Graf Spee
After Deutschland (later Lützow) and Admiral Scheer, Admiral Graf Spee was the third and last of the "pocket battleship." Before the war, Admiral Graf Spee served as the German flagship in Spanish waters to help "enforce neutrality," and she participated in the coronation celebration of King Edward VIII. At the outbreak of the war, Admiral Graf Spee was ordered to intercept Allied shipping in the South Atlantic, while Deutschland would hunt in the North. Deutschland's actions proved fruitless, but Graf Spee, under her skillful and humane captain Hans Langsdorff, was able to sink nice ships totaling 50,089 tons without hurting a soul. The British and French navies frantically searched for her, and sent several task forces to join the hunt. Meanwhile Langsdorff decided to prey on the shipping lanes outside Montevideo, before returning to Germany.
The British captain of the cruiser Exeter had predicted Langsdorff's intention and placed his task force, consisting of his own ship and the light cruisers Ajax and Achilles, outside Montevideo. On 13 December 1939, the taller Graf Spee spotted the three British ships first, but the Germans misidentified the light cruisers as destroyers escorting Exeter. When the mistake was recognized, it was too late to avoid combat. The so called Battle of the River Plate both proved and disproved the idea of "pocket battleships". The six 11-inch guns of Graf Spee knocked out all of Exeter's guns and seriously damaged the other two cruisers. The German ship, however, was unable to outrun the cruisers and her armor proved too thin to withstand six- and eight-inch shells. Exeter was sent limping to the Falklands for repairs, and Ajax and Achilles suffered various degrees of damages. Graf Spee was also hit in many places and Langsdorff sailed his ship into Montevideo for repairs. International law gave warships 48 hours to stay in neutral ports or they would be seized and interned. Langsdorff unsuccessfully asked for an extension from the pro-Allies Uruguayan government, and the channel to pro-Axis Argentina's Buenos Aires seemed too shallow for Graf Spee. All the while Ajax and Achilles were waiting outside the River Plate, seemingly with very strong back-up support, but in reality the Allies could not do much had Langsdorff decided to break out; their other heavy units were very far away. Langsdorff telegraphed Berlin for instructions, and Hitler decreed that he should not surrender the ship.
On 17 December, thousands of Uruguayans looked on to witness a great sea battle. That was not to be the case, however; the Germans scuttled Admiral Graf Spee just outside the harbor. The German crew was interned, and Langdorff committed suicide.
