German WWI wreck Scharnhorst discovered off Falklands

[TomSea]

German WWI wreck Scharnhorst discovered off Falklands

The wreck of a World War One German armoured cruiser has been located off the Falkland Islands, where it was sunk by the British navy 105 years ago.

SMS Scharnhorst was the flagship of German Vice-Admiral Maximilian Graf von Spee's East Asia Squadron.

It was sunk on 8 December 1914 with more than 800 men on board, including Vice-Adm von Spee himself.

Read more at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-50670743

[PeteS in CA]

Battle of the Falkland Islands

The Admiralty ordered Admiral Stoddart to concentrate at Monte Video his armoured cruisers HMS Carnarvon and Cornwall and the armoured cruiser HMS Defence, on her way from the Mediterranean to join Cradock. Canopus, Glasgow and Otranto, returning from the Coronel battle, were ordered to join Stoddart, as was the armoured cruiser HMS Kent from the East Atlantic.
...
It was expected that, following his spectacular success at Coronel, von Spee would sail around the Horn and capture the Falkland Islands, temporarily defenceless.

Admiral Jellicoe, commanding the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow, was ordered to detach the battle cruisers HMS Invincible and Inflexible from his 2nd Battle Cruiser Squadron for service in the South Atlantic.
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At 7.50am the observation tower established by Canopus reported that two strange warships were approaching from the south. It was apparent that they must be ships from von Spee’s East Asiatic Squadron. Sturdee’s ships had been taken by surprise.
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The British ships were busy coaling and preparing to leave that evening and so many false reports on the position of the German warships were circulating that little notice was taken of the warning. Glasgow received the message and fired a gun to attract the attention of the other ships. It was not for some twenty minutes that the British ships began to respond to the threat.

It was fortunate that Admiral Sturdee had required his ships to be at 2 hours notice of sailing. ...
...
Gneisenau and Nürnberg headed for the radio station near Hooker Point. Canopus at 9am requested permission to open fire, having her gunnery control officer in a hut on high ground ashore.  ...

As Canopus opened fire the two German ships hoisted their ensigns and turned away to the south-east quickly, putting themselves out of range of Canopus’ guns. They then turned towards Kent, causing Sturdee to order Kent to return to harbour.
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At 10am the main body of the British squadron weighed anchor and headed out of the harbour, Inflexible leading Invincible and Cornwall. Glasgow reported the German ships to be heading south-east, apparently at full speed. Glasgow and Kent set off in pursuit.
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At 12.20pm the Germans again turned to starboard and it became apparent that they were breaking up the close formation they had maintained during the chase. They were heading south- east and were becoming covered by their own smoke.

Sturdee decided to attack. The two British battle cruisers opened up the distance between them and increased speed to 25 knots, quickly catching up with Glasgow. Sturdee issued the order to engage.

SMS Leipzig was the slowest of the German ships and was in the rear of von Spee’s squadron. At 16,000 yards (9 miles) Inflexible opened fire on Leipzig, quickly joined by Invincible. The two battle cruisers turned 2 points to starboard in order to close and increased to full speed. Shells were landing around the Leipzig so that she was several times concealed by shell splashes.

Seeing that it was a matter of time before his light cruisers were overwhelmed by the British battle cruisers, von Spee at 1.20pm ordered those ships to scatter and head for the South American coast, there to resume their role of sinking Allied commercial shipping, whilst Scharnhorst and Gneisenau turned into line ahead to the north-east to give battle to the British squadron.
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The two battle cruisers turned 7 points to port into line ahead on the beam of von Spee’s two armoured cruisers and did so before the Germans completed their turn.

At 1.20pm the British ships opened fire, Invincible on Gneisenau and Inflexible on Scharnhorst. Gneisenau, the faster of the two German armoured cruisers, had been in the van during the chase. She slowed to permit Scharnhorst to take the lead and open fire. But at 14,000 yards (8 miles) the range was too great for the German guns, their shells falling 1,000 yards short.
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By 2.45pm the British battle cruisers closed the distance on the Germans to 15,000 yards (8.5 miles). Sturdee turned slightly to port to bring his broadside into play and opened fire.

After five minutes von Spee turned 9 points to port into line ahead. Sturdee responded with a 6 point turn to port, bringing the ships broadside to broadside. The German ships opened fire.

The two lines were now on a converging course with the range closing. It seemed that von Spee was intent on bringing his secondary armament into action.

Scharnhorst and Gneisenau possessed secondary armaments of 6 inch guns while the secondary armament on Invincible and Inflexible comprised 4 inch guns.

By 2.59pm the range was down to 12,500 yards (7 miles) and the German ships opened fire with their 6 inch guns.

For ten minutes the range remained at this distance and each side scored hits on the other, with the hottest fire of the action, although the heavy smoke from the British ships interfered with the spotting for both sides.

Little damage was being inflicted on the British ships while the German ships were suffering considerable punishment. Scharnhorst was on fire in a number of places, one funnel shot away and her fire slackening, while Gneisenau was beginning to list.

The Battle of the Falkland Islands was an unequal battle. Armored cruisers were an obsolescent naval technology. Battle cruisers, such as the two the RN had, were designed to overwhelm ....... armored cruisers. Battle cruisers were armored against armored cruiser caliber main guns, carried much heavier main guns, and were several knots faster than armored cruisers. IOW, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau could not seriously damage Invincible and Inflexible, and could not outrun them either.

[TomSea]

We were discussing German navy in South America not too long ago. I wonder if this involves the same actors?

[PeteS in CA]

We were discussing German navy in South America not too long ago. I wonder if this involves the same actors?

The article above is pretty long, which is why I do not think I came close to quoting 1/3 of it. Anyway, it and the corresponding article on the Battle of Coronel go into considerable detail about what Von Spee was doing in his cruise from Tsing Tao (modern Qingdao), across the Pacific, and into the Atlantic. While he dispatched light cruiser Emden toward the Indian Ocean, he basically collected a couple of other light cruisers on his way to the Falklands, one of which I think had been operating independently off the east coast of South America, and possibly another that had been operating off the west coast.

I'm not sure whether Spee thought to reach Germany or whether he wanted to wreak as much havoc as he could for as long as he could until finally being sunk.

BTW, the Battle of Coronel, which was off Chile, was almost mirror image, technologically, from the Battle of the Falklands. The British force at Coronel was centered on a couple of obsolete armored that had been brought out of reserve and manned by incompletely trained reservists. Spee's armored cruiser, while an obsolescent type, were much newer, had been in active service, were much more heavily armed, and were some of the best in the German fleet when it came to gunnery. Until finally dispatching to deal with Spee, the RN had not sent anything like their best ships to the waters off Chile and Argentina.