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CREW SCUTTLE GRAF tSPEE
British Submarine Sinks
German Cruiser
EXPLOSIONS SHATTER POCKET
BATTLESHIP
DESTROYED: HITLER'S ORDER
LONDON, Dec. 18
Germany has now lost two of her most modern warships. The
pocket battleship, Admiral Graf Spee, was scuttled five miles off
shore at the mouth of the River Plate last evening and a British
submarine sank a 6000-ton cruiser at the mouth of the River Elbe in
Germany last Thursday. The cruiser was screened by six destroyers.
The Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled on Hitler's orders. She left Montevideo
.harbour 105 minutes before the expiration of the internment deadline and was
sunk after three explosions. The £3,000,000 pocket battleship is now a shattered
hulk lying in 25ft. of water in the main waterway of the River Plate. .The
Admiral Graf Spee had only a skeleton crew aboard when she sailed and the
remainder were taken off by the German liner Tacoma, which followed the
warship. There was nobody aboard when she was scuttled.
WITNESSED BY CROWD OF 500,000
The end of the Admiral Graf Spec
was witnessed by a crowd of 500,000
from the shore. The Admiral Graf Spec
left Montevideo at 0.15 p.m., and tra
velled upstream towards Buenos Aires.
She then turned round and headed for
the mouth of the River Plate. When
she was five miles off shore, opposite
Montevideo, there were three violent
explosions, apparently from the am
munition stores. Flames shot 60 feet
into the air and the ship began to settle
beneath the waves.
The first explosion ripped off the con
trol tower and sprayed the ship with
oil, which ignited, causing tremendous
flames. As the water rushed into the
gaping holes caused by the explosions
the ship sank on an even keel with the
Swastika flying. Her upper works
were still showing when she settled on
the bottom.
When the Admiral Graf Spee began
to slip beneath the waters of the River
Plate the 10,000-ton British cruiser,
Cumberland, and an unidentified de
stroyer approached at full speed, with
the Cumberland's searchlights playing
on the smoke pall.
Three hundred members of the Ad
miral Graf Spec's crew, including all
the married men, were transferred to
the Tacoma before the battleship left
Montevideo harbour, and as she moved
towards her "appointment with death"
the remaining members of the crew
were taken off. There was nobody on
board when she sank.
As soon as the explosions were heard
in Montevideo and the flames and
smoke were seen, harbour craft began
to blow 'their sirens and the public
rushed to vantage points.
The British Minister (Mr. Millington
Drake) trained his binoculars from a
nineteenth storey window.
The Admiral Graf Spec burned for
80 minutes, until a heavier explosion
sent balls of flame high into the air.
Like a dying candle, the ship burst into
a last bright flame, and then the fires
were extinguished. Oil floating on the
water continued to burn for some time.
At ebb tide the wreckage was almost
broken in two. The uncovered parts
are the bow and superstructure. Sec
tions of the bow were warped by the
heat. The guns, turrets, and stacks are
in position.
The Tacoma's master was arrested for
leaving harbour without permission
when the ship anchored in Montevideo
carrying 700 of the Admiral Graf Spec's
crew, who will be interned. Others are
reported to be en route to Buenos Aires
in two tugs and launches. It is officially
stated that all are safe.
It is expected that those going to
Buenos Aires, including the captain and
some of the oflicers, will be treated as
survivors of a marine disaster, and not
interned.
It has been confirmed that Cap
tain Langsdorff telephoned Hitler
and was instructed to destroy the
ship, rather than let the British do
it.
The Berlin official agency announced
that the Admiral Graf Spec was scuttled
after Uruguay had refused the neces
sary time for repairs.
CAPTAIN'S STATEMENT
The German Embassy issued a state
ment by Captain Langsdorff, written
before sailing, which protested against
Uruguay's refusal to give him time to
place the ship in a proper navigable
condition.
"In the circumstances, there is
nothing for me but to sink the ship,"
he remarked. "She will be blown up
near the coast, and I will disembark as
many of the crew as possible."
Captain Langsdorff said customs
officers stopped shore workmen on the
Admiral Graf Spec at 6 p.m. on Satur
day for several hours and allowed
them to resume only after intervention
by the German legation.
The captain declared: "The Uruguay
an ruling forces me to abandon Monte
video with the ship not repaired in a
manner necessary for security of navi
gation. To sally forth on the high
seas would be negligently endangering
the crew. I emphasise that I do not
refer to danger from enemy action, but
exclusively to the general dangers of
navigation."
The German commander's statement
also revealed that he sought to remain
for 15 days.
Captain Langsdorff admitted that
Uruguayan neutrality was violated dur
ing the last hours of the battle with
the British cruisers, but claimed that
he was forced to fire at a British
cruiser near Loboss Island because the
cruiser opened fire on the Admiral Graf
Spec.
The Germans have published notes
exchanged between the captain of the
Admiral Graf Spee and the Montevideo
port authorities, showing that the Ad
miral Graf Spec had only 105 minutes
in which to leave or be interned, be
cause a British freighter went to sea
at 6.15 p.m. on Saturday, thereby pre
venting the departure of the Admiral
Graf Spee until 24 hours later in ac
cordance with Article 16 of The Hague
Convention. The pocket battleship
could not sail before 6.15 on Sunday
but Uruguay ruled that if she did not
sail before 8 p.m. she would be in
terned.
Before the Admiral Graf Spec de
parted the diplomatic representatives
of the South American republics as
sured Senor Guani, Foreign Minister of
Uruguay, of full support for Uruguay's
actions.
The semi-official Buenos Aires news
paper "El Pueblo" quoted Captain
Langsdorff as having said: "If I cannot
run the blockade, I shall sink the ship
at 8 p.m."
MISSION FULFILLED
Shortly before the pocket battleship
was scuttled, the German official agency
issued a lengthy report saying that her
mission had been fulfilled, and detailed
her captures and sinkings. For the first
time it was admitted that superior alien
forces were awaiting the Admiral Graf
Spec's departure.
The reports were given prominence
in the early morning editions of the
newspapers, indicating that the Gov
ernment was preparing the people for
the loss of the ship.
In Berlin, only 11 lines recording that
the Admiral Graf Spec was blown up
on Hitler's orders appeared in the first
afternoon newspaper to-day. The brief
radio and newsagency announcements
puzzle the Germans, who are ignorant
of the significance of the event or the
world-wide interest in it.
The fact that Hitler ordered the
scuttling is sufficient to convince many
Germans that this was the best course.
The average feeling is summed up in
the remark of one German to a British
United Press correspondent: "I do not
understand it, but I suppose it is all
right." Government authorities refuse
to supplement the newagency's brevity.
"Nothing can be said," they declare.
Hitler ordered the scuttling only
after many hours of argument with
naval chiefs and technical experts.
who insisted that the Graf Spec must
not fall into British hands. The
pocket battleships have an unusually
high proportion of specially designed
instruments and apparatus. A number
of new secrets were added this sum
mer.
"IGNOMINIOUS END"
A high British naval authority stated
in "The Times" that the scuttling of the
Admiral Graf Spec, which would never
have happened in the old German
Navy, was more humiliating than if the
Germans had submitted to internmpnt.
"To have steamed out and fought
would have been magnificent," he re
marked. "To have been interned would
have been understandable, but they
have chosen an ignominious end."
The "New York Herald-Tribune," in
an editorial entitled "The Ignominious
End of the Admiral Graf Spec" con
trasts the unheroic scuttling with the
original Admiral Graf Spec.
[Admiral Graf Spec, after whom the
pocket battleship was named, was com
mander of the German squadron which
annihilated a British squadron of old
cruisers at the Battle of Coronel in
1914. A few weeks later the British
had their revenge at the Battle of the
Falkland Islands, when the German
ships were destroyed. Admiral Graf
Spec went down with his ships.]
The "New York Times" naval writer
says the scuttling is a blow to the pres
tige and morale of the German Navy,
and perhaps the nation.
The "New York Times" praises the
British seamanship and Uruguay's firm
ness in respect to international law.
"It is incredible," exclaimed a group
of Italian naval men at midnight, when
they heard the news of the scuttling of
the Admiral Graf Spec. which is re
garded as proof that she was more
badly damaged than Berlin admitted.
Naval circles consider that it would
have been better to have accepted in
ternment that to have condemned a fine
ship and her crew to ignominious
suicide without a fight.
An agreement has been reached by
representatives of the United States, the
Argentine, Brazil, and Uruguay for a
joint declaration again fencing the
American republics' waters from the
European war. Other American states
are expected to consent to join the de
claration.
The Uruguayan harbour police ar
rested four Graf Spec seamen who were
aboard the Tacoma. They were charged
with having blown up the warship.
They were in a launch when the Ad
miral Graf Spee exploded.
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