The Battle of the Falkland Islands
After Britain’s catastrophic defeat at Coronel, the Royal Navy sailed in search of revenge and found it in the Falkland Islands, as Mark Wood explains
After Britain’s catastrophic defeat at Coronel, the Royal Navy sailed in search of revenge and found it at the Falkland Islands, in 1914, as Mark Wood explains.
On 5 November 1914 a telegram from The Admiralty in Whitehall, London, was received by Admiral John Jellicoe, commander of The Grand Fleet based at Scapa Flow. The telegram instructed Jellicoe: ‘Essential recover control. First Sea Lord requires Invincible and Inflexible for this purpose. Sturdee goes C.-in-C. South Atlantic and Pacific.’
The telegram arrived four days after the humiliating debacle at Coronel, off the coast of Chile, during which a German naval squadron commanded by Admiral Graf von Spee had sunk two British armoured cruisers with the loss of over 1,600 men including Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock.
The Admiralty reacted with alacrity, ordering the Coronel survivors Glasgow, Otranto and Canopus to rendezvous with a powerful squadron being assembled at Monte Video under the command of Rear Admiral Archie Stoddart. The force consisted of the Monmouth class cruisers Cornwall and Kent, the Devonshire class cruiser Carnarvon and HMS Defence, and a cruiser of the Minotaur class.
The officer chosen to lead the squadron, Admiral Sir Charles Doveton Sturdee, came from a naval family beginning his career as a cadet in 1871. Sturdee departed for a rendezvous with Stoddart at the Abrolhos
Archipelago off Brazil, the force augmented en route by light cruisers, HMS Bristol and HMS Macedonia.
After his victory at Coronel, Admiral Graf von Spee had sailed for the Chilean port of Valparaiso for repairs, continuing on to the island of Mas-a-fuera to link up with the light cruiser SMS Leipzig and was joined in the Straits of Magellan, by another light cruiser, Dresden.
Sturdee made for the Falkland Islands on 30 November with the intention of using Port Stanley as a base from which to conduct patrols in search of the German squadron, his force arriving a week later.
HMS Canopus, another Coronel survivor, too slow and unwieldy, had been hard moored in the inner harbour as a makeshift shore battery, her 12in guns considerably out ranging von Spee’s armoury. With additional shore batteries and minefields Port Stanley presented a formidable defence.
The German intention was to use the light cruisers as bait to entice the British squadron out into the open sea, destroy them at close range, then proceeding in to bombard Stanley. Sturdee’s ships were ordered to maintain sufficient steam to be able to sail at 12 knots within a two hour standby time with the designated guardships Inflexible and Kent at 30 minutes notice.
The battle
If von Spee had misgivings about heading towards the Falkland Islands, they were dismissed after discussions with the captain of Gneisenau, Julius Maerker,
who persuaded him of the importance of putting the Falklands radio station out of commission to prevent other British units being alerted. Consequently, von Spee sent Gneisenau and Nurnberg to reconnoitre Port Stanley with the task of shelling the radio facility if possible.
The shore battery watchtower reported two unknown warships approaching at 7.50am, their observations being relayed to the ships in harbour. At 8.30am action stations was sounded onboard the guardships and the remaining British ships in harbour, which powered up for departure while the duty guardship, Kent, followed by Carnarvon, headed out to confront the Germans.
Shortly after, shells from Canopus began falling around the German vessels - both hoisting their battle ensigns and turning into the open sea to rejoin their squadron. By 10am the British squadron had left the harbour with Inflexible leading in pursuit of the Germans who were on a south easterly heading at their maximum speed of 22 knots. Both Inflexible and Invincible were sailing at a speed of 28 knots while Glasgow remained three miles ahead to monitor the retreating Germans.
SMS Leipzig was stationed to the rear of the German line and Inflexible opened fire at a range of nine miles followed swiftly by Invincible with Leipzig obscured by smoke and the eruptions of water from falling shells.
Von Spee, aware of the futility of attempting to engage the Invincible-class vessels with his light cruisers, released the three ships with orders to break at full speed for the South American coast while Scharnhorst and Gneisenau turned back towards the British. Sturdee had planned for this eventuality and detached Glasgow, Cornwall and Kent in pursuit of their opposite numbers as Invincible and Inflexible prepared to open fire on Gneisenau and Scharnhorst respectively.
At eight miles, the heavier armament of Invincible and Inflexible, with their superior range, now began to tell with the German shots some 1,000yd short. So, von Spee closed with the British squadron to compensate, turning on
a parallel course as he did so, hitting Invincible at maximum range - an extraordinary feat of gunnery.
At 2.05pm Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were observed turning south to follow their light cruisers, the British following and taking up a position astern of the Germans at 10 miles distance. Within 40 minutes the distance had closed to
8.5 miles and Sturdee’s ships turned 9 degrees to port and recommenced firing broadside on with the Germans maintaining a converging course to enable them to bring their secondary
6in guns to bear. There began a furious exchange of fire, both sides inhibited by the intense smoke, which lasted some 10 minutes, resulting in considerable damage to the superstructure onboard Scharnhorst and fires burning across the upper deck and in several compartments. Gneisenau was faring no better and had taken on a list to port and the gunfire from both ships had slackened due to damage to the casemates.
Sturdee now brought his ships about to clear the smoke and enable visual correction of the British fall of shot. Sustained fire on the German ships continued until Gneisenau’s secondary armament ceased to function, her list increased and Scharnhorst sustained further damage. Von Spee turned Scharnhorst 16 degrees starboard across the bows of the British line to enable broadside firing and allowing the Invincible visual confirmation of the havoc inflicted by her guns. One witness described Scharnhorst’s upper deck as a shambles of twisted steel and iron.
Von Spee’s flagship turned away to escape but was losing speed and both Inflexible and Invincible concentrated their fire on her, until the German vessel suddenly ceased firing altogether and lurched heavily to starboard. Invincible continued to pour intense fire into the stricken vessel while Inflexible turned away to confront her sister ship. Von Spee despatched a final signal to Gneisenau ordering her to break contact and try to save herself before Scharnhorst rapidly capsized, her battle ensign still flying.
The British units, still engaged against Gneisenau were unable to effect rescue operations and the entire crew of Scharnhorst was lost including von Spee.
Invincible now turned starboard to join the assault on Gneisenau and commenced firing at 6 miles range. Heavy fire from both battle cruisers disabled her number one turret and achieved hits below the waterline which flooded several stores compartments. The sluggish speed of the crippled Gneisenau allowed Carnarvon to join the fray and the three British ships continued to bombard the German vessel which was unable to return fire, her stocks of main armament ammunition now exhausted. Struggling through the worsening weather at a reduced speed of eight knots, with one funnel shot away and extensive damage throughout her superstructure Gneisenau made a final turn towards Invincible and came to a stop. Listing heavily to starboard the German cruiser returned ragged volleys of fire with her remaining secondary weapons and it became apparent that she was sinking. The British squadron closed to two miles to administer the coup de grace, however before they could recommence firing, Gneisenau heeled over and capsized. Surviving crew were observed clinging to the keel before she finally sank. Captain Maerker had ordered the sea cocks opened to ensure she sank quickly, a decision that doomed the majority of his crew. The British ships rapidly launched rescue boats which picked up 187 survivors, but some 580 German sailors perished.
Sturdee now turned his attention to the German light cruisers, which were 12 miles distant from Glasgow. The German ships were suffering the effects of prolonged service at sea without major repair work and their boilers and machinery were degraded and not working to full efficiency. They were also outgunned by Cornwall and Kent and were now desperately short of ammunition, particularly since all the
German ships had expended much of it in the battle at Coronel. Early in the chase, the German units remained together with Nurnberg flanked by Leipzig to starboard and Dresden to port. Glasgow overtook
Kent and Cornwall and began a running battle with Leipzig, each ship making turns to fire broadsides before resuming the chase. After two hours, the German group scattered with Kent in pursuit of Nurnberg which was headed east.
Cornwall and Glasgow agreed to focus on Leipzig and turned to enable both units to fire into her port side. Within the space of 15 minutes the German vessel was severely damaged and her fire control officer killed by shrapnel. Leipzig’s speed was now reduced significantly allowing the British ships to circle while pouring gunfire into her hull and superstructure. Cornwall moved in to finish the German ship and the British cruiser fired several volleys of Lyddite armour piercing shells which left Leipzig burning fiercely. The German ship continued to fight back until, after almost four hours of sustained combat, her guns ceased firing, her ammunition expended.
Leipzig was in a state of devastation, fires burned throughout the ship yet her battle ensign remained aloft. In view of
this, the British continued firing until two green lights were displayed which they took to be a signal of surrender. Boats were lowered to pick up survivors and at 9.23pm Leipzig rolled over and sank. Despite their best efforts, the rescue boats managed to pick up only 18 officers and men out of a crew of 300.
Cornwall had sustained several hits and was listing to port but had suffered no casualties while Glasgow had one dead and four wounded.
Nurnberg had maintained maximum speed in her efforts to escape but the resultant strain on her boilers had caused two of them to burst which reduced her speed to 19 knots. Kent was now short of coal and the captain ordered all wooden fittings throughout the ship to be stripped and fed into the burner. Kent having traded shots with Nurnberg and with the light failing, closed in with the intention of making a swift kill. Turning six degrees port, the distance fell to 3.5 miles and Kent directed a withering fire into her enemy. At 1.7 miles Nurnberg was seen to be heavily damaged and burning, her engines continued to lose speed. As Kent turned to starboard across the German ships bows, Nurnberg turned port and Kent’s starboard batteries erupted with a fury of salvoes which shattered the German vessel. Although sinking at the stern and with fires raging, Nurnberg’s battle ensign continued to fly so Kent continued firing, the ensign being quickly lowered minutes later.
Kent launched her two serviceable boats but only seven of Nurnberg’s crew were recovered. Kent had received over 40 strikes, with the radio office destroyed. Royal Marines Sergeant George Mayes was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal for preventing catastrophe by extinguishing a blaze in a burning casemate. Kent had suffered four dead and 12 wounded during the fighting.
The only surviving German ship, SMS Dresden, outran her hunters and escaped into the Pacific. However, she had only delayed her fate. Just three months later, Kent and Glasgow, cornered her at the island of Mas-a-fuera where they opened fire. Captain Ludecke unwilling to sacrifice his crew unnecessarily, evacuated the ship and scuttled her with explosive charges, the German sailors being interned in Chile. The defeat of Cradock and his squadron at Coronel had been avenged and Admiral DovetonSturdee was rewarded with the hereditary title of Baronet. ■