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Maximilian von Spee | |
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Born | 22 June 1861 Copenhagen, Denmark |
Died | 8 December 1914 53) SMS Scharnhorst, South Atlantic, off the Falkland Islands | (aged
Allegiance | German Empire |
Service/ | Imperial German Navy |
Years of service | 1878–1914 |
Rank | Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) |
Commands | SMS Hela SMS Pelikan SMS Wittelsbach East Asia Squadron |
Battles/wars |
Maximilian Johannes Maria Hubert Reichsgraf [1] von Spee (22 June 1861 – 8 December 1914) was a naval officer of the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), who commanded the East Asia Squadron during World War I. Spee entered the navy in 1878 and served in a variety of roles and locations, including on a colonial gunboat in German West Africa in the 1880s, the East Africa Squadron in the late 1890s, and as commander of several warships in the main German fleet in the early 1900s. During his time in Germany in the late 1880s and early 1890s, he married his wife, Margareta, and had three children, his sons Heinrich and Otto and his daughter Huberta. By 1912, he had returned to the East Asia Squadron as its commander, and was promoted to the rank of Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) the following year.
After the outbreak of World War I in July 1914, Spee led his squadron across the Pacific to the coast of South America. Here on 1 November, he defeated the British 4th Cruiser Squadron under Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock in the Battle of Coronel, sinking two of Cradock's cruisers and forcing his other two ships to retreat. A month later, Spee decided to attack the British naval base in the Falkland Islands, but a superior British force surprised him. In the ensuing Battle of the Falkland Islands, Vice Admiral Doveton Sturdee's squadron, which included two powerful battlecruisers, destroyed the East Asia Squadron. Spee and his two sons, who happened to be serving on two of his ships, were all killed, along with about 2,200 other men. Spee was hailed as a hero in Germany, and several ships were named in his honor, including the heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee, which was built in the 1930s and was scuttled after the Battle of the River Plate during World War II.
Spee was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 22 June 1861, though he was raised in the Rhineland in Germany, where his family had an estate. He joined the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in 1878 and initially served in the main German naval base at Kiel. [2] [3] He was commissioned an officer at the rank of Leutnant zur See (lieutenant at sea), and was assigned to the gunboat SMS Möwe, which was sent to western Africa. During this voyage, the Germans signed treaties with local rulers in Togo and Cameroon, creating the colonies of Togoland and Kamerun, respectively. [4] In 1887, Spee was transferred to Kamerun where he commanded the port at Duala. He contracted rheumatic fever while there, and had to be sent back to Germany to recover, though he occasionally suffered from rheumatism for the rest of his life. [2] [3]
After returning to Germany in 1889, he married his wife, Margareta Baroness von der Osten-Sacken. [5] With her he had two sons—Otto, born on 10 July 1890, Heinrich, born on 24 April 1893—and one daughter, Huberta, born on 11 July 1894. [6] By 1895, Spee had been promoted to the rank of Kapitänleutnant (captain lieutenant). From 1 May to 12 September that year, Spee commanded the ironclad gunboat Natter. [7] In December 1897, Spee was stationed in Germany's East Asia Squadron after it seized the Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory, with its port at Qingdao. Here, he served on the staff of Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Otto von Diederichs. [4] [5] During the Boxer Uprising in China in 1900, Spee saw action at Qingdao and on the Yangtze. [3]
After arriving back in Germany, he was promoted to the rank of Korvettenkapitän (Corvette Captain) and assigned as the first officer aboard the pre-dreadnought battleship Brandenburg. [5] Between 1900 and 1908, Spee held command of several ships, including the aviso Hela, the minelayer Pelikan, and finally the pre-dreadnought Wittelsbach. During this period, he was promoted to Fregattenkapitän (Frigate Captain) on 27 January 1904 and to Kapitän zur See (Captain at Sea) exactly a year later; his command of Wittelsbach followed the latter promotion. In 1908, he was assigned as the chief of staff to the commander of the North Sea Station, and in 1910 he was promoted to the rank of Konteradmiral (KAdm–Counter Admiral). [2] [4] [5] Spee was then assigned as the deputy commander for the reconnaissance forces of the High Seas Fleet. [3]
In late 1912, Spee was given command of the East Asia Squadron, replacing KAdm Günther von Krosigk on 4 December. Spee raised his flag on the armored cruiser Scharnhorst, and departed on a tour of the southwest Pacific along with Scharnhorst's sister ship Gneisenau, during which Spee made visits to several ports, including Singapore and Batavia. [8] Spee was promoted to Vizeadmiral the following year. [3] Over the following year and a half, Spee met with the leaders of several East Asian countries. From 1 April to 7 May 1913, Scharnhorst took Spee to Japan to meet the Taishō Emperor. [8] Later in the year, Spee met with Chulalongkorn, the King of Siam. In May 1914, Spee took Scharnhorst and the torpedo boat S90 on a visit to Port Arthur and then to Tianjin; Spee continued on to Beijing, where he met with Yuan Shikai, the first President of the Republic of China. He came back aboard Scharnhorst on 11 May and the ship returned to Qingdao. [9]
Spee thereafter began preparations for a cruise to German New Guinea; Scharnhorst departed on 20 June. The two armored cruisers proceeded to Nagasaki, Japan, where they coaled in preparation for their tour. While en route to Truk in the Caroline Islands, they received news of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. [10] On 17 July, the East Asia Squadron arrived in Ponape in the Carolines, where the ships remained while tensions steadily rose in Europe. In Ponape, Spee had access to the German radio network, and he learned of the Austro-Hungarian declaration of war on Serbia on 28 July, followed shortly thereafter by the Russian mobilization—tantamount to a declaration of war—against Austria-Hungary and possibly Germany. On 31 July, word came that the German ultimatum that Russia demobilize its armies was set to expire; Spee ordered his ships' crews to prepare for war. On 2 August, Wilhelm II ordered German mobilization against Russia and its ally, France. [11] Following Germany's violation of neutral Belgium during its invasion of France, Britain declared war on Germany. [12]
The East Asia Squadron consisted of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the light cruisers Emden, Nürnberg, and Leipzig. [13] At the time, Nürnberg was returning from the west coast of the United States, where Leipzig had just replaced her, and Emden was still in Qingdao. Spee recalled his ships to consolidate his forces; Nürnberg arrived on 6 August and the three cruisers plus their colliers moved to Pagan Island in the Marianas, at that time a German colony. Emden and the liner Prinz Eitel Friedrich, which had been converted into an auxiliary cruiser, joined the squadron there on 12 August. [14] The four cruisers, accompanied by Prinz Eitel Friedrich and several colliers, then departed the central Pacific, bound for Chile. On 13 August, Commodore Karl von Müller, captain of the Emden, persuaded Spee to detach his ship as a commerce raider. On 14 August, the East Asia Squadron departed Pagan for Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. [15] While en route across the Pacific, Spee relaxed formalities aboard his ships, integrating the messes for officers and non-commissioned and engineering officers. [16]
To keep the German high command informed, on 8 September Spee detached Nürnberg to Honolulu to send word through neutral countries. Nürnberg returned with news of the Allied capture of German Samoa, which had taken place on 29 August. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau sailed to Apia to investigate the situation. [17] Spee had hoped to catch a British or Australian warship by surprise, but upon his arrival on 14 September, he found no warships in the harbor. [18] Spee decided against attacking the Allied troops ashore, since doing so would risk killing Samoans and damaging German property. [19] On 22 September, Scharnhorst and the rest of the East Asia Squadron arrived at the French colony of Papeete. The Germans attacked the colony, and in the ensuing Battle of Papeete, they sank the French gunboat Zélée. The ships came under fire from French shore batteries but were undamaged. [20] Fear of mines in the harbor prevented Spee from seizing the coal in the harbor. [21] Spee then continued across the Pacific, passing through the Marquesas Islands, where his ships acquired supplies including fresh meat by barter, purchase, or confiscation. [22] On 12 October, the squadron reached Easter Island, where it was reinforced by Leipzig, Dresden, and four more colliers. Spee's ships were off the coast of Chile by 1 November, when he learned that the British cruiser Glasgow was moored in Coronel, ostensibly alone; he decided to try to sink the ship. [23]
Glasgow was assigned to the 4th Cruiser Squadron, under Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock; as it turned out, Glasgow was joined by the armored cruisers Good Hope and Monmouth and the auxiliary cruiser Otranto. After discovering the entire squadron off Coronel, Spee decided to engage the British ships, but he delayed the action using his ships' superior speed until later in the day, when the setting sun would silhouette Cradock's ships. The German ships would meanwhile be obscured against the Chilean coast, making the task of the British gunners more difficult. [24] At 18:07, Spee issued the order to open fire, with his two armored cruisers battling Cradock's armored cruisers and his light cruisers engaging Glasgow and Otranto. Cradock quickly detached Otranto, as she had no place in the line of battle. By 18:50, Gneisenau had disabled Monmouth and so shifted fire to Good Hope; the combined firepower of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau neutralized Good Hope by 19:23. Spee then withdrew his two armored cruisers and sent in his light cruisers to finish off Monmouth and Good Hope. [25] The British had lost both ships and suffered more than 1,600 dead, including Cradock, though the German ships had expended around 40 percent of their ammunition supply. [26] Spee had inflicted the first defeat on a Royal Navy squadron since the Napoleonic Wars a century earlier. [27]
After the battle, Spee took his ships north to Valparaiso. Since Chile was neutral, only three ships could enter the port at a time; Spee took Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Nürnberg in first on the morning of 3 November, leaving Dresden and Leipzig with the colliers at Mas a Fuera. There, Spee's ships could take on coal while he conferred with the Admiralty Staff in Germany to determine the strength of remaining British forces in the region. [28] In addition, Spee sought to counter British press reports that attempted to minimize their losses and exaggerate German casualties. A reception followed at the German Club of Valparaiso, though Spee insisted that the event be restrained in tone. [29] He received a bouquet of flowers to celebrate the victory at Coronel; Spee replied that they would do nicely for his grave. [30] He stated that,
You must not forget that I am quite homeless. I cannot reach Germany. We possess no other secure harbor. I must fight my way through the seas of the world doing as much mischief as I can, until my ammunition is exhausted, or a foe far superior in power succeeds in catching me. But it will cost the wretches dearly before they take me down. [31]
While in port, Spee received the order from the Admiralty Staff to attempt to break through to Germany. [32] The ships remained in the port for only 24 hours, in accordance with the neutrality restrictions, and arrived at Mas a Fuera on 6 November, where they took on more coal from captured British and French steamers. [33] Dresden and Leipzig took their turn in Valparaiso, after which the re-formed squadron continued south and rounded Cape Horn into the South Atlantic. [32] In the meantime, the Royal Navy sent a pair of battlecruisers—Invincible and Inflexible—commanded by Vice Admiral Doveton Sturdee to hunt down Spee's squadron and avenge Cradock's defeat. [27]
On the morning of 6 December, Spee held a conference with the ship commanders aboard Scharnhorst to determine their next course of action. The Germans had received numerous fragmentary and contradictory reports of British reinforcements in the region; Spee and two other captains favored an attack on the Falkland Islands to destroy the British wireless station there, while three other commanders argued that it would be better to bypass the islands and attack British shipping off Argentina. Spee's opinion carried the day and the squadron departed for the Falkland Islands at 12:00 on 6 December. The ships arrived off the Falkland Islands two days later; Gneisenau and Nürnberg were delegated for the attack. As they approached, observers aboard Gneisenau spotted smoke rising from Port Stanley, but assumed it was the British burning their coal stocks to prevent the Germans from seizing them. [34] As they closed on the harbor, 30.5 cm (12.0 in) shells from the elderly battleship Canopus, which had been beached as a guard ship, began to fall around the German ships, which prompted Spee to break off the attack. As Spee withdrew, Sturdee quickly got steam up in his ships and sortied to chase the Germans. [35]
By 13:20, the battlecruisers had caught up with Spee, who realized his armored cruisers could not escape the much faster battlecruisers. He ordered the three light cruisers to attempt to break away while he tried to hold off the British squadron with Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Sturdee instead ordered his cruisers to chase down the fleeing German light cruisers while Invincible and Inflexible dealt with Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. [36] Spee deftly maneuvered his ships, taking the leeward position; the wind kept his ships swept of smoke, which improved visibility for his gunners. This forced Sturdee into the windward position and its corresponding worse visibility. Scharnhorst straddled Invincible with her third salvo and quickly scored two hits on the British battlecruiser. The German flagship was herself not hit during this phase of the battle. [37] Sturdee attempted to widen the distance by turning two points to the north to prevent Spee from closing to within the range of his numerous secondary guns. Spee counteracted this maneuver by turning rapidly to the south, which forced Sturdee to turn south as well to keep within range. This allowed Scharnhorst and Gneisenau to turn back north and get close enough to engage with their secondary 15 cm guns. Their shooting was so accurate that it forced the British to haul away a second time. [38]
The British gunfire became increasingly accurate, and by 16:00, Scharnhorst had begun to list badly, while fires raged aboard the ship. Spee ordered Gneisenau to try to disengage while he turned Scharnhorst toward his attackers in an attempt to launch torpedoes at them. At 16:17, Scharnhorst capsized and sank, taking her entire crew with her, including Spee. The British, still focused on Gneisenau, made no effort to rescue survivors. [39] Gneisenau, Leipzig, and Nürnberg were also sunk. Only Dresden managed to escape, but she was eventually tracked to the Juan Fernández Islands and sunk. The complete destruction of the squadron killed about 2,200 German sailors and officers, including both of Spee's sons; [40] Heinrich died aboard Gneisenau, and Otto was killed aboard Nürnberg. [41]
Spee was hailed as a hero in Germany and the men of the East Asia Squadron were celebrated in the press, which emphasized their bravery and refusal to surrender. [42] In September 1917, the second Mackensen-class battlecruiser was named Graf Spee, and was christened by Spee's widow Margarete. [43] Construction of the ship had not been completed by the time of the Armistice of 11 November 1918, and she was broken up for scrap by 1921. [44] In 1934 Germany named the new heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee after him; as with the earlier vessel, a member of Spee's family christened the ship, this time his daughter. [45] In December 1939, Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled by her crew after the Battle of the River Plate off the coast of Uruguay. [46] Between 1959 and 1964 the Federal German Bundesmarine operated the training frigate Graf Spee. [47]
The wreck of Spee's flagship Scharnhorst was found off the Falklands on 5 December 2019, almost 105 years to the day after her sinking. Wilhelm Graf von Spee, head of the Graf von Spee family, called the location of the wreck "bittersweet", remarking that the family took comfort "from the knowledge that the final resting place of so many has been found, and can now be preserved, whilst also being reminded of the huge waste of life. As a family, we lost a father and his two sons on one day. Like the thousands of other families who suffered an unimaginable loss during the First World War, we remember them and must ensure that their sacrifice was not in vain." [48]
The Battle of Coronel was a First World War naval battle that led to an Imperial German Navy victory over the Royal Navy on 1 November 1914, off the coast of central Chile near the city of Coronel. The East Asia Squadron of the Imperial German Navy led by Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee met and overpowered a British squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock.
SMS Scharnhorst was an armored cruiser of the Imperial German Navy, built at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany. She was the lead ship of her class, which included SMS Gneisenau. Scharnhorst and her sister were enlarged versions of the preceding Roon class; they were equipped with a greater number of main guns and were capable of a higher top speed. The ship was named after the Prussian military reformer General Gerhard von Scharnhorst and commissioned into service on 24 October 1907.
The Battle of the Falkland Islands was a First World War naval action between the British Royal Navy and Imperial German Navy on 8 December 1914 in the South Atlantic. The British, after their defeat at the Battle of Coronel on 1 November, sent a large force to track down and destroy the German cruiser squadron. The battle is commemorated every year on 8 December in the Falkland Islands as a public holiday.
HMS Carnarvon was one of six Devonshire-class armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. She was assigned to the 3rd Cruiser Squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet upon completion in 1905 and was transferred to the 2nd Cruiser Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet in 1907. She was assigned to the reserve Third Fleet in 1909 and became flagship of the 5th Cruiser Squadron of the reserve Second Fleet in 1912.
HMS Canopus was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the British Royal Navy and the lead ship of the Canopus class. Intended for service in Asia, Canopus and her sister ships were smaller and faster than the preceding Majestic-class battleships, but retained the same battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns. She also carried thinner armour, but incorporated new Krupp steel, which was more effective than the Harvey armour used in the Majestics. Canopus was laid down in January 1897, launched in October that year, and commissioned into the fleet in December 1899.
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee, 1st Baronet was a Royal Navy officer. After training as a torpedo officer, he commanded two different cruisers and then three different battleships before becoming commander of the 1st Battle Squadron of the Home Fleet. He went on to command the 3rd Cruiser Squadron and then the 2nd Cruiser Squadron.
SMS Gneisenau was an armored cruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine, part of the two-ship Scharnhorst class. Named for the earlier screw corvette of the same name, the ship was laid down in June 1904 at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen, launched in June 1906, and commissioned in March 1908. She was armed with a main battery of eight 21 cm (8.3 in) guns, a significant increase in firepower over earlier German armored cruisers, and she had a top speed of 22.5 knots. Gneisenau initially served with the German fleet in I Scouting Group, though her service there was limited owing to the British development of the battlecruiser by 1909, which the less powerful armored cruisers could not effectively combat.
SMS Leipzig was the sixth of seven Bremen-class cruisers of the Imperial German Navy, named after the city of Leipzig. She was begun by AG Weser in Bremen in 1904, launched in March 1905 and commissioned in April 1906. Armed with a main battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and two 45 cm (18 in) torpedo tubes, Leipzig was capable of a top speed of 22.5 knots.
HMS Inflexible was one of three Invincible-class battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy before World War I and had an active career during the war. She tried to hunt down the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben and the light cruiser SMS Breslau in the Mediterranean Sea when war broke out and she and her sister ship Invincible sank the German armoured cruisers SMS Scharnhorst and SMS Gneisenau during the Battle of the Falkland Islands. Inflexible bombarded Turkish forts in the Dardanelles in 1915, but was damaged by return fire and struck a mine while maneuvering. She had to be beached to prevent her from sinking, but she was patched up and sent to Malta, and then Gibraltar for more permanent repairs. Transferred to the Grand Fleet afterwards, she damaged the German battlecruiser Lützow during the Battle of Jutland in 1916 and watched Invincible explode. She was deemed obsolete after the war and was sold for scrap in 1921.
SMS Dresden was a German light cruiser built for the Kaiserliche Marine. The lead ship of her class, she was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in 1906, launched in October 1907, and completed in November 1908. Her entrance into service was delayed by accidents during sea trials, including a collision with another vessel which necessitated major repairs. Like the preceding Königsberg-class cruisers upon which her design was based, Dresden was armed with ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/40 guns and two torpedo tubes.
HMS Invincible was the lead ship of her class of three battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy during the first decade of the twentieth century and the first battlecruiser to be built by any country in the world. During the First World War, she participated in the Battle of Heligoland Bight in a minor role, as she was the oldest and slowest of the British battlecruisers present. During the Battle of the Falkland Islands, Invincible and her sister ship Inflexible sank the armoured cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau almost without loss to themselves, despite numerous hits by the German ships.
The Mackensen class was the last class of battlecruisers to be built by Germany in World War I. The design initially called for seven ships, but three of them were redesigned as the Ersatz Yorck class. Of the four ships of the Mackensen class, Mackensen, Graf Spee, and Prinz Eitel Friedrich were launched, and Fürst Bismarck was not—but none were completed, after wartime shipbuilding priorities were redirected towards U-boats—and the ships were broken up in the early 1920s. The lead ship of the class was named for August von Mackensen, a prominent military commander during the war. In response to the Mackensen-class ships, the British Royal Navy laid down the Admiral-class battlecruisers, all but one of which would eventually be cancelled; the sole survivor, HMS Hood, was completed after the end of the war.
HMS Glasgow was one of five ships of the Bristol sub-class of the Town-class light cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. Completed in 1910, the ship was briefly assigned to the Home Fleet before she was assigned to patrol the coast of South America. Shortly after the start of the First World War in August 1914, Glasgow captured a German merchant ship. She spent the next several months searching for German commerce raiders. The ship was then ordered to join Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock's squadron in their search for the German East Asia Squadron. He found the German squadron on 1 November off the coast of Chile in the Battle of Coronel. They outnumbered Cradock's force and were individually more powerful, sinking Cradock's two armoured cruisers, although Glasgow was only lightly damaged.
The German East Asia Squadron was an Imperial German Navy cruiser squadron which operated mainly in the Pacific Ocean between the mid-1890s until 1914, when it was destroyed at the Battle of the Falkland Islands. It was based at Germany's Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory in China.
SMS Yorck was the second and final ship of the Roon class of armored cruisers built for the German Kaiserliche Marine as part of a major naval expansion program aimed at strengthening the fleet. Yorck was named for Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg, a Prussian field marshal. She was laid down in 1903 at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, launched in May 1904, and commissioned in November 1905. The ship was armed with a main battery of four 21 cm (8.3 in) guns and had a top speed of 20.4 knots. Like many of the late armored cruisers, Yorck was quickly rendered obsolescent by the advent of the battlecruiser; as a result, her peacetime career was limited.
The Scharnhorst class was the last class of traditional armored cruisers built by the German Kaiserliche Marine. The class comprised two ships, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. They were larger than the Roon-class cruisers that preceded them; the extra size was used primarily to increase the main armament of 21 cm (8.2 inch) guns from four to eight. The ships were the first German cruisers to reach equality with their British counterparts. The ships were named after 19th century Prussian army reformers, Gerhard von Scharnhorst and August von Gneisenau.
The Bombardment of Papeete occurred in French Polynesia when German warships attacked on 22 September 1914, during World War I. The German armoured cruisers SMS Scharnhorst and Gneisenau entered the port of Papeete on the island of Tahiti and sank the French gunboat Zélée and freighter Walküre before bombarding the town's fortifications. French shore batteries and a gunboat resisted the German intrusion but were greatly outgunned. The main German objective was to seize the coal piles stored on the island, but these were destroyed by the French at the start of the action.
SMS Nürnberg, named after the Bavarian city of Nuremberg, was a Königsberg-class light cruiser built for the German Imperial Navy. Her sisters included Königsberg, Stettin, and Stuttgart. She was built by the Imperial Dockyard in Kiel, laid down in early 1906 and launched in August of that year. She was completed in April 1908. Nürnberg was armed with ten 10.5 mm (0.41 in) guns, eight 5.2 cm (2 in) SK L/55 guns, and two submerged torpedo tubes. Her top speed was 23.4 knots.