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Battle of the River Plate

Privacy Level: Public (Green)
Date: 13 Dec 1939 to 14 Dec 1939
Location: River Plate, Uruguay, South Americamap
Surname/tag: Willis
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This is a description of the Battle of the River Plate fought between the British cruisers - Exeter, Ajax and Achilles and the German "pocket" battleship, Graf Spee; compiled from letters written by Bernard George Willis, an airman serving on HMS Achilles.

In mid October 1939, orders arrived for Achilles to proceed to the East Coast of South America, via the Straits of Magellan to join the newly designated South Atlantic Station based in the Falkland Islands. Keenly aware of their good fortune, they passed through the Straits on the 20th October in unusually fine and sunny weather. With everyone on board fully appreciating the unforgettable scenery of the Straits, they nosed in and out of various natural harbours en route, on the look out for German ships or a German submarine base.

In the Falkland Islands, Achilles joined HMS cruisers Ajax, Exeter and Cumberland, a British hunting group based at the new South Atlantic Station at Port Stanley. After operating independently for two months around the coast of South America, Achilles now came under the command of Commodore Harwood whose group was looking for a German raider operating in the area. There was an extreme urgency to protect British shipping on the Atlantic coast of South America. England's war effort depended on the large orders for beef, coffee, and wheat placed with Argentina and British ships in the Atlantic were sailing within reasonable reach of German ships and submarines operating out of their northern European ports. A German ship had been harassing Allied merchantmen in the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean for several weeks. Seven British ships had already been lost – though to the credit of the German raider's Captain, without loss of life. The Royal navy had traced the movements of the German raider by picking up radio signals from her victims. They suspected that the battleship Admiral Scheer was in the area and wanted to find her before she struck again.

Achilles patrolled the Argentine coast, sometimes alone, sometimes in company with one of the other ships. On November 10th, the British ships arrived for an official two-day visit to Rio de Janeiro. As Capt. Parry said, “We did our Christmas shopping, we danced, lost money in the Casino and played golf in idyllic surroundings.” At the end of November, Achilles was on her own again, on a long patrol toward the north of South America. The weather was very hot and the men cooled off with water sports on board, rigging an obstacle course ending in a large canvas pool and water jump. Somebody called to the aircraft pilot as he prepared to jump "now then Sir, where are your wings?"

On December 2nd off Cape San Roque, the eastern most tip of Brazil, they turned south again, and next day a German raider sunk a British merchantman off St Helena. Commodore Harwood, reasoning that the German raider would strike next among the heavy shipping out of the River Plate, ordered Achilles to arrive at Montevideo on the 8th for a two-day visit and then rendezvous with Ajax in the River Plate on the 10th. Two days later, Exeter arrived from the south to join them. On the evening of the 12th, Exeter, Ajax and Achilles practiced the maneuver with which Commodore Harwood planned to tackle the German Pocket Battleship when found, they “would attack at once by day or night”. By day, they would fight as two units, Ajax and Achilles fighting as one with Exeter diverging to flank the enemy and concentrate the gunfire.

13th December – as usual, dawn action stations were kept then most of those crew not on duty retreated to their hammocks for an extra 20 minutes rest when, at 6.14am, as Ajax, Exeter and Achilles steamed their prescribed zigzag course line ahead off the Uruguay coast on a calm sea; a lookout reported the smoke of a ship on the horizon. However, the German ship had seen and identified the British ships well before they spotted her; the lookout points of the German ship were higher above sea level than those of the British ships. The puff of dark smoke from her funnels as she increased speed toward the British ships drew the attention of the British lookout. With the strange ship bow on, and steaming straight towards them, it was some minutes before identification could be made; then it was all to obvious that this was no merchant ship but a German pocket battleship, either the Graf Spee or the Scheer. “Action stations” was sounded immediately; the German Battleship was already closing in at speed.

Commodore Harwood on Ajax signaled to Achilles that they would alter course together and the battle was on, just as they had practiced the evening before. A signalman rushed to hoist the New Zealand ensign, anxious that Achilles would fight New Zealand’s first Naval battle under her own flag. Bernard wrote to his father “next thing I knew the alarum rattlers were sounding. It took me some moments to realise what that signified because we had already been at action stations that morning (a routine practice each morning after which most hands turned in again for an extra hour in their hammocks before the bugle call to ‘lash and stow’). Chaps were tumbling out of hammocks and being half dressed we soon closed up once more. (They rushed to action stations as they were, one gunner in white silk pyjamas). My action station was in the main wireless office and there are a couple of ladders and a long passage to be negotiated when one wishes to go there from our mess deck.”
6.18am, almost as soon as sighted by the British, the Graf Spee opened fire, one gun turret firing at Exeter and one firing at Ajax. Bernard writes, “On the way along the passage I heard one chap say to another that a German Pocket Battleship had opened fire on us. That statement overheard in passing prepared me for something but it was still hard believing we really were in action.” The British cruisers put their battle plan into action immediately. The plan was for Ajax and Achilles to stick together and fight as if one. Exeter (whose 8"guns had a slightly longer range than Ajax and Achilles) was to put up her spotter aircraft and direct fire while attacking the enemy from a different direction. Exeter opened fire two minutes later, followed by Achilles and Ajax. (Bernard) “had been in the main W/T office only a few moments when our first broadside went ‘woomph’ a good many times a minute. We were in action without a doubt. By then the whole ship vibrated with our unleashed team of 72,000 horses and shuddered with every broadside.”
6.23am under concentrated fire from the Graf Spee, Exeter moved in to identify the enemy ship, received several hits and was soon badly damaged by Graf Spee's shells. Shell bursts killed Exeter’s starboard torpedo crew.
6.24am Exeter received a direct hit on B turret, putting it out of action and killing or wounding all but three men on the bridge deck. The Graf Spee's 11"guns had an effective range of seventeen miles. The Ajax and Achilles had to get within nine miles before their 6"guns could be effective.Cruisers were very vulnerable compared with the heavily armour plated battleship. Exeter continued to engage the Graf Spee until all her guns were finally out of action and the wheel house so damaged, there was only an old ship's compass left to steer her by. All the while, Graf Spee was laying smoke screens.
6.32am Exeter fired her starboard torpedoes, causing Graf Spee to turn under her smoke screen. In the meantime Ajax and Achilles were maneuvering closer to Graf Spee and at
6.37am the pilot of Ajax's spotter plane managed to get his plane into the air without interrupting the salvos from Ajax's turret guns. Achilles stuck to their battle plan, faithfully shadowing Ajax without need for further instructions, only altering course as necessary to dodge the enemy shells. Neither ship was yet hit by the Graf Spee's shells. Their best chance was to make the most of their speed and manoeuvrability against the Admiral Graf Spee whose secondary armament was greater than the combined firepower of the three British cruisers.
6.38am Exeter received two more direct hits, one to A turret and one exploding inside the ship.
At 6.40am Achilles was hit, 10 men injured.
6.43am Exeter fired her port torpedoes.
Then at 6.50am a shell burst near Achilles’ Bridge deck, sending up a rain of splinters that killed three immediately and wounding six others, one of which later died from his injuries.
About 7am, thinking that Graf Spee was moving in to finish off Exeter, the Commodore realised that the battle was indecisive and made the decision to close in and engage the Graf Spee. Ajax and Achilles moved in at full speed to engage Graf Spee at close quarters; firing everything they had including anti-aircraft guns.
7.25am Ajax received a direct hit, putting all four aft guns out of action. In retaliation, she fired four torpedoes. Meanwhile, Achilles relatively unscathed so far was able to get in "some beautiful shooting" and straddle Graf Spee with shell shots. She was scoring hit after hit, her guns glowed with the heat of firing and paint peeled from the gun barrels. Even so, Graf Spee was so well armoured that the British Commodore, watching from his flagship Ajax, remarked "we might as well be bombarding her with snowballs". Graf Spee altered course and began putting up a smoke screen.
At 7.40 with 36 dead, 60 wounded and already out of the fight, the Commodore ordered Exeter to retire. Exeter broke off and limped toward the safety of the Falkland Islands. Graf Spee ceased firing and made a run for the shelter of neutral territory of Rio del Plata and Montevideo Harbour.
Bernard wrote “0800 Chasing the Admiral Graf Spee but keeping a respectful distance, his fangs were still a little too heavy for us to tackle him directly in broad daylight. The Ajax’s aircraft reported seeing twenty or thirty direct hits on the enemy.” Ajax and Achilles continued to shadow the Graf Spee toward the coast.
Bernard wrote “About 10 o’clock I went on the upper deck to see what was going on and get a look at the German. Well there, just off our portside were three huge fountains of water and over the horizon a small smudge of smoke. That was all I saw of the Graf Spee that day.” Bernard wasn’t the only one to be shut away from watching the action, perhaps only one in ten on board Achilles was in a position to see what was going on, most were at their stations below decks or shut away in turrets.
10.05am, getting a little close for Graf Spee’s comfort, Achilles was again straddled by salvos from the enemy as Graf Spee tried to drive Ajax and Achilles away - and thick black smoke billowed from Achilles funnel as she accelerated out of range of Graf Spee’s guns. In the wireless office Bernard heard two tremendous thumps “and concluded that they were our ‘tin-fish’ hitting the water. However they were a couple of presents from Adolph in the shape of eleven inch shells falling close alongside.... one German shell weighed as much as a whole broadside from us or not many pounds short anyway. The Admiral Graf Spee’s secondary armament was equal to that of either the Ajax or Achilles’ main armament.”
The battle - the American Press version

Their machinery never let them down and the teamwork on Achilles was absolutely superb as the men kept at their duties without letup and with such intensity that time telescoped and it was common to believe that they had been in action for half the time they had in fact been fighting.

:At 11.04am, while telescopes and long-range binoculars focused on a merchantman blowing off white steam near the speeding enemy, our RNZAF ground-crew wireless mechanic Corporal Bernie Willis sat at the Main W/T 500kc/s receiver with his finger on the attention buzzer. The big German warship was transmitting: CT GVBK de DTGS = Please pick up lifeboats of British steamer = GVBQ de DTGS Please pick up lifeboats of British steamer.” GVBK was Achilles’ International call sign, GVBQ was Ajax's international call sign and a quick check revealed that DTGS was the International call sign for Graf Spee – until now they had thought they had engaged the Admiral Scheer! Bernard, on duty when the Graf Spee gave her usual warning to abandon ship before firing - was unable to find a black lead pencil in the excitement of the moment and made his radio-log entry in non-regulation red. Neither Achilles nor Ajax replied to the German message, and when signalled by Ajax, the Shakespeare reported herself unharmed and not in need of assistance. Threatening to sink the Shakespeare was probably a tactic in the heat of the moment to delay the chasing cruisers and Capt.Langsdorff changed his mind about sinking the merchantman, perhaps after realizing that it might cause anti-German reaction from the Uruguayan Government when he entered Montevideo.

Faced with the possibility of running short of ammunition before they could bring the action to any conclusion, a change in tactics was decided. Achilles and Ajax broke off the action to shadow the Graf Spee until nightfall when there would be better chances to get in close enough to use torpedoes effectively.

At 12.37pm, concentrating on Ajax, Graf Spee again fired before turning away at full speed, trying to drive Ajax and Achilles away. Following Graf Spee toward the South American coast, they came in sight of Punta del Este. The afternoon passed relatively quietly as Ajax and Achilles shadowed Graf Spee, keeping out or range of her big guns.
Then, at 7.15pm, Ajax got too close and again Graf Spee fired two salvos in her direction. Guessing that she was heading into the Rio del Plata, Commodore Harwood with Ajax went south around the sand bar of Banco Ingles to forestall any attempt to escape through the channel there and Achilles stayed in position to follow the Graf Spee if she kept to her course past Lobos Island. Against the sunset, the German battleship was beautifully silhouetted against Punta del Este. Though there was still daylight, car headlights could be seen along shore barely five miles away. Achilles’ propellers thrusting through the channel's shallow water at 30 knots created a massive following wave which rolled after the ship like the rooster's-tall of a racing powerboat, rearing to such a height that those on the quarterdeck looked up, amazed as the stern wave welled out on either side with crests of tumbling mud stained foam. It was a sight they would never forget, it seemed to them that if the ship were to suddenly stop, a great tidal wave would engulf Achilles.

News of the gun battle so close inshore attracted many spectators, the headlights of their cars illuminating the sea below, negating any advantage that night fall could bring to Ajax and Achilles in their pursuit of Graf Spee.

At 8.55pm, as Achilles sped past Punta Negra to close in on the Admiral Graf Spee, Graf Spee’s guns seemed to wave like a robot's arms as they elevated to train on them. Three salvos were fired at Achilles who returned with five salvos of her own which seemed to straddle Graf Spee, then turned and sped out of range, much to the excitement of the watching Uruguayans. Bernard in the Radio room heard two huge thumps and assumed it was Achilles ‘tin fish’ hitting the water but they were two 11 inch shells falling close alongside, each shell weighing as much as a whole broadside from Achilles. Bernard remembered it was only their Captain’s skilful manoeuvring that saved them from that lot.
By 10.00pm Achilles had closed to within 10,000 yards of Graf Spee who was now concentrating on making it into the neutral safety of Montevideo harbour. Bernard and others who had been shut away all day during the battle were now allowed on deck in twos and threes for a short break. All Bernard saw was three huge fountains of water just off their port side and a small smudge of smoke on the horizon – all he was to see of the Graf Spee that day. The pursuit was called off about 11o'clock that night. Graf Spee reached Montevideo at midnight.
The battle

All through the night Ajax and Achilles, joined by the Cumberland, kept to battle stations and patrolled the wide river mouth to keep the battleship in port. Meanwhile, in England the British leaked misinformation, pretending to direct imaginary warships into the area, including the Arc Royal, which had in fact, been sunk by enemy action sometime previously.

In Montevideo next day began a daylong diplomatic battle between the German Ambassador seeking time to make repairs, the Uruguayan Government who threatened to impound the German battleship and the British who wanted the Graf Spee to leave as soon as possible. (The British soon changed their minds and wanted the Graf Spee kept there until they could bring up reinforcements to make sure of preventing Spee’s escape to the open sea.)

At 9.30am all hands were called to “Sunday Divisions” as they stood by to bury the four ratings killed during the battle the day before. They were -

Able Seaman Archie Shaw
Ordinary Seaman Ian Grant
Ordinary Telegraphist Neville Milburn
Telegraphist Frank Stennett

For four days they cruised on patrol outside Montevideo harbour. Bernard remembered that they listened to the battle being carried on over the radio. “They had much more imagination than we had, the Yankee stations giving almost eye witness accounts of an action that took place a half day’s steaming (at 25 knots) from land.”

On Sunday evening the 17th, they prepared to go into the estuary again as the Admiral Graf Spee was due to sail that evening. As the ships speed toward where they expected to intercept the Germans, an aircraft was sent ahead. They were at action stations and it was almost sunset, when word was sent back that the Spee had blown herself up. Rather than face a showdown with the supposed British fleet gathering outside, Hitler sent orders saying that the Admiral Graf Spee must not to be allowed to fall into enemy hands. At sunset, the crowds gathering to see Graf Spee leave and witness the inevitable battle were surprised to see Graf Spee stop in the river shoals and her crew ferried ashore. Then came a huge explosion as Graf Spee was scuttled, she settled into the shallow water in flames.

Bernard wrote, “What a feeling of relief swept round the ship, for four nights we had expected every moment to be in it again and now the German had solved the problem completely. All hands that could be spared were piped up from below decks in order to see the last of the ’Spee’. We lined every vantage point and the three ships were black with men all looking towards the sunset for a glimpse of a sinking pocket battleship. It was some hours before we really could see anything. As we proceeded slowly up the Plate sudden flames from explosions lit up the blackness and towards midnight the glowing red-hot wreck became visible.

We did not go right up close to the ship that was the pride of the Nazis but turned and proceeded to sea once more. I do not think three small cruisers are a match for Pocket Battleships but luck, circumstances and the real skill of our officers were on our side.”

In Buenos Aires, on the 19th of December Captain Langsdorf committed suicide. The day before, the pro-British Buenos Aires newspapers accused him of cowardice and misjudgement. Rather than face the humiliation of internment, Capt.Langsdorf wrote letters explaining his actions, saying that amongst other problems they were short of ammunition and could not expect to be able to shoot their way “out of the trap of Montevideo”. (The Germans in Montevideo made much of the damage suffered by Graf Spee though in fact repairs were well in hand) Capt.Langsdorf praised Exeter’s heroic action and the daring and tenacity of Ajax and Achilles, saying that they fought more like destroyers than cruisers.

On board Achilles, they were pleased to have come through the first major sea battle of the war, proud that they hadn’t let the side down. Their little ship had doggedly got in under the battleship’s great guns and landed sufficient telling shots to put the German ship out of the war. That the pilot of Ajax’s spotter plane credited Achilles' salvoes with much of the damage to Graf Spee made their victory all the sweeter.

After the scuttling of Graf Spee, Ajax and Achilles retired to the Falkland Islands to rest and repair their ships. Exeter, tied up in harbour there received a rousing cheer from Achilles as she passed, followed a few minutes later by a cheer from Ajax as she followed Achilles into harbour.

Then, a few days after well-earned Christmas celebrations in Port Stanley, reports indicated that German battle ships were making for the Falklands. Exeter was maneuvered into a position from which she could use her damaged guns in self defense while Ajax and Achilles put to sea again with HMS Cumberland, to patrol the east coast of South America, visiting Buenos Aires and Montevideo and patrolling to keep the neutral South American ports open to Allied and neutral shipping. Achilles’ Fleet Air Arm compliment, RAF Sgt Clements and Corporals Jimmy James and George Percy, LAC Bernard Willis RNZAF, NZ Navy Able Seaman Bob Stewart, pilot Bill Sykes and navigator Naval Lieutenant Sewell were stationed ashore with a machine gun each “with which to assist the Falklands Islands Defence Force in repelling any invasion.”

On the 2nd February 1940, Achilles left the Falklands for a major refit in Auckland, arriving on February 23rd to a hero’s welcome with thousands watching, gathered on every vantage point. The Crew of the Achilles marching up Queen Street, Auckland to a Civic Welcome after the Battle of the River Plate. Followed by luncheon in the Town Hall.

Then, in April it was by train to Wellington where the Achilles crew were billeted on the South American liner Andes for a victory march from the Railway Station to the Terrace for a Civic Reception followed by a tram trip to the Centennial Exhibition and dinner followed by an evening trip to Playland with free tickets for most things. The trip back to Auckland was broken at Palmerston North for more parading and more recruiting speeches from “poor Capt. Parry”. They had been away six months and steamed almost 53 thousand miles.

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