While a minor battle in terms of numbers of ships, the Battle of the River Plate was defining in publicly defining the limits of German naval strength for the Second World War.
The battle came about somewhat accidentally: the Admiral Graf Spee, a modern German "pocket battleship", was sent to sea before the official start of World War II to operate independently in the South Atlantic and prey on merchant shipping, generally disrupting the commerce that was utterly critical to the Great Britain, an island nation. The Graf Spee was moderately successful at this (sinking nine merchant ships in the three months since the beginning of the war). The Royal Navy decided that it couldn't allow a German ship this powerful to go unchallenged and unopposed, so it detailed a small task group (three cruisers: Exeter, Ajax, and Achilles) to remove the threat.
On December 13, 1939, the Graf Spee met the British task group outside Montevideo. When the smoke had cleared, the Exeter was significantly damaged, while the Ajax and Achilles had moderate to light damage; the Graf Spee was either significantly damaged (according to the Captain, Langsdorff) or only superficially damaged (according to the other officers). In any event, the Graf Spee turned towards Montevideo, and sought shelter in that neutral harbor. The wounded British ships remained outside.
Under intense diplomatic pressure, Uruguay announced that the Graf Spee couldn't stay, and Langsdorff decided to scuttle the ship rather than let it be interned, captured, or sunk by the British in a second fight.
This was the first significant naval battle of the Second World War, and it was a moderate military defeat for the Germans (the Graf Spee should have been able to stand off three lesser ships) and a significant public relations disaster for the Germans (running away, followed by scuttling, didn't fit with their intended global image). However, this battle does showcase how the German Navy operated in the war: it never attempted a fleet action against the British (or, later, the Americans), instead using it's few surface combatants as commerce raiders operating alone or in very small groups. The German Navy concentrated almost entirely on submarines for the war. While not certain, the public relations disaster of the Graf Spee, likely influenced Hitler to avoid building surface ships (which could be very publicly sunk) and concentrate on submarines.
The Battle of the River Plate was 66 years ago, today.
Posted by baltar at December 13, 2005 04:39 PM | TrackBack | Posted to War and History