On this day in 1939, the first major surface action of World War Two took place off the coast of South America, when a squadron of cruisers of the Royal Navy engaged the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee. The three cruisers of the Royal Navy would be roughly handled by the Graf Spee, but in turn inflicted critical damage to her. The damage was not a direct threat to the ship, but through some diplomatic maneuvers, and some disinformation, led German commander, Captain Langsdorff, to scuttling the Graf Spee rather than facing a battle he felt he could not win.
Interesting - brings a new concern when someone asks for "Intelligence Data"
Posted by: CTII Raven | 12/13/2017 at 02:15 PM
dat feeling when you delete enemy Leander with your Graf Spee 28cm citadelling...
"revenge for River Plate!"
Posted by: ewok40k | 12/14/2017 at 01:54 AM
The Graf Spee was in port for a while while negotiations were ongoing. Langsdorff was quite the ships Captain, fond of his crew and proud of his ship. He’s buried in Montevideo if memory serves.
Posted by: SFC Dunlap 173d RVN | 12/14/2017 at 07:49 AM
He's buried in the German section of the La Chacarita Cemetery in Buenos Aires. He took the ships launch to the Argentine side after scuttling, wrote a letter to the German Ambassador then shot himself.
Posted by: Quartermaster | 12/14/2017 at 12:26 PM
A very moving film, thank you for sharing.
Paul L. Quandt
Posted by: Paul L. Quandt | 12/14/2017 at 02:51 PM
Thanks QM for the correction. I was caught up reading the story of the ship, but more so the Captain of the ship.
Posted by: SFC Dunlap 173d RVN | 12/14/2017 at 04:42 PM
https://worldofwarships.eu/en/news/videos/hny-devs/
okay heads up free duke of youk to get in coming campaign...
as well as the iced skin for scharnhorst, i presume?
Posted by: ewok40k | 12/17/2017 at 04:32 PM