When a Pocket Battleship Was Hunted Down

It's the 2nd of December 1939 on a British cargo liner off the west coast of South Africa. Have you heard about the German? Yeah. They sunk another ship south of us last week. What? We're being shelled! We're under attack! Tell the captain! What the hell was that? At the bridge, Captain William Stubbs is already on full alert. His binoculars reveal a terrifying sight. Stalking them is a 16,000 ton German monster. A heavy cruiser-sized ship armed with battleship-sized 11-inch guns. A pocket battleship. Full power! Aye, aye, sir. Send the distress signal! The small ship turns to flee transmitting all the information they can in the last minutes they have left. A light shines from the enemy, blinking in Morse code. They're ordering us to cease transmission. To hell with that! Keep transmitting! Make sure every ship in the region knows they're here! Aye, aye, sir. Captain Stubbs keeps watching the enemy growing on the horizon. The ship's massive 280mm guns are aiming straight towards him. He recognizes that profile. It's the Admiral Graf Spee. It's the Spee! Put that in the transmission! Pocket battleship Graf Spee! Yes, sir! They keep sending all the information they can dragging on the encounter until the fearsome warship is right on top of them. Continued resistance would be dangerous. Stubbs has no option but to surrender. Cut power and stop transmitting! It's over! The Doric star falls quiet. Aboard the German warship Captain Hans Wilhelm Langsdorff watches as his men board the small cargo ship. They take the crew captive and bring them aboard the heavy cruiser before proceeding to ransack the ship and set up scuttling charges. It's a practice procedure at this point one that Langsdorff is all too happy to see completed with professionalism. Gut gemacht! Back on the upper deck Captain Stubbs is singled out and taken to the brig. Behind him massive explosions wash across the waves followed by cheers from the German sailors. But while the cargo hauler sinks into the abyss thousands of miles away a Royal Navy squadron hears its dying transmissions. Sir! Graf Spee got another one! Commodore Henry Hardwood thinks over the new information. Bring the officers! Under his command are heavy cruiser Exeter and light cruisers Ajax and Achilles. They're patrolling off the coast of South America as far away from the scene of battle as they could be. The Graf Spee has been their target for months but with this transmission Hardwood gets the feeling they can finally bring its rampage to an end. There's a change of plan. The Graf Spee claimed another victim at approximately 13 hours yesterday. I suspect South American traffic will be their next target. We need to be ready. I agree sir, but where? I get the feeling they'll be moving to… The mouth of the Rio de la Plata. The River Plate. There's a lot of traffic there. The choke point for all cargo ships headed for the Argentine and Uruguayan capitals. There are a few targets there. The 16,000 tonne Graf Spee turns for its new destination unaware that they're falling directly into Hardwood's grasp. On the morning of the 15th of December 13 days after the loss of the Doric Star on board the heavy cruiser Exeter Captain Frederick Secker-Bell supervises the early morning activity. The squadron has been patrolling the estuary for days. Lookouts are on full alert waiting for Hardwood's prediction to come reality. It's been a tough wait. Initial sightings suggest they're coming but they haven't heard anything new for days. Until… Confirmed smoke at 320. Lookouts at the stern report the enemy. Sir, Hardwood reports smoke at 320. Orders to investigate. Apply affirmative. Men to action stations. Load SAPs. Yes, sir. Exeter breaks west approaching the mysterious ship. Slowly the masts come into view. Then the superstructure. And finally the mighty guns. It's clear. The Germans are here. It's them! Tell Hardwood we have a pocket battleship. Message confirmed. A pocket battleship at 320. The Exeter reports the enemy in sight. After months of chase and so many lost merchant ships the showdown is finally here. Men to action stations. Heading 30 degrees and full power. Tell Exeter to charge the ship from the south. We surround them from the east as practiced. Order from Ajax to Exeter. Charge the ship from the south. The rest of the force will execute the other flank. Permission to fire. But that fire shells over twice as heavy as their own the Exeter is completely outclassed. But Bell trusts their strategic and numerical advantage. Flank speed. Keep the current heading. Yes, sir. Herr Kapitän, der Rauch am Horizont. It's a surprise but he accepts the challenge. Nun gut, lasst sie uns treffen. The two ships keep approaching. The Graf Spee's path unchanged. Bell watches through the binoculars as two giant turrets traverse towards them. And then… Fire alertness. The first shots of the Battle of River Plate wash across the waves. The shells striking the sea. Exeter gunnery officer, Lieutenant Commander Richard Jennings remembers The captain hailed me not with the usual rigmarole of enemy in sight, bearing, etc. but with, there's the ******* sheer. There's the ******* sheer. Open fire at her. The Exeter unleashes her guns with powerful blasts. The shells fly across the sky. And they too fall shortly. Upon Exeter things are getting frantic as the German warship finds its aim. Shells splash closer and closer littering the deck with deadly shrapnel. But the Exeter too adjusts their range. They fire their 8-inch batteries striking the Graf Spee on the hull. But failing, it pierces its armour. Deep within the German warship Captain Stubbs of the Doric Star sits locked in his cell, alone and in silence. The shell strikes reverberating on the hull fill his ears. In return the German salvo strikes just barely short. The massive shells detonate just a few yards away with awe-inspiring power. The shock and shrapnel, so powerful it takes out Exeter's radio. Sir, we lost contact with Harwood. It's too late to turn back now. Press on! Their shells impact the Graf Spee's deck wrecking anti-aircraft guns. But they're doing nothing to slow the enemy Goliath. Bell watches the enemy with his binoculars. He sees the massive guns fire launching their shells into the air. They linger for what seems like eternal seconds. Bell doesn't have time to react. Not that it would have done anything, but he can feel it. That is a hit. The brutal impact takes out the turret and the shrapnel flies towards the bridge. The fragments punch effortlessly through the bridge's thin walls to tragic results. Bell finds himself on the floor dazed and surrounded by the fallen. Somehow through sheer luck he's largely unhurt. There's no time to mourn. With determination burning in his eyes Bell returns to his post but finds his communications destroyed. At that moment medical personnel rush in but there's no time. He hurries past them abandoning the bridge and making his way towards the aft conning station. Do you have comms here? No sir, we've lost them. He looks around and calls for the first sailor he sees. You, come over! Have no comms! Teleport torpedoes to prepare to launch when the enemy comes into view. And the men at the rudder to steer 25 degrees... The unknown sailor salutes and runs off. He rushes for someone else. On his way back to the bridge Bell continues to recruit more sailors re-establishing communications with the entire ship. You, ask the damage control officer for updates. You, tell the magazines I have no comms. Any emergency they need send me a runner and find someone to tell the same thing to the aft turret. In a matter of minutes a team of messengers forms. From this point on they become Captain Bell's only way to control the ship. But somehow it works. The ship begins turning starboard and the torpedoes are ready to fire. And they launch off into the sea. The four remaining guns fire with deafening fury above the waves while the torpedoes silently approach their target. Despite the messengers best efforts though they could never be quick enough for precise aim and the torpedoes completely miss. But Bell refuses to stand down. Keep firing! The remaining two turrets continue to fire spreading death and destruction across the Graf Spee's exposed elements but doing little internally. Shell after shell strikes the German warship's heavy armor with little effect ricocheting away or stopping dead in its tracks. Finally, they strike luck. At last, a round pierces the armor and punches straight through the lower decks and detonates deep within destroying the fuel purification plant. There are no fires or floods but in a single blow the ship has been doomed. Unable to purify its vast stores of diesel it has cut its usable fuel from days to hours. Not enough to return to Europe. But it does nothing to hamper their combat strength. Another salvo falls on the battered heavy cruiser. One shell slamming into the A turret and another punching through the hull. The second shell explodes within and sets fire to an ammunition storage rack. The brave sailors in the station rush for their extinguishers quelling the flames before a catastrophic fire and explosion could be unleashed. The strike silences gunnery officer Richard Jennings' last turret. He decides to abandon his position as director of the control tower and run through the chaos reaching the Exeter's last working main gun. To the turret crew's astonishment Jennings climbs to the top of the turret and starts shouting directions. Jennings stares down the massive enemy warship in the distance as his turret takes aim underneath him. Jennings is blasted with gas and heat from the giant guns but he takes it. Meanwhile in the two light cruisers Commodore Harwood is becoming impatient with the lack of results. All this time they were executing the other flank seeking to overwhelm the Graf Spee with the crossfire but without communication with Exeter they can't even find out if their aim is true. And now he clearly sees that the Exeter is smoking enlisting while the Graf Spee stands seemingly unharmed. With a sinking feeling the truth dawns on him. They've been doing nothing. The ships break formation and charge to Exeter's rescue. Aboard the Graf Spee Langsdorff spots the incoming British. But Exeter isn't done yet. And their last turret is being commanded by what seems like a madman riding atop. But still they chase after the Graf Spee firing with what little they have and scoring hits across the superstructure. The Graf Spee turns all its guns towards them and they open fire. The massive volley falls short by the smallest of margins creating a huge splash just in front of Jennings' face. But he's unfazed. He calls for more but the gun doesn't move. The water is filtered through the damaged hull and short-circuited the turret's systems. Captain Bell is furious with fire in his eyes. The Exeter, in flames and out of options turns to ram the enemy. But then a salvo of shells brackets the Graf Spee. The light cruisers Ajax and Achilles have gotten past the smokescreen and have opened fire with vastly improved accuracy. Harwood is on them. They've finally got him. Verdammt, sie haben die Reichweite gefunden. Captain Langsdorff pushes the Exeter to the back of his mind as the new challengers pummel the Graf Spee's upper deck with salvo after salvo. With damage and casualties mounting Captain Langsdorff orders a retreat. The Ajax and Achilles pummel the ship for another hour as the Graf Spee desperately sails for neutral waters. But they're too far away and Harwood is determined to not let the ship slip away. Harwood is shocked. It's far less than he expected. If he carries on, he could have too little to defend himself if they happen to face another battle. They pursue the Graf Spee all the way to the neutral port of Montevideo, Uruguay. There the prisoners of the Doric Star are released per international regulations. But back with the Graf Spee their problems were far from over. Upon their docking in Montevideo deceit and politics soon follow. The British begin broadcasting easy-to-intercept signals suggesting that reinforcements are arriving. They've no fuel reserves to return home, no ability to fix the fuel plant and strict orders not to let the ship become interned in Uruguay. There is only one apparent option and that's to flee Argentina. But he believes a reinforced British fleet will stand in his way. Ich glaube nicht, dass wir eine andere Wahl haben. Mach die Sprengsätze scharf. On the 17th of December the ship with only Langsdorff and 40 other men aboard moved out of the Uruguayan waters. It was a devastating blow to Langsdorff. High Command blamed him completely for Admiral Graf Spee's end. Langsdorff wrote, I alone bear the responsibility for scuttling the panzer ship Admiral Graf Spee. I am happy to pay with my life for any possible reflection on the honour of the flag. Three days later in a hotel room in Buenos Aires, he took his gun and kept his word. The mighty ship burned in the shallow water for the next two days. Despite the lack of decisive victory, the battle was still considered a great success for the Royal Navy. Commodore Henry Harwood was promoted to Rear Admiral and knighted for his leadership. Captain Frederick Secker-Bell wouldn't receive any Navy awards for his actions, but he and a good portion of Exeter's crew did get a hero's welcome from the residents of the city of Exeter. Gunnery officer Richard Jennings on the other hand would be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions and went on to command ships of his own. All three men would survive the war. Thanks again to World of Warships. Check out the link in the description.