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Assignment - 1: Pravinsurya RA1911201010001

The Battle of the River Plate took place from December 13-17, 1939 in the South Atlantic near the River Plate estuary between Argentina and Uruguay. The German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee, under the command of Hans Langsdorff, had been raiding British merchant shipping. On December 13th, Graf Spee encountered the British cruisers HMS Ajax, HMS Achilles and HMS Exeter in a surprise engagement. After a heavy exchange of fire that damaged both sides, Graf Spee retreated towards Montevideo, Uruguay to effect repairs. Fearing further engagement against superior British naval forces, Langsdorff scuttled Graf Spee in Montevideo harbor on December 17th rather than risk further

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Suren Adithyaa (RA1911201010043)
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47 views

Assignment - 1: Pravinsurya RA1911201010001

The Battle of the River Plate took place from December 13-17, 1939 in the South Atlantic near the River Plate estuary between Argentina and Uruguay. The German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee, under the command of Hans Langsdorff, had been raiding British merchant shipping. On December 13th, Graf Spee encountered the British cruisers HMS Ajax, HMS Achilles and HMS Exeter in a surprise engagement. After a heavy exchange of fire that damaged both sides, Graf Spee retreated towards Montevideo, Uruguay to effect repairs. Fearing further engagement against superior British naval forces, Langsdorff scuttled Graf Spee in Montevideo harbor on December 17th rather than risk further

Uploaded by

Suren Adithyaa (RA1911201010043)
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Assignment -1

PRAVINSURYA
RA1911201010001
battle of river plate
When World War II breaks out in 1939, the German Navy
(Kriegsmarine) under Admiral Raeder is unprepared for global
war. While the Adolph Hitler-approved Z-Plan calls for a 200-
warship balanced fleet by 1948, at war’s outbreak it can muster
only 74 major warships against Britain’s 275 and France’s 106.
With the defeat of Poland, the bulk of the Kriegsmarine is
concentrated in the North and Baltic Seas protecting Germany’s
coast and sea communications as Hitler plans his attack on
France in spring This leaves only U-boats and a few pocket
battleships for the disruption and destruction of vital Allied
merchant shipping in the Atlantic Ocean. Hans Langsdorff’s
pocket battleship Graf Spee cruises the South Atlantic Ocean for
The River Plate December 13-17, 1939 two months, capturing or sinking nine ships as far as the Indian
Ocean. The Royal Navy commits eight surface groups to hunt for
Graf Spee, way out of proportion to the tonnage lost. After some
intelligent guesswork, British Royal Navy Commodore Henry
Harwood, leading a small cruiser force, stumbles upon Graf Spee
Lieutenant Basil Trott north of the Falklands Islands near the River Plate.
All was quiet on the morning of December 13, 1939, when
the German “pocket” battleship Admiral Graf Spee was
spotted on the horizon in the South Atlantic. The first big
naval battle of the Second World War was about to
commence.

Admiral Graf Spee

hms ajax
resources
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