Admiral Graf Spee and his legendary captain. Battleship "Admiral Graf Spee" or Hitler's lost ship A sharp dagger in a narrow sheath
Laid down October 1, 1932, launched June 30, 1934, commissioned January 6, 1936. Built at the shipyards of Wilhelmshaven.
Death:
On the morning of December 13, 1939, at about 6 o'clock in the morning, the Admiral Graf Spee collided with a squadron of English cruisers; on the Spee, the tops of the masts were found at 5:52, at 6:16 from the cruiser Exeter, a report was received: "I believe that this is a" pocket battleship "". At first, the British light cruisers were mistaken for destroyers, that is, the commander of the Admiral Spee, Captain zur see Hans Langsdorf, believed that he was fighting a cruiser and two destroyers.
At 0618, the first salvo of the German raider fell between the English cruisers, and four minutes later the Exeter's guns began to speak. Mistaking the light cruisers for destroyers, the commander of the Admiral Graf Spee ordered the main caliber artillery fire to be concentrated only on the heavy cruiser. Over the next twenty minutes, the Exeter receives several hits, as a result of which the second bow tower was broken, the command bridge was destroyed, communications were disrupted and the rudder control mechanisms were disabled. Going to the aft conning tower, the commander of the English ship orders a torpedo salvo to be fired at the German battleship, and at that very moment the ship is shaken by two more heavy hits. Shrouded in smoke, settling on the bow and listing on board, the Exeter leaves the battle at 7.40.
Meanwhile, light cruisers, fired only by the battleship's auxiliary artillery, slipped through the danger zone and, according to Langsdorf, behaved with "incomprehensible impudence." When at 7.16 the raider turned south, intending to finish off the Exeter, the light cruisers Ajax and Achilles, rushing to the aid of their brother, fired so accurately and efficiently that two shells disabled the artillery fire control system on the Admiral Count Spee". And although these actions did not go unpunished - one 280-mm German shell disabled the stern towers on the Ajax, and the other demolished its mast - both Englishmen continued to follow the "pocket" battleship departing to the east like shadows. At midnight, when the Admiral Count Spee anchored in the Montevideo roadstead, the Ajax and Achilles, separated, hurried to block both exits from the mouth of La Plata. The next night they were joined by the heavy cruiser Cumberland, which was all Harwood could do against the German raider.
Although the damage to the Admiral Graf Spee was not very great, she needed repairs, which could not be done in the three days provided by the Uruguayan government according to international law, moreover, ammunition was coming to an end. Understanding his predicament, the English agents in Montevideo spread rumors: “Admiral Count Spee” at the exit from La Plata was waiting for a strong English squadron, which included the battlecruiser Rinaun and the aircraft carrier Ark Royal. Believing in the imminent death of his ship, Langsdorf sent a request to Berlin, from where an almost personal order from the Fuhrer was received: do not accept battle, destroy the ship. On December 17, 1939, Langsdorff ordered the ship to be scuttled. The team went ashore and were interned. The commander shot himself on December 20.
The Spee sank in neutral waters in a shallow place - so that its charred superstructures towered above the waves. The British equipped a special expedition, intending to remove from him everything that survived from the instruments, in particular, the radar, as well as weapons (105-mm anti-aircraft guns and machine guns). Only part of the program was completed, because shortly after the start of work, a storm broke out, and the operation had to be stopped. The remaining pile of iron, starting in 1942, was gradually dismantled for scrap. True, working on a muddy bottom turned out to be extremely inconvenient, and some parts of the last “pocket battleship” are still rusting at the place of death, at 34 ° 58 "25" south latitude and 56 ° 18 "01" west longitude. In 2004, some of the remains of the ship were raised from the water.
Before its death in the harbor of Montevideo, the “pocket battleship” seriously annoyed the British, having managed to sink eleven merchant ships. ”(c) text from the Internet for reference
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After battle
After the defeat of Germany in the First World War, the victorious powers decided to impose many different restrictions on its fleet. They carefully worked out the paragraphs of the agreements, according to which the displacement of new ships, designed to replace battleships that had served 20 years, could not exceed 10,000 tons (“long”, 1016 kg each). At the same time, the maximum caliber of artillery was not specified: it was believed that only a heavy cruiser or a coastal defense ship could be “crammed” into the allotted framework. At the same time, when concluding the Washington Treaty, the winners themselves decided to set for their cruisers not only a similar displacement limit, but also to limit the caliber of their artillery - no more than 203 mm.
"Admiral Count Spee"
When the Germans began designing ships to replace ironclads, they really went the usual way at first: they developed a coastal defense ship with 38 cm guns and a conventional heavy cruiser "Washington" type with 210 mm guns. However, after several studies, they came up with a completely unusual project.
Firstly, they decided to use diesel engines as the main machines. Secondly, the main armament was to consist of six 28 cm guns in two three-gun turrets. Thirdly, much attention was paid to the fire control system, which turned out to be very successful and perfect. Fourth, armor protection has become unusually powerful for a cruiser-class ship. With the use of diesel engines, a huge cruising range was directly linked, and the desire for all-round weight savings led to the use of a number of technological innovations in the construction. True, the new battleships turned out to be expensive, and therefore the Weimar Republic could not immediately allocate funds for the construction of three units. As a result, the lead Deutschland was laid down in February 1928, the second in the Admiral Scheer series - in June 1931, and the last Admiral Graf Spee - only October 1, 1932. he entered the system in January 1936. The construction of this most advanced diesel raider was actually carried out after the Nazis came to power, who were not so afraid of international scandals due to the violation of "vile and criminal treaties unjustly imposed on Germany."
The ship, built at the shipyard in Wilhelmshaven, had the following performance characteristics: standard displacement - 12,100 tons, total displacement - 16,582 tons. Waterline length - 181.7 m, maximum - 186 m, width - 21.65 m, draft the largest is 7.43 m. The total power of the eight main diesel engines is 56,800 hp, the speed is 26 (maximum - 28) knots, and the cruising range is 16,300 miles. The thickness of the armor belt - up to 100 mm, decks - up to 70 mm, towers - up to 140 mm, wheelhouse - 150 mm. The total weight of the armor was 3000 tons. Artillery armament consisted of 2? 3 28 cm (283 mm) main caliber guns, 8 1 15 cm secondary caliber guns, 3 2 105 mm anti-aircraft guns, and 4 2 37 mm 10 1 20 mm anti-aircraft guns. The artillery was supplemented by two four-tube 533 mm torpedo tubes in lightly armored mounts. There was also a catapult and equipment to accommodate two float scouts. The crew exceeded 1000 people. It is worth noting that even before the start of World War II, Admiral Graf Spee received a rather primitive, but already quite efficient radar.
It was completely clear what class these ships belonged to, the British came up with a special name for them “Pocket battleship” - “pocket battleship”. In Germany, they were officially listed as battleships (Panzerschiffe).
Shortly after the completion of the tests, the battleship went on a trial voyage to the Atlantic, and in December 1936 became part of the German squadron operating off the coast of the engulfed civil war Spain. Directly in the waters near the Iberian Peninsula, the "pocket battleship" visited several times, but each time it was there for a relatively short time and was not particularly noted, but often participated in various ceremonial events. For example, he represented Germany during the celebrations at the Spithead raid in May 1937.
When, in August 1939, tension in Europe began to grow rapidly and it became clear that things were heading for another war, the command decided to bring the raider to the open spaces of the Atlantic ahead of time. The ship, commanded by Captain zur see G. von Langsdorf, left Wilhelmshaven on the 21st and successfully sailed into the ocean. By September 1 - the day of the German attack on Poland - he was in the Central Atlantic, where he successfully met with the Altmark supply ship, which had also left Germany ahead of time.
On September 10, the “pocket battleship” crossed the equator and headed further south, but the order to begin active operations from Germany did not arrive until the 25th. On the last day of the month, the British steamship Clement was captured, and its sinking was accompanied by a number of "jokes": the ship did not want to sink, and two torpedoes fired passed by. I had to use artillery. Observing the laws of cruising war, Langsdorf provided the English sailors with the opportunity to escape, but unmasked his ship. The British and French immediately sent several strong formations to search for the pickpocket. Later, operating in the South Atlantic and entering the Indian Ocean, the Admiral Count Spee captured eight more prizes. At the same time, the Ar-196 airborne aircraft was actively used to search for more victims. The raider sent the last prey to the bottom on December 3, and after that he transferred the next captives to the Altmark, sending it to Germany. The destroyer of trade itself moved to the mouth of La Plata.
By this time, the British were able to correctly determine the location of the battleship, and the squadron of Commodore G. Harwood arrived in the same area as part of the heavy cruiser Exeter and the light cruisers Ajax and Achilles. Opponents found each other early in the morning on December 13, and the Germans at first mistook light cruisers for destroyers. The commander of the "pocket battleship" decided to concentrate fire only on the heavy ship, and from 06:18 to 07:40, the Exeter received several hits and withdrew from the battle. However, the light cruisers took advantage of the fact that the enemy's attention was focused on the heavy cruiser and resolutely approached. They scored many hits and, although their six-inch shells could not inflict too much damage on the ironclad, forced him to abandon his intention to finish off the Exeter. Although as a result of the battle all three "British" suffered (total losses - 72 killed), and the strongest of them failed, the "pocket battleship" also got it. 36 people died on it and there were injuries, but the main thing is that its commander lost self-confidence. Not trying to deal with the "insolent", he chose to go to a neutral port - the capital of Uruguay, Montevideo.
The term of stay there, according to international laws, expired on the evening of December 17, 1939. By this time, the heavy cruiser Cumberland approached the Ajax and Achilles to help, but the Germans overestimated the strength of the enemy and decided not to go to sea to certain death. At about 6 p.m., the Admiral Graf Spee left, and two hours later it was blown up by its own crew on the border of territorial waters. The ship burned for three days, and its wreck sank in shallow water. Captain zur see Langsdorf shot himself in Buenos Aires on December 20 ...
"Altmark" in Norwegian waters was intercepted by English destroyers, all the prisoners were released. Two other battleships - Lutzow (formerly Deutschland) and Admiral Scheer - were transferred to heavy cruisers in December 1939. Both of them died in the last month of the war. And the skeleton of the "Admiral Count Spee" was partially dismantled for metal, partially left at the place of death. Already in the 2000s. Underwater archaeologists have raised many different items to the surface, including individual tools.
For me, the most remarkable thing in history is mystical coincidences. It's nice when this or that event is decorated with a pretty halo of total fatality and existential inevitability. I will tell about one mystical coincidence today. (Or maybe tomorrow or in a month, I don’t know when you, dear site visitor, are reading this text).
In the second half of the 19th century, the heir to the noble family von Spee, a boy with a typical German name, Maximilian Johannes Maria Hubertus, entered the service of the imperial naval forces of Germany. Thanks to his noble birth and military talent, he made a brilliant career, and the First world war met in the position of vice admiral. In addition, Maximilian von Spee was also the commander of the East Asian cruising squadron, in peacetime controlling the colony, and in military time preventing enemy ships from sailing calmly in the seas-oceans. Shortly after the start of the war, von Spee, in the company of his squadron of five ships, was already cutting through the waters along the Brazilian coast in the hope of profiting from British anchors.
On November 1, 1914, von Spee's squadron at the Battle of Coronel defeated the British squadron of Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock. Two Englishmen went to the bottom armored cruisers, Cradock himself and 1,560 others. The victims of the German side can be counted on the toes of one ostrich foot - only two sailors. Defeat is still a soapy stain on the crystal surface of the naval greatness of Great Britain.
The answer of the offended British did not have to wait long. Already on December 8, 1914, the squadron of Count von Spee, sailing near the Falkland Islands, was overtaken by eight British ships under the command of Vice Admiral Doveton Sturdy. In the Battle of Falkland, the German fleet lost three ships and more than 2,000 people, including Vice Admiral Count Maximilian von Spee and his two sons. Subsequently, Churchill himself paid tribute to the courage of the deceased von Spee: "He was like a flower in a vase, it was pleasant to watch him, but he was doomed to death." In Germany, the count posthumously became a national hero. The most advanced German heavy cruiser or pocket battleship "Admiral Count Spee" was even named after him. Speaking of battleship...
"Admiral Graf Spee" was launched in June 1934, and the daughter of the late Vice Admiral, Countess Hubert von Spee, broke the bottle on her side. After several years of service, the battleship was sent to cruise in the southern part of the Atlantic.
It looked like "Admiral Graf Spee":
During the autumn months of 1939, the Admiral Graf Spee managed to sink about ten British ships. Moreover, from one of them, the captain of the battleship Hans Langsdorf "borrowed" an English walkie-talkie that decorated his wheelhouse and helped to intercept British messages. On December 13, 1939, the naughty German battleship was finally discovered by the allied forces in the form of two British and one New Zealand cruisers.
During the battle off the Argentine coast, Admiral Count Spee received minor damage, was forced to hide in La Plata Bay and ask the government of Uruguay for permission for a three-day repair in one of the ports. Having received permission, Captain Langsdorf began to listen to the captured English radio. And he panicked. From the messages intercepted by him, it followed that at the entrance to La Plata Bay, not three cruisers, but a whole squadron arrived in time to wait for the battleship.
Langsdorf did not know that he had fallen victim to a bluff: no squadron was expected. Moreover, many historians still believe that the fast German battleship had every chance of breaking through and escaping British pursuit. After a three-day period, Captain Langsdorf made a fateful decision: to sink the battleship Admiral Graf Spee. The team was interned, and the captain shot himself.
As you can see, both Count von Spee himself and the battleship of the same name died in the waters of the same ocean, off the coast of the same Argentina, with a difference of 25 years and 9 days. Here is such an academic example of a mystical coincidence in history.
"Admiral Graf Spee"
Germany's third "pocket battleship" was laid down in Wilhelmshaven on October 1, 1932, launched on June 30, 1934, and commissioned on January 6, 1936. "became the flagship of the German navy, replacing the Admiral Scheer, and remained so until 1938. Since August 1936, the battleship entered Spanish territorial waters five times, but did not participate in hostilities.
From May 15 to May 22, 1937, the ship visited the international naval parade in Spithead, visited Sweden and Norway, paid a visit to Scandinavia in 1938. On August 22, 1938, Spee participated in the parade on the occasion of the launch of the cruiser " Prince Eugen", and in October of the same year he conducted exercises in the Atlantic. In March 1939, the "pocket battleship" entered Memel when it was attached to the Third Reich, in May it was on maneuvers in the Atlantic and transported parts of the Condor Legion from Spain.
From the very beginning of the 2nd World War, the German naval command sought to use "pocket battleships" in accordance with their main purpose: to combat enemy trade. August 21, 1939 "Admiral Graf Spee" left Germany and, passing between Iceland and the Faroe Islands, took up a position in the central Atlantic. As a supply transport, the raider was given the Altmark ship, which left Kiel a few weeks earlier and was supposed to meet with the battleship on September 1 near the Canary Islands.
Like Deutschland, Admiral Graf Spee, for the above reason, was inactive until September 26, and as it turned out, she was almost discovered at the very beginning of her raid.
On September 11, a reconnaissance aircraft from the Spee, 30 miles from the raider, noticed the English heavy cruiser Cumberland, which was heading on a collision course. Surprisingly, the aircraft was not seen from the cruiser, and he was able to warn his battleship of the danger, after which the Spee immediately withdrew to the east. I must say that the presence of reconnaissance aircraft greatly facilitated the actions of the German raiders.
The first victim of the Spee was the British ship Clement, sunk on September 30 off the coast of Brazil. His crew arrived in this country on another English ship. After the Clement report, the British Admiralty ordered the formation of 8 powerful search groups, which included 4 battleships, 4 aircraft carriers, 1 battlecruiser, 14 heavy and light cruisers. Their task was to hunt for the German raiders. Meanwhile, the Admiral Graf Spee crossed the South Atlantic and on October 5 met its second victim: the steamer Newton Beach, from which a signal for help was transmitted before the ship was captured by a raider. This signal was received by another English merchant ship, and a report was immediately sent to the cruiser Cumberland.
But the cruiser commander made a miscalculation: he was sure that the commander of the search group in Freetown also accepted the report, so he did not rehearse it. In fact, in Freetown for several weeks they did not know anything about the actions of the raider, and if the report had been transferred to the headquarters immediately, the "pocket battleship" would have been overtaken in a matter of days.
From October 5 to October 10, 1939, Spee sank or captured 3 more ships sailing from the Cape of Good Hope. On October 22, he sank the steamer Trevanion, which sent a signal for help on the air, received by the ship Lanstephan Castle and transmitted by it to Freetown. An active search for the German raider was organized, but it turned out to be fruitless, because, fearing detection, the Spee hastily retreated to the southwest, replenished fuel from the Altmark once again, and, on the orders of Raeder, headed for the Indian Ocean. On November 15, in the Mozambique Channel, he sank a small tanker, and the next day he stopped the Dutch ship, after which he turned back, again rounded the Cape of Good Hope and returned to the Atlantic.
By this time, the English Admiral Harwood, who commanded the search group "G", came to the conclusion that the German raider would sooner or later appear in the Rio de Janeiro-La Plata area, which was distinguished by very intensive shipping. It was decided to concentrate all the ships of the group in this area: the heavy cruiser Exeter, the light cruisers Ajax and Achilles. By December 12, the three ships had joined 150 miles east of the mouth of the La Plata River.
December 2, 1939 "Admiral Count Spee" launched the English ship "Dorik Star" to the bottom, and then, being in the central part of the Atlantic Ocean, sank his last victim "Streonshel" on December 7, lay heading west and headed for La Plata where Harwood's cruisers were waiting for him.
December 13 at 06:00 08 min., a day after the connection of the British cruisers, "Ajax" reported that he sees smoke in the north-west. The heavy cruiser Exeter was sent for reconnaissance. After 8 minutes, a report came from him: “I believe that this is a“ pocket battleship. ”So, after a long search, the British managed to find the Spee.
The first phase of the battle that took place lasted about an hour and a half: from 06:00. 14 min. until 07 o'clock. 40 min. The cruisers "Ajax" and "Achilles", approaching from the east, opened fire from a distance of 95 cables. The cruiser "Exeter" separated from them and attacked the "pocket battleship" from the south. "Spee" was faced with a dilemma: to fire from the main caliber on one target or simultaneously on three enemy ships. At first, the commander of the battleship, Captain 1st Rank Landsdorf, chose the second method, but, making sure that the 203-mm guns of the Exeter posed the greatest danger to the Spee, he ordered the fire of all his 280-mm guns to be transferred to the British heavy cruiser.
I must say that due to the errors of the surveillance service, the raider commander at first considered that he was dealing with a light cruiser and two destroyers. When the mistake was found out, it was too late to evade the battle, and it was not so easy to get away from the three cruisers.
Artillery fire "Spee" throughout the battle was accurate. The "pocket battleship", unlike the British cruisers, had a radar, which, although it was not specifically artillery, still gave out a distance for firing. Soon the Exeter was hit by main battery shells. One of its gun turrets failed, and the steering mechanisms were damaged. The cruiser commander switched to control from the aft post, continued maneuvering and ordered a torpedo salvo. But the torpedoes missed the target, and the Exeter again received hits from 280-mm shells, so that only one of its towers remained in service. At 07 o'clock. 30 minutes. the cruiser had to stop fighting and retreat to the southeast to repair the damage.
At the same time, "Spee" fired from 152-mm guns at the "Ajax" and "Achilles", but did not achieve hits from a long distance. However, the distance between the raider and the light cruisers was rapidly shrinking, and at 0600 hours. 30 minutes. the battleship transferred the fire of one of her turrets to them. "Achilles" received minor damage from a heavy projectile that exploded near the waterline, the artillery fire control radio station was out of order on it, as a result of which the accuracy of fire decreased noticeably.
At 07 o'clock. 16 min. Spee, putting up a smokescreen, turned sharply to the south in order to engage in a duel with the badly damaged Exeter. But the Ajax and Achilles, having guessed this maneuver, hurried to the aid of the heavy cruiser and opened fire so effective that the Spee abandoned its attempt, turned to the northwest and entered into battle with the Ajax.
At 07 o'clock. 25 min. Ajax received the first hit by a 280-mm projectile, as a result of which both of its aft turrets failed. At 07 o'clock. 38 min. followed by a second hit. At the same time, the Spee was not seriously damaged, although there were already 36 killed and 59 wounded on board.
With the withdrawal of the Exeter from the battle, the total weight of the artillery salvo of the two British cruisers only slightly exceeded the weight of the salvo of one auxiliary artillery of the "pocket battleship". Not surprisingly, at 07:00. 40 min. Hartwood ordered his ships to put up a smoke screen and withdraw to the east, which ended the first phase of the battle. "Admiral Graf Spee" did not pursue the enemy, but continued to move west. Therefore, after 6 minutes, the British cruisers turned 180 ° and moved after him.
The second phase of the battle consisted in the fact that the British ships relentlessly followed the "pocket battleship" approaching the mouth of La Plata. If the cruisers came too close, the Spee fired several volleys.
At 23 o'clock. 17 min. it became clear that the raider intended to enter the port of Montevideo, and Harwood ordered an end to his pursuit. The British had a difficult task: not to let the German battleship slip away. They had only two light cruisers at their disposal, on one of which half of the guns were disabled, and the English heavy cruiser Cumberland, closest to the battlefield, could not approach them until the evening of the next day. But "Spee" did not try to break into the open sea. The performance of the ship deteriorated, and the chances of crossing the Atlantic Ocean in winter conditions without meeting with the enemy were small. After anchoring off Montevideo, Landdorf asked the Uruguayan government for permission to anchor for the time needed to repair and restore the ship. But the "pocket battleship" was allowed to stay in Montevideo for no more than 72 hours. During this time it was difficult to do something significant.
In addition, the British very skillfully misinformed the Germans: with the help of radio communications, they created the impression that the area of the mouth of the La Plata River was literally teeming with British warships, among which were the battlecruiser Rinaun and the aircraft carrier Ark Royal.
On December 16, Landdorf reported to Berlin about his situation and about the superior forces of the British, who allegedly concentrated at the mouth of the river. He requested that it be preferable to sink the ship or agree to its internment, since an attempt to break through was doomed to failure. Admiral Raeder and Hitler discussed the situation the same day and agreed that it was better to scuttle the ship than allow her to be interned.
On December 17, 1939, the Spee descended to the mouth of the La Plata River, and at 19.56, about a mile behind Uruguayan territorial waters, at a depth of 8 m, the ship was blown up by its crew (ammunition was blown up). Commander Captain 1st Rank Landsdorf, having shot himself, shared the fate of his ship.
So Navy Germany lost its first large ship, which, acting as a raider from September 26 to December 13, 1939, sank 9 merchant ships with a total displacement of 50,000 tons.
Battle of the battleship "Admiral Graf Spee".
Shortly after the start of the war, the German battleship "Admiral Graf Spee" went out into the ocean and headed, without revealing its presence, to the shores of Brazil. Having sunk one cargo ship off Pernambuco, he crossed the Atlantic Ocean and went to the shores of Madagascar, but then returned to South America where he engaged in cruising operations.
After the sinking of the ninth steamer, the ship of the line headed for the mouth of La Plata, where she was supposed to meet the German ship and replenish her fuel supply. Here he met with a detachment of three English cruisers "Exeter", "A]ax" and "Achilles", of which the first was armed with 6 203-mm guns, and the other two had 8 152-mm guns. The displacement of three British cruisers was 22,400 tons against 10,000 tons of the German battleship.
The battle took place early in the morning on 13 December. "Admiral Graf Spee" outnumbered opponents with the caliber of its main artillery: it had 6 280-mm guns, i.e. was armed with the same caliber of guns that Von der Tann destroyed the Indefatigable in the Battle of Jutland 14 minutes after the opening of fire. Therefore, there was every reason to believe that the weakly protected British cruisers were at very serious risk when engaging in battle with a ship armed with heavy guns. On the other hand, the British ships developed a speed of 32-32.5 knots, while the German raider could only give 26 knots and, moreover, obviously, had a very insufficient supply of fuel.
The battle ensued between the battleship and the cruiser "Exeter" at a distance of about 65 cab. The firefight lasted 16 minutes, and "Exeter", although it suffered damage, but according to a pre-developed plan, continued to approach the enemy. At this time, "Ajax" and "Achilles" approached from the other side and opened rapid fire at the battleship from 152-mm guns. "Spee" was forced to split his fire: shelling the "Exeter" from one tower, he transferred the fire of the other tower to two light cruisers, firing at them alternately. After a 16-minute battle, Exeter was actually disabled: it lost both bow towers, the wheelhouse and bow bridge were destroyed, so the commander had to transfer control to the aft wheelhouse and navigate the ship using the boat compass, giving orders to the car by voice transmission.
Of the personnel of the cruiser, 61 people were killed, 23 were wounded; only one 203-mm gun with manual feeding of shells remained in action. "Exeter" began to lose speed and soon failed. On "Ajax" two towers were damaged. On both light cruisers, out of 16 152-mm guns, only ten remained in service. But the "Admiral Graf Spee" apparently received significant damage. Its bow turret was out of order, the central aiming cabin was destroyed, 4 150-mm guns were damaged.
For reasons that are not entirely clear, the battleship suddenly broke off the battle, put up a smoke screen and began to leave in a zigzag course towards the mouth of La Plata. "Ajax" and "Achilles" pursued him and approached him several times, breaking through the smoke screen, achieving frequent hits from the remaining 152-mm guns from a distance of about 40 cab. Battleship drove away the cruisers, occasionally making volleys from the surviving aft tower.
The British did not achieve an immediate decisive result, it was clear to them that the fate of the German raider was decided: with damage, he could not go into the ocean, he did not have time to get fuel, and the Washington cruiser "Cumberland" with 8 203-mm guns went to the aid of the British cruisers, aircraft carrier "Ark Royal" and other ships. "Spee" entered Montevideo for repairs, handed over the dead and wounded, but not having received permission for a period sufficient for repairs, according to a telegram from Germany, was flooded by the commander outside the raid. The British guarded the exit to the open sea. According to figures released by the government of Uruguay, the battleship received 15 hits to starboard and 12 to port. The fire of the cruiser "Exeter", apparently, was successful: all hits on the starboard side were inflicted by them.
The reasons that forced the German commander to first retreat to Montevideo, and then abandon attempts to break through, are still unclear.
On the battleship, apparently, there was a lack of fuel and shells, half of the artillery was disabled, but the hull and mechanisms were not seriously damaged. The German raider could have had a chance to break through at night, however, having received damage and being discovered by the British, he could no longer expect to continue his cruising operations or reach his shores. This artillery battle, although it did not give decisive results, nevertheless proved to be very significant in many respects.
First of all, beyond expectations, all ships, including cruisers, protected only by deck armor 50 mm thick, turned out to be much more tenacious than expected. Even the cruiser "Exeter", with very weak onboard protection, which was heavily damaged and at one time was considered dead, returned to England under its own vehicles in early 1940, having made corrections by personnel in the port of Stanley in the Falkland Islands.
According to the calculations of the ship engineer Rougeron (former chief ship engineer of the French fleet), "Exeter" was supposed to receive up to 20 hits with 280-mm caliber shells, but its buoyancy and stability, as well as the mechanisms, were not seriously affected, from which
Rougeron concludes that fears about the inadequacy of the armor of the Washington-type cruisers turned out to be greatly exaggerated. Influenced by this somewhat hasty conclusion, Rougeron tries to defend the ideas of Admiral Fisher and justify the expediency of building ships with strong artillery and weak protection. However, he overlooks the fact that all the damage to the cruisers and the battleship was concentrated in the superstructures, and the waterline sides did not suffer significant damage.
It should be noted that in this battle, the lightly defended turrets of the British cruisers for 203- and 152-mm guns were heavily damaged, but not a single ship had a fire in the turrets or an explosion in the cellars. Consequently, the experience of the war of 1914-18. was correctly taken into account by the British, and the design of the towers was properly redesigned. Rougeron emphasizes on this occasion that the death of many English cruisers in the war of 1814-18. can only be explained by defects in the design of the towers, which did not eliminate the danger of an explosion of ammunition in the cellars, and not at all by the weakness of the onboard protection of the hulls and barbettes themselves.
The last statement is also not entirely correct. If some of the cruisers exploded from the penetration of fires from the towers into the cellars, then on "Invincible", "Defense" and "Black Prince" one has to assume a direct hit and rupture of shells in bomb cellars with penetration of insufficiently thick belt and deck armor. Regarding the "Warrior" it is known that the shells exploded in its engine room, passing through all the armor protection.
Battle of Montevideo gave interesting example tactics of light cruisers when meeting ships with heavy artillery. For the battleship Admiral Graf Spee, the correct tactic would have been to fight at extreme ranges in order to take full advantage of the superior caliber of large guns, as Admiral Sturdee did at the battle of the Falklands. True, the battle
Montevideo showed that this was practically possible only with the simultaneous superiority in speed, which this time was on the side of the British. The approach and attack tactics used by the weaker and less protected cruisers against the German battleship proved to be quite correct, since they were able to put their 152-mm guns into action without exposing themselves to great risk.
The protection of the turrets with 50-75 mm armor on the British cruisers and 125 mm armor on the German battleship proved to be completely inadequate even against 203 mm caliber guns.
The case of a battle from two sides showed the difficulty of dispersing fire on several targets. The battleship, having two towers, had to act on three cruisers at the same time, so as not to leave them without shelling. If he had acted to the end with all the heavy guns on the Exeter cruiser, firing back from the light cruisers with four 150-mm guns of the other side, then, in all likelihood, the Exeter would have been completely hit. Getting close to him, "Spee" could destroy him. It must be concluded that two towers with six guns are not enough for a ship to fire full-fledged volleys at fairly short intervals.
Journal "Sea collection". February 1941
Let's start with the fact that Graf Spee gets to the 6-8 level of fights.
At the 6th level of battles, of course, we have a certain superiority over other ships, but we should not forget about such high-explosive spitters as Cleveland, Nuremberg, Budyonny. Having fallen under the high-explosive fire of such ships, it is possible to "enjoy your own fire" and quickly go to the port. At the 8th level of battles, we are assigned an unambiguously secondary role of an artillery support ship, and any hitting the focus of high-level battleships or cruisers will not give us much pleasure either. In general, the tactics of conducting a battle on Admiral Graf Spee should be careful and thoughtful.
Battle with battleships Despite our 283-mm main guns, we should not forget that Spee is still a heavy cruiser. Reservation of the bow plating and bow armor belt is only 19 mm. So even following the enemy battleship strictly by the bow can bring us trouble. It is advisable to search for a common enemy target with other allied cruisers and operate at a certain safe distance. The accelerated change of the type of shells due to the "Master Loader" skill will allow us to use our excellent characteristics in a timely manner in terms of the excellent probability of setting fire to HE shells. Therefore, whenever possible, we conduct cascading fire with HE shells at enemy battleships that are moving bow or stern towards us. In the event of an open duel at close range, of course, we use our torpedo tubes, although it may be necessary to sacrifice nose armor when aiming the TA to drop torpedoes. In any case, it would be nice to install the "Guidance system. Mod.1" upgrade, which will increase the turning speed of our TA and the accuracy of fire of main guns. Chasing enemy battleships can be fatal, as the latter will also use HE shells when firing at you.
Battle with cruisers The commander's skills "Master Gunner" and "Master Loader" will not be superfluous in a battle with a maneuverable enemy. Frank duels at close range with enemy cruisers with torpedo tubes should be excluded if possible, because the general maneuverability may not be enough to avoid enemy torpedoes. Therefore, we try to keep a distance of at least 10-12 km. At these distances, our armor-piercing shells of 283-mm main guns with a maximum damage of 8.400 can send an enemy cruiser to the port in 3-4 aimed shots with strongholds knocked out. At the same time, a positive result can be achieved with mixed fire from AP and HE shells. With the first shots of HE shells, it is desirable to disable the steering machines of the enemy cruiser, and then, at a convenient angle, knock out the citadel with AP shells. Sometimes a full salvo of HE shells on an aimed hit can cause detonation on an enemy cruiser. I had such a case with an enemy Hipper, who stood at a distance of about 14 km with almost full HP and a volley took him 38k and sent him to the port. Maybe a bug, maybe an accident. Well, in close combat, do not forget about the 105-mm and 150-mm secondary armaments. In any case, we put the priority of secondary armament guns on the approaching enemy cruiser. But again, do not forget that a dangerous close encounter with several enemy cruisers may not always lead to positive results. For a more effective fight against enemy cruisers, we need to strengthen our survivability due to the "Basics of damage control" skill, upgrading to the third slot "Damage control system. Mod.1" and flags for survivability November Foxtrot, Juliet Yankee Bissotwo, India Delta, India Yankees.
Fight with destroyers Our weak point is the longest rudder time of 10.3 seconds. among all cruisers on the level. Therefore, we unequivocally put the modernization "Steering gears. Mod. 2", and a flag for increasing the speed of Sierra Mike. But even despite the presence of these modifiers, we should not forget that the dimensions of our cruiser still do not allow us to comfortably launch an aggressive close attack of enemy destroyers. Aimed fire from a safe distance of 8-10 km will allow us to maneuver at least in time from enemy torpedoes. It would be nice to use the "Hydroacoustic Search" consumable here, which will allow us to detect the direction of enemy torpedoes from a safer distance in advance. We actively use the indication of a priority target for our secondary armament guns, which, due to the skills "Basic fire training", "Enhanced fire training" and the Mike Yankee Soxisix flag, will improve the characteristics of the firing range and reloading of secondary armament guns.
Fight with air groups Even a full air defense build will not allow us to feel safe in front of the attacking enemy air groups and will not be able to completely destroy the entire group of torpedo bombers or bombers. So I don't think it's worth downloading it. We will restrict ourselves to using the "Defensive AA Fire" consumable, learning the "Basic Fire Training", "Enhanced Fire Training" universal skills, and checking the November Echo Setteseven checkbox. However, even this configuration will not be able to completely destroy the entire group of torpedo bombers or bombers of high-level aircraft carriers. When approaching enemy air groups, we try, if possible, to go to the nearest allied cruisers and battleships that have good air defense characteristics. But don't forget to help nearby allied battleships that come under attack from air groups.
