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- The first naval battle of the Second World War, the Battle of the River Plate was a symbolically important encounter. British ships clashed with a more powerful but isolated German raider off the coast of Uruguay, in a confrontation which proved the truly global spread of the war.
www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/the-battle-of-the-river-plate.html
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The Battle of the River Plate was fought in the South Atlantic on 13 December 1939 as the first naval battle of the Second World War.
- 13 December 1939
- Allied victory
May 18, 2015 · The Battle of the River Plate took place on December 13th 1939. The battle in the South Atlantic was the first major naval battle of World War Two.
- 6 min
BATTLE OF THE RIVER PLATE, 13 December 1939. This is an introduction to the first major sea battle of World War 2 using the highly readable and frankly thrilling London Gazette despatch, penned by Rear Admiral Harwood who was on the bridge of HMS Ajax throughout the action.
- Royal Navy
- Kriegsmarine
- Tracking Graf Spee
- The Ships Clash
- Trapped in Montevideo
- Aftermath of The Battle
- Sources
Commodore Henry Harwood1 heavy cruiser, 2 light cruisersCaptain Hans Langsdorff1 pocket battleshipObeying his orders, Langsdorff immediately began intercepting Allied shipping in the South Atlantic and southern Indian Oceans. Having success, Graf Spee captured and sank several Allied vessels, leading the Royal Navy to dispatch nine squadrons south to find and destroy the German ship. On December 2, the Blue Star liner Doric Star succeeded in ra...
Steaming towards the South American coast, Harwood's force consisted of the heavy cruiser HMS Exeter and the light cruisers HMS Ajax (flagship) and HMS Achilles (New Zealand Division). Also available to Harwood was the heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland which was refitting in the Falkland Islands. Arriving off the River Plate on December 12, Harwood disc...
Advised that few naval resources were in the area, Millington-Drake continued to press for the ship's expulsion publically while British agents arranged to have British and French merchant ships sail every twenty-four hours. This invoked Article 16 of the convention which stated: "A belligerent war-ship may not leave a neutral port or roadstead unt...
The fighting off the River Plate cost Langsdorff 36 killed and 102 wounded, while Harwood's ships lost 72 killed and 28 wounded. Despite severe damage, Exeter made emergency repairs in the Falklands before undergoing a major refit in Britain. The ship was lost following the Battle of the Java Sea in early 1942. With their ship sunk, the crew of Gra...
Dec 13, 2015 · On 13 December 1939, a force of three Royal Navy cruisers under the command of Commodore Henry Harwood located the German pocket-battleship Admiral Graf Spee off the coast of Uruguay.
- History Hit
Feb 19, 2010 · In the early morning of December 13, 1939 the German pocket battleship, the Admiral Graf Spee, was cruising toward South America's Rio de la Plata (River Plate) in search of enemy merchant ships, where, it spotted ship masts in the distance.
Aug 9, 2018 · The first naval battle of the Second World War, the Battle of the River Plate was a symbolically important encounter. British ships clashed with a more powerful but isolated German raider off the coast of Uruguay, in a confrontation which proved the truly global spread of the war.
