Henry Harwood was Commodore of a British Cruiser Squadron patrolling the East Coast
of South America. He deduced from the pattern of sinkings in December that the
German raider was making for the rich pickings to be found in the busy shipping
lanes leading to the River Plate and he accordingly recalled his scattered ships and ordered them to assemble off the River Plate by December 12th.
Unfortunately one of his Heavy Cruisers CUMBERLAND was refitting in the Falklands and would be a day late, but he had under his command the 8390 ton Heavy Cruiser EXETER and the two 7000 ton Leander Class Light Cruisers AJAX and HMS ACHILLES.
At dawn on December 12th AJAX sighted smoke less than 20 miles away.
On paper Harwood's squadron was no match for the powerful Pocket Battleship. GRAFF
SPEE could out-gun and out-range the entire British force, for a broadside from her
11in guns was heavier than the fire of the three cruisers combined.
At 06.17 the GRAFF SPEE opened fire at a range of more than 16 miles. EXETER'S 8in
guns replied a few minutes later at extreme range. Soon one of her turrets was out
of action and as she went out of control, AJAX and ACHILLES swung out and away to
force the Germans to fire in three different directions. The British guns were too
accurate. GRAFF SPEE was taking as much punishment as her opponents and she was far
from her own base.
EXETER rejoined the fight. Langsdorf decided to escape under cover of a smoke screen. AJAX and ACHILLES, though badly damaged, still had their speed and they hung on grimly regardless of how GRAFF SPEE twisted. The battle was over in an hour and twenty minutes.
All EXETERS guns were silent, she was ablaze and nearly sinking as she turned and
crept to the nearest British base in the Falklands. AJAX had two turrets out of
action. She and ACHILLES withdrew out of range planning to make another attack
under cover of darkness.
At Midnight GRAFF SPEE sailed into Montevideo..
On December 17th, at sunset the GRAFF SPEE steamed slowly out towards the British,
who waiting at action stations prepared for battle. Just outside the harbour, Langsdorf obeyed Hitler's orders and blew up his ship.
Log Book February 1992