In December 1939, little military action was occurring on land in Western Europe. The war at sea, however, was a different story. One of the most sensational naval encounters of all time came in December of 1939. This was the Battle of the River Plate, a running battle between the German pocket battleship, Admiral Graf Spee, and the British cruisers Ajax, Exeter, and Achilles.
On August 21, 1939, Graf Spee sailed from Wilhelmshaven, Germany. Her mission was to raid Allied merchant shipping in the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean. From September to December, Graf Spee sank nine British merchant ships, but, adhering to the rules of contemporary mercantile warfare, Graf Spee’s captain, Hans Langsdorff was careful to save the crew of all victim ships.
The British Royal Navy formed seven hunting groups in the Atlantic and one in the Indian Ocean to search for Graf Spee. On December 13, 1939, a hunting group that included the British cruisers Exeter, Ajax, and Achilles found Graf Spee. These cruisers engaged Graf Spee in the Battle of the River Plate, and although they appeared to sustain greater damage than their foe, they forced Graf Spee into the neutral harbor of Montevideo, Uruguay for repairs early in the morning of December 14.
In accordance with international law, Uruguayan officials permitted Graf Spee to remain in port for only 72 hours. Not having finished repairs on the ship, expecting a much more powerful British force than what had actually gathered off the coast of Montevideo, and hoping to avoid unnecessary loss of life, Captain Langsdorff made the decision to scuttle his ship.
On the morning of December 17, a large crowd gathered on the coast of Montevideo in anticipation of a major naval battle. The Germans, however, did not give this crowd a battle.
After sailing the ship immediately beyond the limits of Montevideo harbor and evacuating the crew, Graf Spee was blown up and sank in about twenty-five feet of water.
Today, Graf Spee is being salvaged through a project that began in February 2004.
It is hoped that Graf Spee will be rebuilt on land to be one the best ship museums in the world. Some pieces of the ship are already displayed outside of the National Maritime Museum in Montevideo, Uruguay.
The World War II Victory Museum was fortunate recently to add an outstanding scale model representation of Graf Spee.
The model was constructed by three different model artists.
Ron Hunt of Battle Creek, MI began the project in the early 1990s and then sold it to Jim Hunter, also of Battle Creek, MI. In 2000, Dennis Mack, of Rockford, MI purchased it and completed it. Mr. Mack estimates that the three owners spent a total of between 600 and 700 hours in completing the model.
The model is built to 1/100 scale. It is 76 inches long, 10 inches wide and 16 inches tall. The model has a fiberglass hull and an aluminum and fiberglass superstructure.
The wooden deck contains approximately three thousand hand-cut bass wood deck planks. The model also has brass propellers; is fully rigged with nylon thread; and includes all essential deck gear, armament, directors, fittings, ship’s boats, cranes, radar equipment, antennae, and a floatplane. In completing the model, Mr. Mack made about 30 different silicon molds and cast approximately 200 detailed parts from those molds. It is painted in a tropical camouflage pattern and appears as Graf Spee appeared for its final voyage in 1939.
The World War II Victory Museum would like to thank Mr. Dennis Mack for his graciousness in donating this superb representation.
It is now on exhibit.
