German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee Admiral Graf Spee was a " Deutschland " - class heavy cruiser ( originally termed " Panzerschiff " or armoured ship , sometimes referred to as " pocket battleship " ) which served with the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II . The vessel was named after Admiral Maximilian von Spee , commander of the East Asia Squadron that fought the battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands in World War I . She was laid down at the " Reichsmarinewerft " shipyard in Wilhelmshaven in October 1932 and completed by January 1936 . The ship was nominally under the limitation on warship size imposed by the Treaty of Versailles , though with a full load displacement of , she significantly exceeded it . Armed with six guns in two triple gun turret s , " Admiral Graf Spee " and her sisters were designed to outgun any cruiser fast enough to catch them . Their top speed of left only a handful of ships in the Anglo - French navies able to catch them and powerful enough to sink them . The ship conducted five non - intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in 1936 – 1938 , and participated in the Coronation Review for King George VI in May 1937 . " Admiral Graf Spee " was deployed to the South Atlantic in the weeks before the outbreak of World War II , to be positioned in merchant sea lanes once war was declared . Between September and December 1939 , the ship sank nine ships totaling , before being confronted by three British cruisers at the Battle of the River Plate on 13 December . " Admiral Graf Spee " inflicted heavy damage on the British ships , but she too was damaged , and was forced to put into port at Montevideo . Convinced by false reports of superior British naval forces approaching his ship , Hans Langsdorff , the commander of the ship , ordered the vessel to be scuttled . The ship was partially broken up in situ , though part of the ship remains visible above the surface of the water . Design . " Admiral Graf Spee " was long overall and had a beam of and a maximum draft of . The ship had a design displacement of and a full load displacement of , though the ship was officially stated to be within the limit of the Treaty of Versailles . " Admiral Graf Spee " was powered by four sets of MAN 9 - cylinder double - acting two - stroke diesel engines . The ship ' s top speed was , at . At a cruising speed of , the ship had a range of . As designed , her standard complement consisted of 33 officers and 586 enlisted men , though after 1935 this was significantly increased to 30 officers and 921 – 1 , 040 sailors . " Admiral Graf Spee " s primary armament was six SK C / 28 guns mounted in two triple gun turret s , one forward and one aft of the superstructure . The ship carried a secondary battery of eight SK C / 28 guns in single turrets grouped amidships . Her anti - aircraft battery originally consisted of three L / 45 guns , though in 1935 these were replaced with six 8 . 8 cm L / 78 guns . In 1938 , the 8 . 8 cm guns were removed , and six L / 65 guns , four guns , and ten guns were installed in their place . The ship also carried a pair of quadruple deck - mounted torpedo launchers placed on her stern . The ship was equipped with two Arado Ar 196 seaplanes and one catapult . " Admiral Graf Spee " s armored belt was thick ; her upper deck was thick while the main armored deck was thick . The main battery turrets had thick faces and 80 mm thick sides . Radar consisted of a FMG G ( gO ) " Seetakt " set ; " Admiral Graf Spee " was the first German warship to be equipped with radar equipment . Service history . " Admiral Graf Spee " was ordered by the Reichsmarine from the " Reichsmarinewerft " shipyard in Wilhelmshaven . Ordered as " Ersatz Braunschweig " , " Admiral Graf Spee " replaced the reserve battleship . Her keel was laid on 1 October 1932 , under construction number 125 . The ship was launched on 30 June 1934 ; at her launching , she was christened by the daughter of Admiral Maximilian von Spee , the ship ' s namesake . She was completed slightly over a year and a half later on 6 January 1936 , the day she was commissioned into the German fleet . " Admiral Graf Spee " spent the first three months of her career conducting extensive sea trials to ready the ship for service . The ship ' s first commander was " Kapitän zur See " ( " KzS " ) Conrad Patzig ; he was replaced in 1937 by " KzS " Walter Warzecha . After joining the fleet , " Admiral Graf Spee " became the flagship of the German Navy . In the summer of 1936 , following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War , she deployed to the Atlantic to participate in non - intervention patrols off the Republican - held coast of Spain . Between August 1936 and May 1937 , the ship conducted three patrols off Spain . On the return voyage from Spain , " Admiral Graf Spee " stopped in Great Britain to represent Germany in the Coronation Review at Spithead for King George VI on 20 May . After the conclusion of the Review , " Admiral Graf Spee " returned to Spain for a fourth non - intervention patrol . Following fleet manoeuvres and a brief visit to Sweden , the ship conducted a fifth and final patrol in February 1938 . In 1938 , " KzS " Hans Langsdorff took command of the vessel ; she conducted a series of goodwill visits to various foreign ports throughout the year . These included cruises into the Atlantic , where she stopped in Tangier and Vigo . She also participated in extensive fleet manoeuvres in German waters . She was part of the celebrations for the reintegration of the port of Memel into Germany , and a fleet review in honour of Admiral Miklós Horthy , the Regent of Hungary . Between 18 April and 17 May 1939 , she conducted another cruise into the Atlantic , stopping in the ports of Ceuta and Lisbon . On 21 August 1939 , " Admiral Graf Spee " cruised out of Wilhelmshaven , bound for the South Atlantic . Following the outbreak of war between Germany and the Allies in September 1939 , Adolf Hitler ordered the German Navy to begin commerce raiding against Allied merchant traffic . Hitler nevertheless delayed issuing the order until it became clear that Britain would not countenance a peace treaty following the conquest of Poland . The " Admiral Graf Spee " was instructed to strictly adhere to prize rules , which required raiders to stop and search ships for contraband before sinking them , and to ensure that their crews are safely evacuated . Langsdorff was ordered to avoid combat , even with inferior opponents , and to frequently change position . On 1 September , the cruiser rendezvoused with her supply ship " Altmark " southwest of the Canary Islands . While replenishing his fuel supplies , Langsdorff ordered superfluous equipment transferred to the " Altmark " ; this included several of the ship ' s boats , flammable paint , and two of her ten 2 cm anti - aircraft guns , which were installed on the tanker . On 11 September , while still transferring supplies from " Altmark " , " Admiral Graf Spee " s Arado floatplane spotted the British heavy cruiser approaching the two German ships . Langsdorff ordered the two ships to depart at high speed , successfully evading the British cruiser . On 26 September , the ship finally received orders authorizing attacks on Allied merchant shipping . Four days later , " Admiral Graf Spee " s Arado located and sank a merchant ship , the steamer " Clement " ; Langsdorff ordered a distress signal sent to the naval station in Pernambuco to ensure the rescue of the ship ' s crew , which had gone into lifeboats . The British Admiralty immediately issued a warning to merchant shipping that a German surface raider was in the area . On 5 October , the British and French navies formed eight groups to hunt down " Admiral Graf Spee " in the South Atlantic . The British aircraft carrier s , , and and the French carrier " Béarn " , the British battlecruiser , and French battleship s " Dunkerque " and " Strasbourg " , and sixteen cruiser s were committed to the hunt . Force G , commanded by Commodore Henry Harwood and assigned to the eastern coast of South America , comprised the cruisers " Cumberland " and . Force G was reinforced by the light cruisers and " Achilles " ; Harwood detached " Cumberland " to patrol the area off the Falkland Islands while his other three cruisers patrolled off the River Plate . On the same day as the formation of the Anglo - French hunter groups , " Admiral Graf Spee " captured the steamer " Newton Beech " . Two days later , she encountered and sank the merchant ship " Ashlea " . On 8 October , the following day , she sank " Newton Beech " , which Langsdorff had been using to house prisoners . " Newton Beech " was too slow to keep up with " Admiral Graf Spee " , and so the prisoners were transferred to the cruiser . On 10 October , she captured the steamer " Huntsman " , the captain of which had not sent a distress signal until the last minute , as he had mistakenly identified " Admiral Graf Spee " as a French warship . Unable to accommodate the crew from " Huntsman " , " Admiral Graf Spee " sent the ship to a rendezvous location with a prize crew . On 15 October , " Admiral Graf Spee " rendezvoused with " Altmark " to refuel and transfer prisoners ; the following morning , the prize " Huntsman " joined the two ships . The prisoners aboard " Huntsman " were transferred to " Altmark " and Langsdorff then sank " Huntsman " on the night of 17 October . On 22 October , " Admiral Graf Spee " encountered and sank the steamer " Trevanion " . At the end of October , Langsdorff sailed his ship into the Indian Ocean south of Madagascar . The purpose of that foray was to divert Allied warships away from the South Atlantic , and to confuse the Allies about his intentions . By this time , " Admiral Graf Spee " had cruised for almost and was in dire need of an engine overhaul . On 15 November , the ship sank the tanker " Africa Shell " , and the following day , she stopped an unidentified Dutch steamer , though did not sink her . " Admiral Graf Spee " returned to the Atlantic between 17 and 26 November to refuel from " Altmark " . While replenishing supplies , the crew of " Admiral Graf Spee " built a dummy gun turret on her bridge and erected a dummy second funnel behind the aircraft catapult to alter her silhouette significantly in a bid to confuse allied shipping as to her true identity . " Admiral Graf Spee " s Arado floatplane located the merchant ship " Doric Star " : Langsdorff fired a shot across her bow to stop the ship . " Doric Star " was able to send out a distress signal before she was sunk , which prompted Harwood to take his three cruisers to the mouth of the River Plate , which he estimated would be Langsdorff ' s next target . On the night of 5 December , " Admiral Graf Spee " sank the steamer " Tairoa " . The next day , she met with " Altmark " and transferred 140 prisoners from " Doric Star " and " Tairoa " . " Admiral Graf Spee " encountered her last victim on the evening of 7 December : the freighter " Streonshalh " . The prize crew recovered secret documents containing shipping route information . Based on that information , Langsdorff decided to head for the seas off Montevideo . On 11 December , the ship ' s Arado broke down and could not be repaired , and so it was discarded overboard . The ship ' s disguise was also removed , in the event that it might hinder the ship in battle . Battle of the River Plate . At 05 : 30 on the morning of 13 December 1939 , lookouts spotted a pair of masts off the ship ' s starboard bow . Langsdorff assumed this to be the escort for a convoy mentioned in the documents recovered from " Tairoa " . At 05 : 52 , however , the ship was identified as ; she was accompanied by a pair of smaller warships , initially thought to be destroyers but quickly identified as " Leander " class cruisers . Langsdorff decided not to flee from the British ships , and so ordered his ship to battle stations and to close at maximum speed . At 06 : 08 , the British spotted " Admiral Graf Spee " ; the force commander , Cmde Henry Harwood , R . N . , divided his forces up to split the fire of " Admiral Graf Spee " s 28 cm guns . The German ship opened fire with her main battery at " Exeter " and her secondary guns at the flagship at 06 : 17 . At 06 : 20 , " Exeter " returned fire , followed by " Ajax " at 06 : 21 and " Achilles " at 06 : 24 . In the span of thirty minutes , " Admiral Graf Spee " had hit " Exeter " three times , disabling her two forward turrets , destroying her bridge and her aircraft catapult , and starting major fires . " Ajax " and " Achilles " moved closer to " Admiral Graf Spee " to relieve the pressure on " Exeter " . Langsdorff believed the two light cruisers to be making a torpedo attack , and so he turned away under a smokescreen . The respite allowed " Exeter " to withdraw from the action ; by now , only one of her gun turrets was still in action , and she had suffered 61 dead and 23 wounded crew members . At around 07 : 00 , " Exeter " returned to the engagement , firing from her stern turret . " Admiral Graf Spee " fired on her again , and after scoring more hits , forced " Exeter " to again withdraw , this time with a list to port . At 07 : 25 , " Admiral Graf Spee " scored a hit on " Ajax " that disabled her aft turrets . Both sides broke off the action , " Admiral Graf Spee " retreating into the River Plate estuary , while Harwood ' s battered cruisers remained outside to observe any possible breakout attempts . In the course of the engagement , " Admiral Graf Spee " had been hit approximately 70 times ; 36 men were killed and 60 more were wounded , including Langsdorff , who had been wounded twice by splinters while standing on the open bridge . Scuttling . As a result of battle damage and casualties , Langsdorff decided to put into Montevideo , where repairs could be effected and the wounded men could be evacuated from the ship . Most of the hits scored by the British cruisers caused only minor structural and superficial damage , but the oil purification plant , which was required to prepare the diesel fuel for the engines , was destroyed . Her desalination plant and kitchen were also destroyed , which would have increased the difficulty of a return to Germany . A hit in the bow would also have negatively affected her seaworthiness in the heavy seas of the North Atlantic . In addition , she had significantly depleted her ammunition stocks in the engagement with Harwood ' s cruisers . After arriving in port , the wounded men were taken to local hospitals and the dead were buried with full military honours . Captive Allied seamen still aboard the ship were released . Repairs necessary to make the ship seaworthy were expected to take up to two weeks . British naval intelligence worked to convince Langsdorff that vastly superior forces were concentrating to destroy his ship if he attempted to break out of the harbour . The Admiralty broadcast a series of signals on frequencies known to be intercepted by German intelligence . The closest heavy units — the carrier " HMS Ark Royal " and battlecruiser " HMS Renown " , were in fact some away , much too far to intervene in the situation . Believing the British reports , Langsdorff discussed his options with commanders in Berlin , which were to either break out and seek refuge in Buenos Aires , where the Argentine government would intern the ship , or to scuttle the ship in the Plate estuary . Langsdorff was unwilling to risk the lives of his crew , so he decided to scuttle the ship . He was aware that although Uruguay was neutral , the government was on friendly terms with Britain , and if he allowed his ship to be interned , the Uruguayan Navy would allow British intelligence officers access to the ship . Under Article 17 the of the Hague Convention , neutrality restrictions limited " Admiral Graf Spee " to a period of 72 hours for repairs in Montevideo before she would be interned for the duration of the war . On 17 December 1939 , Langsdorff ordered the destruction of all important equipment aboard the ship . The ship ' s remaining ammunition supply was dispersed throughout the ship in preparation for scuttling . On 18 December , the ship , with only Langsdorff and 40 other men aboard , moved into the outer roadstead to be scuttled . A crowd of 20 , 000 watched as the scuttling charges were set ; the crew was taken off by an Argentine tug and the ship was sunk at 20 : 55 . The explosions from the munitions sent jets of flame high into the air and created a large cloud of smoke that obscured the ship . On 20 December , Langsdorff , dressed in full dress uniform and lying on the ship ' s battle ensign , shot himself . In late January 1940 , the still - neutral American cruiser arrived in Montevideo . Her crew was permitted to visit the wreck of " Admiral Graf Spee " . The Americans met the German crewmen , who were still in Montevideo . In the aftermath of the scuttling , the ship ' s crew were taken to Argentina , where they were interned for the remainder of the war . The wreck was partially broken up in situ in 1942 – 1943 , though parts of the ship are still visible to the present ; the wreck lies at a depth of only . The salvage rights were purchased from the German Government by the British for 14 , 000 Pounds Sterling , using a Montevideo engineering company as a front . The British had been surprised by the accuracy of the shooting and expected to find a radar range finder and were not disappointed . They used the knowledge thus acquired to try to develop countermeasures under the leadership of Fred Hoyle at the British radar project . The Admiralty complained about the large sum paid for the salvage rights . In February 2004 , a salvage team began work raising the wreck of " Admiral Graf Spee " . The operation is in part being funded by the government of Uruguay , in part by the private sector , as the wreck is now a hazard to navigation . The first major section — a gunnery range - finding telemeter — was raised on 25 February . On 10 February 2006 , the eagle figurehead of " Admiral Graf Spee " was recovered from the stern of the ship . Footnotes . Notes Citations References . Online sources