Naval battle in the Falkland Islands
Scharnhorst , Gneisenau and Nuremberg when leaving Valparaiso, Chile (in the back, Chilean cruisers in the foreground)
| date | December 8, 1914 |
|---|---|
| place | at the Falkland Islands , Atlantic |
| output | British victory
Destruction of the German squadron |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 2 battle cruisers 3 armored cruisers 2 light cruisers 1 auxiliary cruiser |
2 large cruisers (armored cruisers) 3 small cruisers 3 auxiliary ships |
| losses | |
|
10 dead, 19 wounded |
6 ships sunk |
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The sea battle in the Falkland Islands was a naval battle between British and German warships during the First World War . It took place on December 8, 1914 and ended in the crushing defeat of the German cruiser squadron .
The British Naval Association
After the defeat in the sea battle at Coronel on November 1, 1914 off the Chilean coast, the excitement over the first defeat of a British squadron in over 100 years in the British public was so great that the Minister of the Navy and First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill and the new one First Sea Lord Admiral John Fisher dispatched the most suitable ships available to restore British prestige and reassure public opinion. A modern battle cruiser ( Princess Royal ) was sent to the Caribbean to secure the Panama Canal , which was opened in August 1914 . Another association of two somewhat older, but coal-saving battle cruisers was sent to the South Atlantic to destroy the German cruiser squadron . The prospect of finding the German ships was greatest at the entry into the Atlantic , especially since the British intelligence services were very well represented here in all ports. However, the British Admiralty did not know where the ships of the German cruiser squadron were after they left Valparaíso on November 13, 1914.
Admiral Frederik Doveton Sturdee reached Port Stanley ( 51 ° 41 ′ 25 ″ S, 57 ° 49 ′ 45 ″, with his battle cruisers HMS Inflexible and HMS Invincible (main armament: eight 305 mm caliber cannons each) on December 7, 1914, just in time. W ) in the Falkland Islands, because Graf Spee had lost four days on the coal from the sailor Drummuir. There Sturdee met a cruiser squadron under Rear Admiral Stoddart. This consisted of the armored cruisers HMS Carnarvon , HMS Cornwall and HMS Kent , the light cruisers HMS Glasgow and HMS Bristol and the auxiliary cruiser Macedonia .
The old ship of the line HMS Canopus had been in the port of Port Stanley since November 1914 , with its obsolete, superior single-shot firepower, but inferior in number, range and, above all, rate of fire to Count Spee's 21 cm guns, but still ready to fire 30.5 cm guns to secure the port against an enemy attack. It was grounded because the British were well aware of the danger posed by the cruiser squadron after the lost battle.
The German squadron
Admiral Spee's ships, the armored cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau as well as the small cruisers Nürnberg , Leipzig and Dresden , were almost undamaged in the naval battle at Coronel on November 1, 1914, but his armored cruisers had fired 42% of their 21 cm ammunition and had no replacement .
On November 3rd, Scharnhorst , Gneisenau and Nuremberg arrived to take over coal and provisions in Valparaíso (Chile). The three cruisers received numerous visitors on board during this time. They left the port on November 4th and the auxiliary cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich was able to arrive. On November 13th, Dresden and Leipzig bunkered in Valparaíso when the population was again large.
On November 21, the squadron entered the Bay of St. Quentin in southern Chile at about 47 degrees south latitude to take over coal and supplies for the supply ships. The five cruisers and the supply ships Baden , Santa Isabell and Seydlitz left the meeting point with 17,000 tons of coal on November 26th.
In stormy weather, Cape Horn was circumnavigated on December 2 , whereby some of the coal had to be thrown overboard and the high coal consumption due to the heavy seas raised concerns about sufficient coal supplies. Then the Leipzig captured the Canadian full- rigged ship Drummuir . Over the course of three days, 2,500 tons of Cardiff coal were taken from the prize and loaded onto the German supply ships before the ship was sunk. It was precisely this loss of time that would soon have disastrous consequences.
On December 6, the commanders' preliminary meeting took place. Against the concerns of several commanders, Admiral Graf von Spee pushed through his plan to destroy the telegraph station there in a coup-like landing operation on the British Port Stanley , to take over or destroy the coal stocks and to take the British governor prisoner.
The battle
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Mutual discovery
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On the morning of December 8th, the German squadron approached Port Stanley, where the British battlecruisers had just arrived the previous evening and immediately began to take over coal. Gneisenau and Nuremberg formed the head of the German fleet with the prepared landing corps on board. The lookout of the Gneisenau recognized not only numerous warships in the harbor, but also the characteristic tripod masts of the British battlecruisers.
An attack on the British ships, which were almost unable to maneuver - because they were not under sufficient steam - would not have been hopeless from the outset. When the two German cruisers were reported around 7:50 a.m., the two battle cruisers were still busy taking over the coal. However, the Germans did not recognize the problematic situation of the British. Sturdee had the coal takeover canceled and made clear for discarding.
Kent , on standby, left the port at 8:45 a.m., and the Canopus fired a 30.5 cm volley against the German ships at 9:20 a.m. with maximum elevation ( elevation ), but her shots were too short . Gneisenau and Nuremberg got ready to fight the outgoing Kent , but then the order came from Scharnhorst: "Abort the battle, head east at full speed."
Tracking
The Glasgow left port at 9:40 a.m. and the battlecruisers followed at around 10 a.m. The German squadron had reached a lead of around 15 nautical miles by the time the British unit left; at 10:30 am, the advancing Glasgow discovered the mast tips of the German cruisers. The British ships made more voyage; The good visibility and the calm sea that day enabled them to easily see the German ships heading east on the horizon and to slowly overtake them.
Around 11 a.m., Sturdee, which had initially run at the maximum speed of the battlecruisers of 26.5 knots, was able to go down to 20 knots, so that the slower armored cruisers Kent , Cornwall and Carnarvon could roughly keep up. At the head of the Germans marching in the keel line were the two armored cruisers, followed by the small cruisers.
As the British came closer and closer on a parallel eastward course, Spee turned to the south-east and now had the British association behind him. At 12:55 p.m. Sturdee opened fire on the last German ship, the Leipzig , at a distance of about 5.5 kilometers . For about 20 minutes the German ship was fired at by the heavy artillery of the two leading British battlecruisers, without any hits being scored.
After Graf Spee had recognized that he could not escape in the closed unit, he dismissed the Leipzig at 1:15 p.m. and at 1:20 p.m. he signaled: “Small cruisers dismissed. Try to escape! ”With this he split up his squadron and faced the unequal battle with his large cruisers (armored cruisers) Scharnhorst and Gneisenau (main armament: eight 21 cm guns each) in order to at least help his small cruisers to escape. Sturdee reacted immediately: while still in Port Stanley, he had factored in this maneuver at a commanders' meeting while the boiler was running up. On an agreed signal, the armored cruisers Kent and Cornwall and soon afterwards the Glasgow began to pursue the small cruisers.
British battle cruiser and armored cruiser Carnarvon versus German armored cruiser
Then Spee turned with his remaining two armored cruisers to the northeast, sat across the British ships and opened fire with his broad sides at 13:30 . The German armored cruisers pressed so close to the British battlecruisers that they could also use their 15 cm guns. With the third 21 cm volley, the Gneisenau scored a hit on the Invincible . The two German cruisers concentrated their fire on the Invincible , which received a total of 23 hits. However, the middle artillery in particular proved ineffective against the strong side armor.
Sturdees battlecruisers evaded because of this pressure to the northeast until they were out of range of the German guns. At around 2 p.m., Spee's armored cruiser turned sharply to the southwest. The British battlecruisers and the Carnarvon that remained with them caught up with them and opened fire on the German ships again at around 2:50 p.m. Spee turned east to get into a more convenient position and returned fire at 14:55. Sturdee had to turn northeast again to get out of range of the German artillery.
At around 3 p.m. the British managed to score decisive hits on the port side of the German armored cruiser, which destroyed the casemates and the guns and resulted in high crew losses. At around 4 p.m. Spee from the burning Scharnhorst made a beckon to the Gneisenau , in which he released her. Shortly before, he had made another sign to the Gneisenau : "Admiral to Commander: You were right." With that he referred to the concerns of Commander Maerker, who had spoken out against the attack on Port Stanley.
Then the Scharnhorst turned with a strong list to starboard using the emergency rudder for a torpedo attack towards the enemy again. The Scharnhorst was sunk at 4:17 p.m. with the entire crew, including Admiral Graf Spee.
The Gneisenau was still running at 16 knots at that time, and one of the two turrets had already been destroyed. At 4:45 p.m. she received a severe hit that destroyed the starboard side of the forecastle. With emergency controls she stopped for a possible torpedo attack on the three British warships, but at 5:15 p.m. three more shells detonated, devastating the cruiser completely. By 5:30 p.m. the speed had dropped to 5 knots. The Gneisenau was abandoned by its own crew at 5:30 p.m. after the ammunition had been fired and sunk by opening the flood valves. A large number of the seamen on the Gneisenau had already been killed in battle, and many of the castaways quickly lost their strength in the cold water and drowned. Only 187 men could be saved by the British ships.
British armored cruiser and light cruiser Glasgow versus German small cruisers
While the battle of the heavy ships was unequal from the outset due to the great British superiority in speed and artillery, the German small cruisers seemed to have a chance of escape. They were about a dozen nautical miles ahead of the British armored cruisers, and the top speed was about the same.
The fast Glasgow , however, came close to the German final ship Leipzig , whereupon the two small cruisers fought an artillery duel. The three German cruisers then separated at around 2:30 p.m.
Nuremberg versus Kent
The Nürnberg ran to the southeast, followed by the Kent . Since her speed was hampered by the poor condition of the engine and boiler, the Kent was able to approach after three and a half hours. After forty minutes of bombardment, Captain Karl von Schönberg turned the cruiser to port in order to relieve the heavily damaged stern and to shoot his own broadsides.
In the following fight the Kent received 38 hits from the Nuremberg's 10.5 cm guns . The Kent turned and shot down the Nürnberg with her 6-inch guns until all guns had failed. At 6:30 p.m., Captain von Schönberg gave the order for the demolition to be carried out, after which the relevant preparations were started. After it had to stop badly damaged at 6:35 p.m. but did not strike the flag, the light cruiser Nürnberg was shot at from close range by the battleship Kent until it finally went down at 7:27 p.m. When the Nürnberg sank, the British sailors observed some German sailors who were standing on a boat hook on the aft deck of their sinking cruiser and waving a naval flag. According to British information, 18 men of the Nuremberg crew were pulled out of the water, but five of these men died shortly after their serious injuries.
Leipzig versus Cornwall and Glasgow
The Leipzig steered south and was initially overtaken by the Glasgow , which, however, temporarily abandoned her after heavy defensive fire. Shortly before 2:40 p.m., the armored cruiser Cornwall approached and was temporarily under fire from the Leipzig . Although the Leipzig received more and more hits, burned and slowed down, it kept firing back and was able to achieve eighteen, albeit ineffective, hits with its 10.5 cm guns on Cornwall alone .
The fight dragged on until around 7 p.m. After all of Leipzig's ammunition had been fired, torpedoes were shot at the enemy without success. At 7:17 p.m., Commander Haun gave the order to detonate the ship, and at 7:20 p.m. to leave the ship. At around 7:50 p.m. the Leipzig was shot at again. At 9:23 p.m., the small cruiser Leipzig finally sank when the cruisers Cornwall and Glasgow were shot at . Only 18 sailors from Leipzig were rescued.
consequences
The light cruiser HMS Bristol and the auxiliary cruiser Macedonia intercepted the coal steamers Baden and Santa Isabel and sank them after the crews had left the ships. Only the hospital ship Seydlitz escaped into internment in Argentina.
The small cruiser Dresden managed to escape, but was caught by the British three months later at the Juan Fernández Islands . The Dresden had taken refuge in a bay on Robinson Crusoe Island and was thus in neutral Chilean waters. Because of her damaged machines and the increasingly difficult supply situation, especially with coal, the commander wanted to intern the ship in Chile. British warships invaded Chilean territory in violation of naval law and opened fire. The commander used a break in negotiations to prepare the ship for sinking and to save the crew on land. The ship was sunk and the crew interned in Chile. The German chief negotiator with the British, Wilhelm Canaris , escaped from captivity and, after an adventurous escape, reached Hamburg via Argentina. Some of the crew stayed on the Chilean island after the war, and some graves can still be seen today. The others returned to Germany in 1919.
The British did not lose a ship and had only minor damage. Ten British sailors were killed and 19 others wounded during the battle. During the battle, the two British battlecruisers fired the considerable amount of almost 1200 305 mm shells at the German armored cruisers, which allows conclusions to be drawn about the training of the operators and the quality of the shells. The Royal Navy did not draw conclusions from this fact until after the Battle of the Skagerrak a year and a half later.
Because of these substantial losses, a significant part of the German cruiser war ended overseas.
Sunk ships
Remarks
- ^ Paul Simsa : Marine intern. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1972, p. 184, ISBN 3-87943-238-4 .
- ↑ Overview of the ammunition consumption of the cruiser squadron in the sea battle of Coronel in the Federal Archives , accessed on April 4, 2018.
- ^ Letter from the city of Schildau (Torgau district) to the Reichsmarineamt expressing its sympathy for the sinking of the armored cruiser Gneisenau in the sea battle near the Falkland Islands in the Federal Archives , accessed on April 4, 2018
- ↑ Just before she turned over we saw a group of men on her quarterdeck waving a German ensign attached to a staff ... http://www.gwpda.org/naval/j0600000.htm
- ^ Directory of the crew members rescued after the sinking of the cruiser Nürnberg in the Federal Archives , accessed on April 4, 2018.
- ↑ Telegram to the Admiral's staff to inform them about the sinking of the cruiser squadron in the sea battle near the Falkland Islands in the Federal Archives , accessed on April 4, 2018.
literature
- Geoffrey Bennet: Coronel and the Falklands. Macmillan, New York NY 1962, (German edition: The sea battles of Coronel and Falkland and the sinking of the German cruiser squadron under Admiral Graf Spee (= Heyne books. 5697). Translated, supplemented with notes and an afterword by Reinhard K. Lochner. Heyne, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-453-01141-4 ).
- Barry Bingham: Falklands, Jutland and the Bight. Murray, London 1919.
- François-Emmanuel Brézet: La bataille du cap Coronel et des Falklands. Croisière sans return. L'escadre de croiseurs du vice-amiral Graf von Spee. Marines Éditions, Nantes 2002, ISBN 2-909675-87-4 .
- British Naval Staff (Ed.): Review of German Cruiser Warfare, 1914-1918. The Admiralty, London 1940.
- Robin Bromby: German Raiders of the South Sea. Doubleday, Sydney et al. 1985, ISBN 0-86824-093-1 .
- E. Keble Chatterton: The Sea Raiders. Hurst & Blackett, London 1931.
- Julian S. Corbett : History of the Great War. Naval Operations. 5 volumes. Longmans, Green & Co., London et al. 1920–1931.
- Carl Dick: The cruiser squadron, its becoming, victory and demise. Mittler, Berlin 1917.
- Arno Dohm: Squadron Spee. Bertelsmann, Gütersloh 1939.
- Hans H. Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships. Biographies. A mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present day. 7 volumes (in 2 volumes). Mundus, Ratingen 1985, ISBN 3-88385-028-4 .
- Lloyd Hirst: Coronel and After. Peter Davies, London 1934.
- Richard Hough: The Pursuit of Admiral von Spee. Allen & Unwin, London 1969.
- John Irving: Coronel and the Falklands. Philpot, London 1927, (German edition: Coronel and Falkland. The cruiser war on the oceans. Koehler, Leipzig 1928).
- Hermann Kirchhoff (Ed.): Maximilian Graf von Spee. Coronel's winner. The life picture and memories of a German seaman (= Our Seehelden. 1, ZDB -ID 520190-1 ). Marinedank-Verlag, Berlin 1915.
- Andreas Leipold: The German naval warfare in the Pacific in the years 1914 and 1915 (= sources and research on the South Seas. Series B: Research. 4). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2012, ISBN 978-3-447-06602-0 .
- Joachim Lietzmann: At a losing position. Under the flag of Count Spee. Lhotzky, Ludwigshafen am Bodensee 1922.
- Michael McNally: Coronel and Falklands 1914. Duel in the South Atlantic (= Campaign. 248). Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2012, ISBN 978-1-84908-674-5 .
- Maria Teresa Parker de Bassi: Cruiser Dresden. Odyssey of No Return. Koehler, Herford 1993, ISBN 3-7822-0591-X .
- Hans Pochhammer: Graf Spee's last trip - memories of the cruiser squadron. Daily review, Berlin 1918.
- Elmar B. Potter, Chester W. Nimitz : Sea power. A history of naval warfare from antiquity to the present. Bernard & Graefe, Munich 1974, ISBN 3-7637-5112-2 , p. 916.
- Erich Raeder : The cruiser war in foreign waters. Volume 1: The cruiser squadron (= The War at Sea 1914–1918. ). 2nd, improved edition. Mittler, Berlin 1927.
- Henry Spencer-Cooper: The Battle of the Falkland Islands. Before and After. Cassell, London 1919.
- Rudolf Verner: The Battle Cruisers at the Action of the Falkland Islands. Edited by Willoughby Verner. Bale & Danielsson, London 1920.
- Hugo von Waldeyer-Hartz : The cruiser war 1914-1918. The cruiser squadron. Emden, Koenigsberg, Karlsruhe. The auxiliary cruiser (= naval archive . 2, ZDB -ID 1157553-0 ). Stalling, Oldenburg i. O. 1931.
- Nigel West: Falklands, Battle of. In: Nigel West: Historical dictionariy of naval intelligence (= Historical Dictionaries of Intelligence and Counterintelligence. 13). Scarecrow Press, Lanham et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-8108-6760-4 , p. 109.
- Gerhard Wiechmann (ed.): From foreign service in Mexico to the sea battle of Coronel. Sea captain Karl von Schönberg. Travel diary 1913–1914 (= Small series of publications on military and naval history. 9). Winkler, Bochum 2004, ISBN 3-89911-051-X .
- Keith Yates: Graf Spee's Raiders. Challenge to the Royal Navy, 1914-1915. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD 1995, ISBN 1-55750-977-8 .
Movies
- The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands (GB 1927, directed by Walter Summers), set to music in 1932 under the title Deeds Men Do
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