Technology |||. 84 years ago the Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled as a consequence of the the Battle of the River Plate, considered the first naval battle of World War II.

84 years ago the Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled as a consequence of the the Battle of the River Plate, considered the first naval battle of World War II. 

After the battle, the ship was moored in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. The country was neutral in the conflict, but Britain had a notable political influence on it. The Graf Spee would have needed two weeks to be repaired, but it was only allowed to stay in Montevideo for 72 hours. On top of that, the British MI6 had fed false informations about a larger naval force blockading the River Plate. The German ship had only one day’s worth of usable fuel and, due to the swallow waters in the Mouth of the River Plate, no chance to reach another port. In the evening of December the 17th, the ship left the port of Montevideo and lowered the anchor. Captain Langsdorff and the skeleton crew of 40 aboard set timed explosives and abandoned ship to meet with the rest of the crew, that had stayed in Montevideo. The semisubmerged wreck of the Admiral Graf Spee burned for three days. Langsdorff committed suicide in Buenos Aires, Argentina, two days later.

Captain Hans Langsdorff had considered the life of his crew more important than going on a mission that would have been a suicide and had no noticeable effect in the course of the war. Langsdorff allegedly said to his crew that he preferred „[…] thousand living young men to thousand dead heroes“. The larger part of the crew was interned in Argentina at first and many ended up making a life there, where numerous of their descendants still live today. A smaller group was interned in Uruguay, with similar consequences.

The impressive model of the Admiral Graf Spee was built by master Helmut Schmidt in a scale of 1:100 and is on display on deck 5 of the museum.

 84 years ago the Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled as a consequence of the the Battle of the River Plate, considered the first naval battle of World War II. 

After the battle, the ship was moored in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. The country was neutral in the conflict, but Britain had a notable political influence on it. The Graf Spee would have needed two weeks to be repaired, but it was only allowed to stay in Montevideo for 72 hours. On top of that, the British MI6 had fed false informations about a larger naval force blockading the River Plate. The German ship had only one day’s worth of usable fuel and, due to the swallow waters in the Mouth of the River Plate, no chance to reach another port. In the evening of December the 17th, the ship left the port of Montevideo and lowered the anchor. Captain Langsdorff and the skeleton crew of 40 aboard set timed explosives and abandoned ship to meet with the rest of the crew, that had stayed in Montevideo. The semisubmerged wreck of the Admiral Graf Spee burned for three days. Langsdorff committed suicide in Buenos Aires, Argentina, two days later.

Captain Hans Langsdorff had considered the life of his crew more important than going on a mission that would have been a suicide and had no noticeable effect in the course of the war. Langsdorff allegedly said to his crew that he preferred „[…] thousand living young men to thousand dead heroes“. The larger part of the crew was interned in Argentina at first and many ended up making a life there, where numerous of their descendants still live today. A smaller group was interned in Uruguay, with similar consequences.

The impressive model of the Admiral Graf Spee was built by master Helmut Schmidt in a scale of 1:100 and is on display on deck 5 of the museum.