Across the Atlantic, the hunt for the German warship Admiral Graf Spee had stretched the resolve of the Allied forces to its breaking point. This ship had been wreaking havoc on Allied supply routes in the Atlantic unopposed for months, and it needed to be stopped.
Finally, on the morning of December 13, 1939, one of the hunting groups glimpsed a plume of smoke on the horizon. HMS Exeter radioed the message all three British ships had been waiting for: (QUOTE): “I think it is a pocket battleship.”
But, before they could form a plan of attack, the German warship opened fire as it dashed towards them.
It was three British cruisers against a single Heavy Cruiser, but even attempting to destroy the German vessel would push the British sailors to the very limit of their skill. This was not any cruiser; it was a Deutschland-class Panzerschif, a warship type of its own, devised with one purpose: shredding through enemy cruisers.
Graf Spee’s formidable 11-inch guns dwarfed the six and 8-inch artillery of HMS Exeter, HMS Ajax, and HMS Achilles. It was like bringing a knife to a gunfight, but the British were undeterred. Their mission had been clear from the start: hunt down this warship and put it out of action, even if it meant outsmarting it rather than outgunning it.
The first major naval clash of World War 2 was about to erupt, and the waters of River Plate Estuary would be their witness…
