship Graf Spee off the coast of South America, defeating it in the first major naval battle of World War II.
How did Graf Spee sink?
Admiral Graf Spee inflicted heavy damage on the British ships, but she too was damaged and was forced to put into port at Montevideo, Uruguay….German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee.
| History | |
|---|---|
| Nazi Germany | |
| Range | 16,300 nautical miles (30,200 km; 18,800 mi) at 18.69 knots (34.61 km/h; 21.51 mph) |
Was the Graf Spee ever recovered?
Fatally crippled by the British attack, the Germans scuttled the warship off the coast of the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo in 1939. When it went down, it carried large bronze eagle perched on a swastika with it. Salvagers retrieved the artifact in 2006.
Was the Graf Spee ever raised?
The ship is only eight metres below the surface, but it has broken into two and been engulfed by mud. Once raised and restored, the Graf Spee is expected to become a major tourist attraction in Montevideo, where reminders of the battle which made it famous still abound: museums, memorials, street names, graves.