Battle of the Falkland Islands

battle_name=Battle of the Falkland Islands

The Battle

Spee began his attack on 8 December 1914, intending to subsequently refuel north at the estuary of the River Plate. While aware of shipping in the area, he mistakenly assumed them to belong to the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Related Topics:
8 December - 1914 - River Plate - Imperial Japanese Navy

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Spee's cruisers, the Gneisenau and Nürnberg, approached Stanley first. They were surprised by gunfire from the Canopus and the sight of the distinctive tripod masts of the battlecruisers. The Kent was already making way out of the harbour and was ordered to follow them.

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With his crew battle-weary and his ships out-gunned, the outcome was seemingly inevitable. Realising his danger too late — and having missed the golden opportunity to shell Sturdee's fleet while in port — Spee and his squadron dashed for the open sea, but at 10:00 were pursued by the British. Realising that he could not hope to outrun the fast British battlecruisers, Spee decided to bring about an engagement with his armoured cruisers, to let the light cruisers try to escape, just after 13:20.

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Despite initial success by Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in striking Invincible (commanded by Edward Bingham), and in then resuming a hasty escape, the battlecruisers were within extreme firing range some forty minutes later.

Related Topics:
''Scharnhorst'' - ''Gneisenau'' - Edward Bingham

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Invincible and Inflexible engaged Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, leaving the cruisers to the Leipzig and Nürnberg.

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Four German cruisers were sunk, with Spee's flagship Scharnhorst sinking first, followed by Gneisenau, Nürnberg and Leipzig. The Scharnhorst was the first to go after being heavily hit by the Invincible and Inflexible and sank at 16:17 with all hands. The Gneisenau was next, going down at 18:02. The Nürnberg went down at 19:27 after a long chase with the light cruiser Kent while the other light cruisers, Glasgow and Cornwall, chased down the Leipzig, finally sinking her at 21:23 more than 80 miles southeast of the Falklands.

Related Topics:
''Nürnberg'' - ''Leipzig''

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Ten British sailors were killed during the battle and 19 wounded, whilst none of the British ships was badly damaged. In contrast, 1,871 German sailors were killed in the encounter, including Admiral Spee and his two sons, plus 215 survivors were rescued and ended up prisoners on the British ships. Most of them from the Gneisenau, as well as five from the Nürnberg and 18 from the Leipzig. None of the 765 officers and men from the Scharnhorst survived.

Related Topics:
''Gneisenau'' - ''Nürnberg'' - ''Leipzig'' - ''Scharnhorst''

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The only German ship to escape was the light cruiser Dresden, which roamed at large for a further three months before her captain surrendered off the Juan Fernández Islands on 14 March 1915. Evacuating his ship, he then scuttled her by detonating its main ammunition magazine.

Related Topics:
''Dresden'' - Juan Fernández Islands - 14 March - 1915

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As a consequence of the battle, German commerce raiding on the high seas by regular warships of the Kaiserliche Marine was brought to an end. However, Germany put several armed merchant vessels into service as commerce raiders until the end of the war (see Felix von Luckner, for example). These lone raiders would not utilize the fleet in being principle of von Spee.

Related Topics:
Commerce raiding - Felix von Luckner - Fleet in being

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