The Battle of The River Plate 

Admiral Graf Speer Admiral Graf Spee Admiral Graf Spree You covered all the bases Simon.

2:53 28 knots is 28 nautical miles per hour (that's what a 'knot' is, one nautical mile per hour). The '32' figure is statue miles per hour, not nautical.

Actually, the arrival of British re-enforcements was several days away. Had Langsdorf got underway with all his men, he had a fighting chance. The British had deceived the Germans into thinking the re-enforcements were already on hand and waiting. This was not so. In addition, the British had reversed their call for Uruguay to expel the Graf Spee. Instead insisting that under international law, a combatant had to give neutral non-combatant ships a 24 hour head start. The British then asked for any shipping that was departing to be held up in such a way that the Graf Spee could not leave for as long as possible. Langsdorf ascertained this ploy but he was also deceived in to thinking a large British fleet awaited his departure. Hence the decision to scuttle his ship and save his crew.

Like many of a certain age, I first learned of this from the classic British war film, often screened on TV on bank holiday weekends. Even in the obviously pro-British POV movie, Langsdorff was clearly depicted as an honourable man, a sailor serving his country, not a Nazi, and with a real commanding officer's sense of duty of care to those serving under him, even to his own detriment

Just to be pedantic - the picture of HMS Ajax at 16.53 mins is not the cruiser ajax at the River Plate but is the Battleship HMS Ajax of the KGV class of the First World War. This ship was scrapped well before WW2.

Simon does an incredible job of over-mispronunciation of names, locations, and simple facts. Great job fact-boi.

There are a couple of things here. Yes the heavy forces mentioned had not arrived, only the Cumberland, but even then the Graf Spee would have had issues with the three cruisers. I have always thought that the Graf Spee was not particularly well managed during this battle. She should have used the 11 inch guns to completely disable the Exeter first and then turned on the light cruisers. She only had a top speed of 28 knots so she was not going to outrun them. Simon mentions High Explosive versus Armour Piercing shells. The GS was to engage in commerce raiding so would have mainly been equipped with HE shells. Its no good shooting AP at merchant ships who have hulls made out of 12/14 mm plate - they would go straight through the vessel and not cause much damage. The big issue was an 8 inch shell from the Exeter had exploded in the purifier flat just below the funnels meaning she could not produce fuel for the engines from the crude oil on board. As such she wasn't going anywhere.

Wikipedia has a different story of the tail-end of the battle. Captain Langsdorff erroneously thought there was a sizable force waiting for him outside Montevideo: "Convinced by false reports of superior British naval forces gathering", he scuttled the ship without fighting just the same two cruisers which had followed him to Uruguay. The ships listed at 14:47 weren't actually there.

Small correction: Panzerschiffe is the plural. The singular is just Panzerschiff without the -e

Captain Langsdorf was a brave, honourable officer who any sailor would have been proud to serve,R.I.P., Captain Langsdorf.

I'd like to point out that Captain Langsdorff used the German naval ensign (flag) when he ended his life. He did not use the Nazi flag. In doing so, he showed his heart was with his country, not the Nazis.

The Navel museum in Montevideo has some items from the Graf Spee, including one of the anti aircraft guns. There is also the dress uniform of Admiral Sir Henry Harwood, presented by his son. At the port, where the ferry from Argentina docks, is a range finder and anchor. Both locations are well worth a visit. I have also visited Langsdorff's grave at the German cemetery in BA, also there some graves of other sailors from the ship.

0:50 - Chapter 1 - Rendez vous in the high seas 4:00 - Chapter 2 - The raiding campaign 7:15 - Chapter 3 - The battle 12:50 - Chapter 4 - Standoff in montevideo 15:45 - Chapter 5 - The final act

This is a true soldier. Rest in peace, captain

If its at the Rio de la Plata wouldn’t be the Silver River?

HMS Achilles was the first warship to fly the NZ Ensign in battle! Achilles later became the flagship of the Royal NZ Navy on its formation from the NZ Division of the RN in 1941 - she served along with HMNZS Gambia and HMNZS Leander as a NZ Squadron in the Pacific. After service with the Indian Navy she was scrapped and her Forward turret and Director Tower now reside at the NZ Navy's HQ Base Devonport, Auckland, NZ.

That is not the light cruiser HMS Ajax, she and the HMS Achilles are both Leander class cruiser so should look like two peas in a pod. That looks to me like a British battleship (it is the King George V class battleship HMS Ajax as I was corrected by Mike's comment below and not a Queen Elizabeth class ship as I was thinking). Not sure who she is, but definitely not a light cruiser.

I'm from New Zealand and this is the first time I've ever heard of this battle. Super interesting

Failed to mention that the Royal Navy did not have a large force waiting. It was a ruse using false radio traffic. That is why the captain shot himself.

Its Graf Spee as in GRA-Shpey, like the British Spey class but with the h and p

Rio de la Plata. River of silver. Plata means silver in Spanish. Plato means plate.

the superior naval force out side montevideo was actually the two dameged light cruiseres and the hms cumberland the exeter was limping back to the falklands the last chapter of the fight took place in norwegian waters on 16-17 february 1940 the supply ship Altmark was boarded by the british destroyer Hms Cossack who Liberated about 300 Brritish sailors who was captured by the Graf Spee known as the Altmark incident

Simon's pronunciation of von Spee is killing me. The double e is an "eyy" sound.

It's a shame that Captain Langsdorff chose to take his own life. From what I've seen here, he was an absolute gentlemen and played by the rules when it came to naval warfare. If what I've just watched is accurate, I've no doubt that if he hadn't taken his life, he would have been acquitted at Nuremberg.

My home town is called Ajax. Named directly after the HMS Ajax. It was founded during WW2 to manufacture mortars. The town was only known by its railroad stop name (called Defensive Industry Limited or DILCO). The people living here read the story and started calling DILCO Ajax. Most streets (mine included) are named after people who served on the ships. And we have one of the largest collections of RN artifacts from the battle outside of South America

Good writing on this one!

Exeter did not have 16 guns and 16 torpedo tubes, that would've made the battle a LOT shorter

This channel is *chefs kiss* excellent! Simon & team, can you please do the battle of Baldwin the Leper vs Saladin?

Graf Spee had two triple turrets with 11" guns. Splitting the RN cruisers into two groups forced a choice between splitting the two turrets' fire, cutting the potential broadside in half, or firing both targets to one side, while leaving the other side unengaged.

Never met my Grandfather but I've read his journals. Was an Officer serving on HMNZS Achilles during this battle, and redeployed to the Battle of Crete to evacuate ANZAC and Greeks. According to my Uncle's and Aunt's he never spoke about what happened during the war. I would've liked to know him.

I recently watched a movie on Netflix called "The Forgotten Battle", about the Battle of the Scheldt. It's about the Allies trying to get to Zeeland in the Netherlands after landing in Normandy. I think this could be a great video topic.

>clicked a random video from the recommended, from a chanel I'm not a subscriber. >Simon Can't say I'm too surprised

if I had a nickle everytime an "Admiral Graf Spee" goes down in the Southern Atlantic, I'd have 2 nickles which isn't a lot but it's wierd that it happened twice

A superb entry in your pantheon good Sir. May I request a waraographics treatment of The Spring Offensive of 1918 aka Operation Kaiserschlacht?

Great documentary!

Graff Spee was in no means a Battleship she was a Panzershiffe (Armoured ship) she was a heavy cruiser she was not a new concept but was a continuation of pre ww1 German armoured cruiser design before the Battlecruisers essentially made the type obsolete.

Definitely need to cover the Battle of Fredericksburg. One of the key battles of the US War Between the States; this battle had a significant moment of courage, heroism, and compassion when Sergeant, later 2nd Lt. Richard Rowland Kirkland of the CSA brought water to wounded Federals despite major risks to his person. Also, it’s pronounced “Shpay” not “spee” as it looks.

The battle of the Falkland Islands (WWI) would be a good compliment to this video I feel.

The warship you show when introducing HMS Ajax is the WW1 King George V class Dreadnought Battleship of the same name. She was scrapped in 1926. The Ajax which fought at the River Plate was a Leader class light cruiser. Edit. After the fighting stopped, the RN and the British Embassy then persuaded the Germans that the Renown, Ark Royal and Dunkerque etc were waiting for Graf Spee while in fact only HMS Cumberland had been able to join them. Renown was still in Gibraltar...

I’d highly recommend anyone to watch Drachinifel or Historiograph’s video on the battle for much further detail. For example: The diplomatic nightmare caused by the over enthusiastic British ambassador to Uruguay and how it was resolved. Basically, the ambassador wanted the Graf Spee to be forced out of Montevideo within 24/48 hours as per the rules of war but was advised there wasn’t yet the naval strength in the area to confirm the destruction of Graf Spee. In order to buy time and save face diplomatically, the British then organised a ship flying a flag of a country at war with Germany to leave Montevideo every day until the naval strength was sufficient as under international law, the warship had to wait at least 24 hours after the departure of an enemy vessel in order that it might escape.

You didn't mention that the strong British fleet, Renown, Ark Royal etc. were not outside the harbour and were in fact some days away. It was all a ruse and it worked.

Nice, I heard about this but always mix it up with the WW 1 battle outside Falkland Isles..

Well spoken story, from what I have read the story follows quite closely.

At 6:14 the picture of the British light cruiser Ajax is in error. Shown is a picture of the world war one era battle ship Ajax commissioned 1913. The light cruiser Ajax was a Leander class ship commissioned in 1935.

Id love to see you speak about battle of Waterloo

Your video made me think of a fun video I'd love to see you do on one of your channels (TIFO maybe), nautical terms and there entomology. Bow, Stern, Port, Starboard, Knot, Fathom, Shot, Gun, Jib, Poop Deck, Bridge, Sleuth, and more. Sailing terms are weird.

Graf Spee could easily take on British heavy cruisers, which at the time had a main armament of 8in guns and armour at its thickest of 3 to 5 inches depending on which class of heavy it was {Exeter had 3in). Spee had 11in guns plus armour at its thickest point of of 5.5 inches..it would only struggle once it meet battlecruiser class ships, It was called pocket battleship for a reason!..

So what happened? His last line is so cryptic, there's no telling what he did with his service pistol.

There are an awful lot of little errors in this video, incorrect pronunciation of the names is annoying but inconsequential. However at 6:15, when listing Harwood's ships, you seriously showed a picture of the WW1 dreadnought HMS Ajax, instead of the Leander class cruiser that was actually present? How did such a major slip get through?

Greetings from Ajax Ontario!

I think you threw every pronunciation of Graf Spee at the wall to see what would stick, including 'Speer' and 'Spree'

Good stuff! 👍

You should do a video on The Battle of Blair Mountain. I’d like to learn more on it

To be pedantic but fair at the time HMS Achilles was a British ship **with just over half the crew Kiwis** [correction] only 2yrs later becoming a Kiwi ship. A "knot" equals 1 nautical mile/hr(1.15mph, 1.85kmph). Exeter had 6 main guns, not 16.

My grandfather was on the Exeter in the comms room directly u der turret b. Turret b sustained a direct hit, and while shit got very real, my grandfather was ok, and went on to.meet my grandmother in the falklands while the ship was being repaired. Some years later, they moved to NZ and never looked back. So I guess i owe my very kiwi life to this battle, and to the germans for underestimating the armour on Exeter. I'd wager most kiwis don't know about the role Achilles played early on in the war. But I do, and the dual connection i have makes be a bit misty eyed at times.

Romanian 1989 Revolution and 1821 Wallachian Uprising when?

Why do you contiously add an R to Spee.

Idea for a video: The Football War, where two sovereign nations with enough tension to measure on the Richter Scale went to war because of immigration, soccer, and bananas

What an incredible story. Need a more in depth video on this

How many different ways can Simon pronounce Spee in one video? Stay tuned to find out.

I really don’t understand why the captain killed himself. He had a successful commerce raiding mission, gave the Royal Navy a bloody nose, kept most of his crew alive and prevented the capture of his ship. He should have gone home for tea and medals.

You picturing the wrong Ajax!

A wonderful introducing ...I never Heard about it as such Details

BTW, Graf Spee was the third of her class, following Deutschland (later Lützow) and Admiral Scheer.

How about a video on the Altmark, HMS Cossack and the rescue of the prisoners?

I'm pretty sure the Graf Spee never looted the ships it sank. Like the U-Boats it was out to sink shipping, not plunder it. Plus it was a war ship, it had no room for the amount of cargo a merchant ship carried.

Sounds like he was a honourable man

This was the Spee’s knees

Number of guns tends to be less important than the calibre. Graf Spee's 6 x 11" out ranged and out punched the largest guns of the Exeter with the 6 x 8" guns. The 6" guns of Ajax and Achillies were extremely out classed - although Graf Spee also had 8 x 5.9" guns as her secondary armament. She was a very formidable opponent. Langsdorf was a decent and honourable captain who was far too good for the Nazi party he sadly represented.

i never understood the whole captain goes down with his ship thing. like a ship replacable, a well trained competent captain, less replaceable

Why'd you blurr out Langsdorff's cap badge?

It was telling in the photo of the German sailors funeral ceremony that Captain Langsdorff, unlike several German civilian authorities, was giving the traditional German Naval Salute rather than the Nazi "Heil Hitler".

This was not an even fight. The German ship was actually more than a match for the three RN cruisers. It was designed to kill any ship smaller and out run any ship bigger.

can you do a war graphics episode on the grey hound from 1942

Grahf Spay, anyone?

i think this video misses the whole point , the British intially wanted the Graff spee out of Montevideo asap, but as reinforcements where 1000's of miles away, the British then wanted the Spee to remain in port, and to achieve this they sent out Allied merchant ships every 24hrs which the Germans then had to give the Merchants a 24 hour head start. So this effectively kept the Spee in port. This was to allow time for reinforcements, when the Spee went out on the 17th ,Force H was at least 2 days away

What " battles raging in Europe"??? Poland was done, and the Battle of Britain started in mid-1940. North Africa started in mid-1940. The winter war between Finland and Russia....but it was mostly cold war in the rest of Europe...

At 6:18 your photos are all wrong, especially the fact that instead of the cruiser HMS Ajax you have a photo of the WW1 Super Dreadnaught HMS Ajax. I assure you if the HMS Ajax you show had been there the Battle would have been over in less than 5 mins

Simon, a little more time on research, please. That picture of HMS Ajax is a pre-world war 1 dreadnought of the same name. Yes, I know you got it off of wikipedia, where that ship is shown as the later light cruiser. 2 minutes of research would have shown you that wikipedia is wrong and should not be relied upon.

In November 2004 I saw the raising of the Graf Spee off Montevideo. This was the earliest navel battle of WW2 in December 1939.

What an honorable and humane man that German captain was.

I know it's just me and it's because I live in San Diego, speak Spanish well and usually take vacations in Mexico BUT, every time I see or hear someone say River Plate, it just grates on my nerves! The river is NOT the River Plate! It's name is Rio Plata-Silver River!!! It was so racist at that time to not call it by its proper name! NOW before there's a bunch of rude replies, I KNOW it was a different time and place, I get it and I know that even today we must refer to it as River Plate or no one would know what was being talked about. I'm just writing this for non-Spanish speakers so they know what the River's name REALLY means.

My great grandad fought in this war 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Great story

The 1950's movie was pretty decent. Peter Finch starred in it.

Correct me if I’m wrong chat, but I think it’s pronounced Graf Spay

Wow three different pronunciations of the Graf Spee in the first three mentions...

he was an honorable man.

fact boi needs to check his warships weaponry. although of the force g ships present HMS Exeter was the most powerful being a small heavy cruiser, HMS Cumberland which was off station during the battle was a more powerful heavy cruise of the county class carrying 8x8inch guns as her main armament compared to the smaller York class HMS Exaters 6x8 inch guns. the two light cruisers are leander class with a main armerment of 8x6 inch guns. graph spee mounted 6x11 inch guns as her main battery.

Dear lord...its "Spee" not spree

Lol, the Graf Spree, hehehe

I'll set the chairs up guys

Called the ship by the wrong name slightly more than you called it the right name...

If you're gonna cover naval battles please cover the battles which involved Thomas Conchrane, Britain's greatest admiral.

Panzerschiff singular, Panzerschiffe plural

WAIT, the 'SS SHAKESPEARE?' I thought that was a German ship 🤨😂...& I always figured the 'range finder' was how new swabbies found the kitchen?? Sry, couldn't help myself. Figured it was the 1 thing that didn't need an explanation.😂✌️

Up next;Belleau Woods

Unusually, this video has lots of errors. Not common for this and the sister channels. Pronouncing ship name, incorrect displacement, incorrect top speed, picture of an R class battleship for Ajax. etc. A rare off day

Oh my ... Simon should get an award for pronouncing the very subject of the video four different ways ... all wrong. I heard at various times ... speeee, speer, schpeee, spree I believe the correct way is close to "Schpay"

Maximilian Graf(Count) Von(Baron) Spee. You did not give him his full title!! Are you saying "Graf Spree" deliberately?