Battle of Rio of Plata

The battles of Rio of Plata December 13rd 1939 was the first naval Bataille important of the Second world war, which ended in the scuttling of the German battleship of pocket Admiral Graf von Spee after a three month campaign against the British trading vessels in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Admiral Graf von Spee following the attacks conducted against the trading vessels which made it possible England to survive is sought by all the Home fleet with only one goal, to run it. The reich not having a port where to supply the ship went in Uruguay in bay of Rio Plata. English with the current made circulate the noise that the Home fleet awaited the Admiral Graf von Spee at the exit of bay. But this information was false and had 2 goals - that the cruiser remains cloister at the bottom the bay while waiting for that the " home fleet" to fuel court leaves - to have time to assemble all the possible English ships. Then one second rumor says that the home fleet had left. Thus the battleship installed but at the exit of bay met the Fleet Home. The squadron of the the United Kingdom included/understood the heavy cruiser HMS '' Exeter '' (3 turrets (2 × 203 mm), 6 turrets (2 × 102 mm), of the batteries of 32 mm, 1 seaplane) and the light cruisers HMS '' Ajax '' and HMS '' Achilles '', which started the combat with the German ship (2 turrets (3 × 280 mm), 8 turrets (1 × 132 mm), of the batteries of 64 and 32 mm, 2 seaplanes). The British fleet before the contact had been divided into two groups, the Exeter had been dissimulated behind a smoke screen and arrived at good distance launched its lighting shells to frame the Graf Spee . This one realized at once that it had another combat to deliver to the first salvo of shell launched by the Exeter . The only weakness of the German battleship lay in its weak badly distributed armament (two single triple turrets of 280 mm), which did not enable him to fight battle to too many targets at the same time. There Langsdorff made a second error of judgment by concentrating fire on the Exeter neglecting the light cruisers which benefitted from it to approach.

He baited himself on the British building admiral so much and so that the light cruisers arrived at range of torpedes of the battleship. However, once launched, the torpedes missed the target; Langsdorff including/understanding its mistake changed its rifle of shoulder and counteracted violently on the Ajax which was seriously damaged, but L Achilles had approached with less than 5.000 meters, which made the turrets principal of the battleship inoperative, it was turned over again on L Exeter , including one large shell of 203 mm came to bore its hull above the floating. A flood of fire fell down on L Exeter which lost two of its three principal turrets, reduced with silence by broadsides of shell of 280 Misters.

The Exeter had to leave the theater of the operations abruptly not to sink so much it was damaged, however before leaving it launched its torpedes on the Graf Spee : only one achieved its goal, in full center, where the shielding was thickest, which caused some tiny damage; on the other hand a last shell of 203 mm swept the higher bridge of the Graf Spee , causing many victims.

The Exeter out of state to continue the combat, L Achilles and L Ajax had to be withdrawn in their turn, with court of torpedes, their armament being insufficient. Langsdorff put the course on the port of Montevideo.

The British Admiralty had only the heavy cruiser HMS '' Cumberland '' available, come from the Falkland Islands, but made believe that the aircraft carrier Ark Royal and the cruiser of battle Renown arrived.

Langsdorff chooses to scuttle the ship to save its crew, which left for Buenos Aires, and he even committed suicide.

The prisoners taken by the Graf Spee and placed in the ship of supply Altmark were released by a commando of the British destroyer HMS '' Cossack '' in the Jøssingfjord, in neutral water Norwegian.

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