Battle of The River Plate

[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.

[Thomas McCall]

Captain Lansdorff was the name of the Captain of the Graf Spee

[David Seymour]

An attempt is being made to raise GRAF SPEE with the intention of putting her on display at the National Marine Museum in Montevideo. If you put GRAF SPEE into Google you will find a couple of short articles there about the project.
Regards,
David

[angie999]

Here are a few useful links, including an article covering the movie and another on the attempts to raise the Graf Spee:

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m1373/n...1/article.jhtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bat...he_River_Plate
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/02/10/...l?from=storyrhs
http://www.members.tripod.com/~marcin_w/index-soam.html

A related story concerns the bulk of the British seamen captured by the Graf Spee. In addition to the ships' officers held on the Graf Spee, many ordinary crew members were captured. Most of these were tranferred to the Graf Spee's supply ship, the Altmark. Conditions on the Altmark were pretty bad.

When returning to Germany, the Altmark was pursued by the Royal Navy and took refuge in a Norwegian fjord, where they were rescued by Captain Phillip Vian's HMS Cossack, in breach of Norwegian neutrality.

[DavidP]

I found this photo of the Graff Spee amongst my fathers wartime mementos, he carried it throughout the war, I haven't got the faintest idea why, as he was in the 78th Div in Italy as a machine gunner. But I thought it might be of some interest on this board - feel free to use it as any copyright the photographer had is expired by now.

[Drew5233]

[Drew5233]

When I was a child around 12 years old I read about the hunt for the Graf Spee as I did many Royal Navy exploits because my father was a officer in the navy during the 50's and it was expected I'd join the Royal Navy when I was old enough............Much to his disappointment when I joined the Royal Signals instead

Anyway I'm digressing......I remember one of the cruisers engaging Graf Spee had sustained substanial damage that she withdrew to the Falklands Islands for repairs.

A year or so later the Argentinians invaded the islands and I remember everyone was amazed how a 13 year old (Me) knew where the Falklands Islands were and knew so much about the Islands.


Ok I'll get my coat

[Rich Payne]

The Commander of Ajax, Charles Woodhouse lived in the village where I grew up and gave us a talk in school about the Graf Spee. He told a fascinating tale of cat and mouse. As I recall, I was the only one who dared to ask questions afterwards.

I'm old enough to remember the SS Great Britain being towed back from the Falklands so I knew where it was too !

[peterhastie]

I attended a memorial service at Christ Church Cathedral in 1983 for the men who died in the Graf Spee episode, some of whom are buried in the cemetery. Strangely enough the ship I was serving on was HMS Achilles. I remember seeing the rusting hull of the SS Great Britain as well and in contrast the burnt and buckled superstructure of the Sir Galahad.

Hope this link helps.

Falkland Islands Info Portal - History Articles

[Jan7]

Originally Posted by DavidP

http://www.creative-process.com/files/GraffSpee.jpg I found this photo of the Graff Spee amongst my fathers wartime mementos, he carried it throughout the war, I haven't got the faintest idea why, as he was in the 78th Div in Italy as a machine gunner. But I thought it might be of some interest on this board - feel free to use it as any copyright the photographer had is expired by now.

It's very, very curious this photo

Do you able to post the back of this photo? -any thing interesting contents....I think.

Thanks, DavidP for share with us!




Jan.