Doomsday for Admiral von Spee: The Battle of the Falkland Islands 1914

The Battle of the Falkland Islands, 8th December 1914.

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In an epic naval encounter on the 8th December 1914, the Royal Navy decisively defeated German admiral Maximilian von Spee. He along with 4 of his warships and 2,000 of his sailors were lost to the cold waters of the Atlantic. That’s over double the number of men killed in the Falklands War in 1982.

Commanders.

Royal Navy - Vice Admiral Sir Frederick Doveton Sturdee (1859-1925)

German Imperial Navy - Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee (1861-1914)

Ships involved in the Battle of the Falkland Islands

Royal Navy

HMS Invincible (Battle Cruiser)
Maximum speed 28 knots
8 x 12 inch guns and 16/4 inch guns
Captain Beamish
Crew just over 1,000

HMS Inflexible (Battle Cruiser)
Similar top speed to Invincible.
Same armaments
Similar crew numbers.
Captain Phillimore.

HMS Kent - Armoured (Heavy) Cruiser
Completed 1901
14 x 6 inch guns
Top speed 22 knots

HMS Cornwall - Armoured (Heavy) Cruiser
4 x 6 inch guns
Top speed 24 knots
Captain Ellerton.
Crew just under 700.

HMS Carnarvon - Armoured *Heavy) Cruiser
4 x 7.5 inch guns and 6 x 6 inch guns
Top speed 22 knots

HMS Glasgow - Light Cruiser
Completed 1911
2 x 6 inch and 10 x 4 inch guns

HMS Bristol - Light Cruiser
Completed 1911
Top speed 26 knots

HMS Macedonia - auxiliary cruiser (converted civilian ship)
8 x 4.7 inch guns
Maximum speed 18 knots.
At 12,100 tonnes, only the battle cruisers were bigger in size.

HMS Canopus
4 x 12 inch and 12 x 6 inch guns
12,950 tonnes.


German Imperial Navy

SMS Scharnhorst
Armoured (heavy) cruiser
8 x 8.2 inch and 6 x 6 inch guns
Top speed 21 knots
Crew - 800+

SMS Gneisenau
Like Scharnhorst, completed in 1907
Same armaments
Slightly faster, maximum speed of 24 knots.
Crew just under 800 men.


SMS Dresden (light cruiser)
10 x 4.1 inch guns
Maximum speed 24 knots (although reported that she did achieve 27 knots)
Kapitan Ludecke.
Crew 350 men


SMS Nurnberg (Light cruiser)
Same armaments as Dresden.
Crew just over 300.

Both German light cruisers were under 4,000 tonnes.

SMS Leipzig (light cruiser)
Same armaments.
Slightly smaller, 3,250 tons.
Maximum speed 24 knots
Just under 300 crew.

Accompanied by 2 collier ships - Baden and Santa Isabel - and a hospital ship the Seydlitz (not to be confused with a German battleship of the same name).


Chapters
0:00 Introduction
0:44 Admiral von Spee
1:19 Battle of Coronel
1:56 Von Spee's Ships
2:23 British Respond
3:39 In The Dark
5:30 Looming Danger
6:30 Admiral Sturdee's Ships
7:57 Battle of the Falkland Islands Begins
9:47 The Chase
10:48 Battle of the Admirals
13:28 Scharnhorst Sunk
14:26 Gneisenau Sunk
15:19 Leipzig Sunk
17:11 Nurnberg Sunk
18:28 HMS Bristol
19:17 The 2 That Got Away
20:27 Legacy

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My name is Chris Green and I love to share stories from British history. Not just because they are interesting but because, good or bad, they have shaped the world we live in today.

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