As the starting point of the revival of the German Navy, the German-class armored ships were the capital ships of the German Navy for a long time. According to the strategic planning of the German Navy, the German-class armored ships will be used in wartime to seize the initiative at sea or to play a leading role. In 1939, when World War II broke out, the German Navy sent the German-class Deutsches class and the Admiral Ofe Spey into the Atlantic Ocean to carry out a battle, which would also be the final battle of the Admiral Spey.
On September 1, 1939, Germany declared war on Poland, and the Polish Campaign broke out. But before that, in order to prevent Britain and France from blocking the mouth of the Baltic Sea and the northern Norwegian sea, the German naval commander Raeder ordered the armored ship Admiral Earl Spey to leave the port and sail into the Atlantic. Reddell's order was simple, and as soon as war broke out, the armored ship Admiral Earl Spey immediately launched an attack to cut off the sea lines of communication between Britain and France. Carrying this order, the Comte Admiral Spey sailed into the depths of the Atlantic, quietly waiting for the sound of the war's horns.
When war broke out, Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 4, 1939, and as Raeder suspected, sent their navies to blockade Germany's sea ports. But by this time the movements of Britain and France were already too slow, and the armored ship Admiral Earl Spey was already in the Atlantic, and would show its fangs to Britain and France. The Admiral Earl of Spey immediately began operations, frequently attacking the British and French convoys and single merchant ships, posing a great threat to the Sea Lines of Communication between England and France.
It can be said that the losses caused by the armored ship of the Admiral Earl of Spey to England and France were enormous. This armored ship alone destroyed 50,000 British and French merchant ships and tankers in three months from September to November. For France this may be tolerated, but for Britain it is a purely intolerable loss. Although 50,000 tons of merchant ships and tankers may seem like a small number, it is a very scary thing for the British, which needs to be transported from overseas. After all, the Germans dared to be so arrogant with an armored ship, so if all three German armored ships came, Britain's sea lines of communication would never be peaceful.
The british were furious at the threat to the sea lines of communication, and they joined forces with the French to send warships to search the Atlantic for The Admiral Count Spey. The British vowed to bring to justice the abominable 'German pirate' The Earl of Spey, and vowed to defend Britain's sea lines of communication. The German Admiral Earl of Spey was also careful to hide his whereabouts, and the captain, Colonel Hans Lønsdorf, was well aware that once he was exposed, he would be surrounded and suppressed by the British superior fleet, and a game of cat and mouse began.
As the saying goes, where are the shoes that don't get wet when you walk by the river? Although Lancedorf carefully hid his whereabouts, he still accidentally exposed his position. When The Comte Earl of Spey attacked the merchant ship Doric Star near Dacuña on 15 November, she accidentally sent a telegram to the British Admiralty. On 3 December, Ronsdorf ordered the German naval flag to be lowered and the French tricolor flag to be hoisted to confuse the British. At the same time he ordered the warships to immediately turn around and move westward towards the mouth of the Río de la Plata between Argentina and Uruguay.
Lonsdorf knew he was running out of time, but the major hoped to take down some more merchant ships. The mouth of the Río de la Plata was an important port, and the usual cargo throughput was so great that it was entirely possible to get a chance to blow up British merchant ships, and if lucky, Lancedorf could also salvage himself a medal. Unbeknownst to Ronsdorf, the G fleet led by Commodore Henry Harwood of the Royal Navy had reached the mouth of the Laptara River, and Harwood had accurately judged Lonsdorf's strategy and planned to fight the other side to the death here.
So on 13 December, Harwood's Fleet and Admiral Earl Spey, commanded by Ronsdorff, met unexpectedly. By this time Harwood's G Fleet had already been depleted before the battle, as fleet G had unfortunately suffered a terrible typhoon as it sailed towards the mouth of the Laptara River. It was also clear that the heavy cruiser Cumberland of the G Fleet was damaged and disengaged. But Harwood himself was not very worried about this, after all, he also had the heavy cruisers Exeter, the light cruisers Ajax and Achilles. Harwood is confident of winning the naval battle.
Colonel Lancedorf, on the other hand, was scolding in his heart, and he began to regret coming to the mouth of the Taprta River. Originally, he had planned to come here to beat up the merchant ships, so that he could go back to the Iron Cross for a meritorious service, but no one expected to encounter three British warships waiting for him here. However, Lancedorf was still lucky, because he judged that the other side was three light cruisers, and felt that he could go up to the reckless wave. But when Lancedorf ordered The Comte admiral Spey to come closer, he almost fainted without a breath, because it was not three light cruisers at all, but a heavy cruiser and two light cruisers.
At this moment, Lancedorff's heart was cold, if the other side had a heavy cruiser to press the line, then his Earl of Spé admiral would be difficult to take advantage of in close combat. However, he had previously ordered to accelerate closer to the other side for combat, which just made him lose his range advantage. Originally, he could have relied on his six 11-inch naval guns to gain an advantage from long-range shelling, but his order directly sent his warships into the range of the British guns, which was really a faint move.
However, there was no regret medicine to take under the heavens, and Ronsdorf could only order the Admiral Earl of Spay to open fire. Harwood ordered the two light cruisers to remain in the northeast direction, and the heavy cruiser Exeter turned northwest to try to pinch Admiral Spey. Harwood was a seasoned admiral who was well aware of the weakness of the Admiral Earl of Spey, and while the six 11-inch guns were indeed powerful, they were weak in the face of attacks from both directions by multiple opponents, and Harwood wanted to take advantage of that because they were part of two triple turrets.
Of course, the risk of this strategy is that it is easy to be broken by the Admiral Earl of Spève. And that was exactly how things unfolded at first, with Lancedorf ordering the focus of fire on the Exeter in an effort to quickly sink the heavy cruiser. The hapless Exeter was shot one after another, the torpedo tube and communication system were destroyed, the second turret was also shot into the sky by the other side's shells, and even the bridge suffered heavy losses, and many officers and men of the bridge were killed by scattered shrapnel. Lancedorf was complacent about this, and in this case he should win in a few moments.
However, Lancedorf couldn't laugh for long, because the two light cruisers were already approaching him, and he could only order the Admiral Earl of Spey to turn half the fire to beat the two light cruisers. The two light cruisers suffered heavy losses, but because Longsdorf forgot that the Exeter was still alive. The Exeter destroyed The Earl of Spencer's heavy oil handling system with a single 8-inch heavy projectile before destroying all of its turrets. When Lancedorf discovered the oil spill, he could only abandon his opponent and order him to retreat, and Harwood also ordered the G fleet to leave the battle, and the naval battle ended in such a sloppy end.
At this time, Lancedorf took the Admiral Earl of Spay to Mondevdia, the capital of Uruguay, and the British fleet was withdrawn to the Falkland Islands by Harwood. Unbeknownst to Himon, Uruguay was pro-British and refused his request for the Comte Admiral Earl of Spey to renovate it. At the same time, the British were worried about their inability to intercept the Admiral Earl of Spey, and finally the British simply bluffed, claiming that the British aircraft carrierS Ark Royal, the battleship Prestige and three light cruisers had arrived, ready to sink the Earl Spey Admiral.
Although Lancedorf was once a neighbor of the german admiral of the First World War, Count Spey, he obviously lacked the courage of Count Spey to fight to the death. Confused by the false news of the British, Lancedorf failed to recognize that this was a suspicious strategy of the British, and desperately reported to the German naval headquarters that he was in a desperate situation and could not break through the siege. The German naval headquarters was also very happy, and told him directly that if it was really impossible to break through, then the Admiral Count Spey would sink himself, and he could not hand it over to the British anyway.
Lonsdorf was also very happy, and directly drove the Admiral Count Spey out of the harbor for three nautical miles, and then sunk the Admiral Ofspe. In fact, if Lancedorf had ventured out of the harbor with The Admiral Earl of Spève, the British would not have had a chance to catch him, and he would still have the possibility of escaping, and the probability was not small. And now that he was frightened by the British, he naturally could not escape from the ascension with his battleship, and he himself was finally arrested in Argentina with the crew, and he committed suicide in despair, which was to regain a little face for himself.
Reference: German Navy 1939-1945
The Life and Death of the Raiders