Battles at Sea in World War I: Coronel

By Jürgen Prommersberger

The Battle of Coronel was a German Navy victory over the Royal Navy on 1 November 1914 off the coast of central Chile near the city of Coronel. German Kaiserliche Marine forces led by Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee met and defeated a Royal Navy squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock.

The engagement probably took place as a result of a series of misunderstandings. Neither admiral expected to meet the other in full force. Once the two met, Cradock understood his orders were to fight to the end, despite the odds heavily against him. Although Spee had an easy victory, destroying two enemy armoured cruisers for just three men injured, the engagement also cost him almost half his supply of ammunition, which was impossible to replace. Shock at the British losses led to an immediate reaction and the sending of more ships, which in turn destroyed Spee and the majority of his squadron at the Battle of the Falkland Islands.

This book gives detailed informations about the prelude to the battle, the commanders and their decisions during the battle. It also describes all involved ships with tecnical specifications and history. A lot of historical pictures complete this book about the sea battle at Coronel.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jürgen Prommersberger
• Release date: Aug 5, 2016
• ISBN: 9788822828842

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Battles at Sea in World War I

CORONEL

Jürgen Prommersberger: Battles at Sea in World War I  -  CORONEL

Regenstauf August 2016

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Jürgen Prommersberger

Händelstr 17

93128 Regenstauf

SMS Scharnhorst

HMS Monmouth

CHAPTER 1  - PRELUDE

Battle of Coronel was a victory of the Imperial German Navy over the Royal Navy on 1st November 1914 off the coast of central Chile near the city of Coronel. German Marine forces led by Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee met and defeated a Royal Navy squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock.

The engagement probably took place as a result of a series of misunderstandings. Neither admiral expected to meet the other in full force. Once the two met, Cradock understood his orders were to fight to the end, despite the odds heavily against him. Although Spee had an easy victory, destroying two enemy armoured cruisers for just three men injured, the engagement also cost him almost half his supply of ammunition, which was impossible to replace. Shock at the losses led to an immediate reaction in Britain and the sending of more powerful ships, which in turn destroyed Spee and the majority of his squadron at the Battle of the Falkland Islands.

The Royal Navy—with assistance from other Allied navies in the far east—had captured the German colonies of Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, Yap, Nauru and Samoa early in the war, instead of searching for Vice-Admiral Maximilian von Spee's German East Asia Squadron which had abandoned its base at the German concession at Tsingtao in China once Japan entered the war on Britain's side. Eventually, recognising the German squadron's potential for commerce raiding in the Pacific, the British Admiralty belatedly made its elimination a high priority but concentrated the search in the western Pacific after Spee's squadron bombarded Papeete.

On October 5, the British learned from an intercepted radio communication of Spee's plan to prey upon shipping in the crucial trading routes along the west coast of South America. Patrolling in the area at that time was Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock's 4th Cruiser Squadron, consisting of the armoured cruisers HMS Good Hope (Cradock's flagship), and HMS Monmouth, the modern light cruiser HMS Glasgow, three other light cruisers, a converted liner—HMS Otranto—and two other armed merchantmen. Cradock's force was also to have been reinforced from Mediterranean waters by the newer and more powerful armoured cruiser HMS Defence, but ultimately the deployment was delayed with Defence only reaching Montevideo two days after the battle, and he instead received the old pre-dreadnought battleship HMS Canopus.

The last-minute change in plans meant that the British squadron was composed almost entirely of either obsolete or under-armed vessels, all crewed by inexperienced naval reservists. Both the Monmouth and the Good Hope possessed a large number of 6-inch guns between them, but only the Good Hope was equipped with heavier artillery in the shape of two 9.2-inch guns mounted in single turrets. In contrast, von Spee had a formidable force of five modern vessels (the armoured cruisers SMS Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the light cruisers SMS Dresden, Leipzig and Nürnberg), all led by officers handpicked by Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz himself. Both the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau were armed with eight 8.2 in guns each, which gave them an overwhelming advantage in range and firepower. The latter advantage was further compounded by the fact that the crews of both ships had earned accolades for their gunnery skill prior to the war.

Nevertheless, Cradock was ordered simply to be prepared to meet them in company, with no effort made to clarify what action Cradock was expected to take, should he find von Spee. On receiving his orders, Cradock asked the Admiralty for permission to split his fleet into two forces, each able to face von Spee independently. The fleets would operate on the east and west coasts of South America to counter the possibility of von Spee slipping past Cradock and raiding into the Atlantic. The Admiralty agreed and the east coast squadron, consisting of three cruisers and two armed merchantmen, was formed under Rear-Admiral A. P. Stoddart.

The remaining vessels formed Cradock's west coast squadron, which was reinforced by HMS Canopus upon its arrival on 18 October. Reprieved from its scheduled scrapping by the outbreak of war and badly in need of an overhaul, Canopus's top speed was only 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph), or about two-thirds her design speed and just over half that of the remainder of the squadron. The Admiralty recognised that her slow speed meant the fleet would not be fast enough to force an engagement with von Spee's cruisers. However, the Admiralty also believed that, without Canopus, Cradock's ships stood no chance against von Spee. Cradock was told to use Canopus as a citadel around which all our cruisers in those waters could find absolute security or in other words, keep contact with von Spee while avoiding any risky engagements.

The Chief of the Admiralty War Staff—Vice-Admiral Sir Doveton Sturdee—requested additional ships be sent to reinforce Cradock, but this was vetoed by First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill and First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, Prince Louis of Battenberg. Cradock's later request for HMS Defence to rejoin him was denied on the grounds that Canopus was sufficient reinforcement.

CHAPTER 2 – THE COMMANDERS

Vizeadmiral Maximilian Reichsgraf von Spee

* 22 June 1861 in Kopenhagen;

† 8 December 1914 in the South Atlantic

Maximilian Reichsgraf von Spee was a naval officer of the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), who famously commanded the German East Asia Squadron during World War I. Spee entered the navy in 1878 and served in a variety of roles and locations, including on a colonial gunboat in German West Africa in the 1880s, the East Africa Squadron in the late 1890s, and as commander of several warships in the main German fleet in the early 1900s. During his time in Germany in the late 1880s and early 1890s, he married his wife, Margareta, and had three children, his sons Heinrich and Otto and his daughter Huberta. By 1912, he had returned to the East Asia Squadron as its commander, and was promoted to the rank of Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) the following year.

After the outbreak of World War I in July 1914, Spee led his squadron across the Pacific to the coast of South America. Here on 1 November, he defeated the British 4th Cruiser Squadron under Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock in the Battle of Coronel, sinking two of Cradock's cruisers and forcing his other two ships to retreat. A month later, Spee decided to attack the British naval base in the Falkland Islands, though a superior British force surprised him. In the ensuing Battle of the Falkland Islands, Vice Admiral Doveton Sturdee's squadron, which included two powerful battlecruisers, destroyed the East Asia Squadron. Spee and his two sons, who happened to be serving on two of his ships, were all killed, along with about 2,200 other men. Spee was hailed as a hero in Germany, and several ships were named in his honor, including the heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee, which was