Admiral Graf Spee 1939
Marker: recorded wreck position (Second World War).
Key facts
| Name | Admiral Graf Spee | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1939 | Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier |
| Era | Second World War | derived from year |
| Ship type | heavy cruiser | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | Scuttled | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | Nazi Germany | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | Kriegsmarine | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Conflict | World War II, Battle of the River Plate | Wikidata P607 conflict |
| Sea / ocean | Río de la Plata | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Uruguay | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 9 km from land |
| Position | -34.9717, -56.3011 | Wikidata P793 significant event, coordinate qualifier (CC0) |
About the wreck
Admiral Graf Spee (German pronunciation: [admiˈʁaːl ɡʁäːf ʃpeː]) was a Deutschland-class Panzerschiff (armored ship, nicknamed "pocket battleships" by the British) which served with the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II. The vessel was named after World War I Admiral Maximilian von Spee, commander of the East Asia Squadron who fought the battles of Coronel and the Falkland Islands, where he was killed in action. She was laid down at the Reichsmarinewerft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven in October 1932 and completed by January 1936. The ship was nominally under the 10,000 long tons (10,160 t) limitation on warship size imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, though with a full load displacement of 16,020 long tons (16,280 t), she significantly exceeded it. Armed with six 28 cm (11 in) guns in two triple gun turrets, Admiral Graf Spee and her sisters were designed to outgun any cruiser fast enough to catch them. Their top speed of 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph) left only a few capital ships in the Anglo-French navies fast enough and powerful enough to sink them.
The ship conducted five non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in 1936–1938 and participated in the Coronation Review of King George VI in May 1937.
Diving & visiting
The wreck was partially broken up in situ in 1942–1943, though parts of the ship were visible for some time after; the wreck lies at a depth of only 11 m (36 ft). The salvage rights were purchased from the German Government by a Montevideo engineering company for £14,000, a front for the British. The British had been surprised by the accuracy of the gunnery and expected to find a radar range finder, which they did. They used the knowledge thus acquired to try to develop countermeasures, under the leadership of Fred Hoyle at the British radar project. The Admiralty complained about the large sum paid for the salvage rights.
In February 2004, a salvage team began work raising the wreck of Admiral Graf Spee.
Location
- Recorded position: -34.9717, -56.3011 (Wikidata P793 significant event, coordinate qualifier (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: Río de la Plata
- Nearest coast: Uruguay
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee (revision 1375865869), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Wreck”; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- HMS Agamemnon 1809 · 120 km
Other wrecks of the World War II
- HMS Thetis 1918
- HMS Blanche 1939
- HMS Duchess 1939
- HMS Rawalpindi 1939
- HMS Seahorse 1939
- SS Binnendijk 1939
- SS Fanad Head 1939
- Stanbrook 1939
- U-12 1939
- U-27 1939
All 599 wrecks of the World War II →
Browse more: South America wrecks · Second World War