[plan_D]

As far as I knew 'Force H' didn't actually come into contact with Graf Spree. When the battle of River Plate occured they were many miles away and would not be there within days.
Harwood ordered an attack on the Graf Spree to stop it from escaping into the Atlantic. The Exeter was out-ranged by the Graf Spree and was badly damaged, it then got sent to the Falkland isles by Harwood and the other three continued the fight.
The Graf Spree turned, and headed to Montevideo it moored up and many of the British in Montevideo were shocked that this thing had come in, apparently it had very little damage from the previous battles.
At first McArthur (I think) wanted to get Graf Spree out and into the sea to be destroyed until Harwood told him that he would not be able to destroy it, so using International Laws of ships in neutral docks they said that Graf Spree had to stay in for at least 24 hours because a supply ship had just set out from there.

Without going too deep into it, they deceived the Captain of Graf Spree into believeing Group H was out there, with Ark Royal, so the man had two choices, scuttle his ship or try and fight his way out which would of been a certain loss. He sent a message back to Berlin saying that the damage sustained made the ship un-battleworthy, took the Graf Spree out to deeper water with Skeleton crew and scuttled it. The Captain shot himself...what was his name? I can't remember.