END OF THE ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 December 1939, Page 5

END OF THE ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE

Spectacle for People of Montevideo STATEMENT BY GERMAN COMMANDER SHIP INCAPABLE OF RESISTING DANGERS OF NAVIGATION (By Telegraph. —Press Association. —Copyright.) MONTEVIDEO, December 17. The Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled in the view of 500,000 people who were crowding vantage points on the harbour front. The first indication was two terrific explosions, apparently originating in the ammunition, stores. The battleship was on the bottom three minutes after the first explosion. She burned for 80 minutes, explosions continuing till 9.15 p.m., when a heavier explosion sent coloured rockets and flameballs high into the air. Like a dying candle the ship burst into a last bright flame, which was then extinguished. Oil floating on the water continued burning for some time afterward. Al] members of the crew were transferred to the oil tanker Tacoma, and it is officially stated that all are safe. The Uruguayan port authorities sent instruct ions by radio to the Tacoma to return to Montevideo immediately. Before re-entering harbour the Tacoma transferred the Admiral Graf Spee’s personnel to tugs and launches and the entire crew are en route to Buenos Aires, where it is expected they will be treated as survivors of a marine disaster and not be interned. The Tacoma’s master was arrested for leaving harbour without permission. The Germans published notes exchanged between the Admiral Graf Spee’s commander, Captain Langsdorff, and the port authorities, showing that the battleship had only 105 minutes in which to leave or be interned. This was because a British freighter put to sea at 6.15 p.m. on December 16, thereby preventing the Admiral Graf Spee’s departure till 24 hours later. In accordance with Article 16 of the Hague Convention she could not sail before 6.15 p.m. on December 17. but Uruguay ruled if she did not sail before 2 p.m. she would be interned.

PROTEST TO URUGUAY

The German Embassy issued a statement by Captain Langsdorff written before sailing and protesting against Uruguay’s refusal to “give time to place the ship in a proper navigable condition. In the circumstances there is nothing for me to do but to .sink the ship by blowing her up near the coast and disembarking as many of the crew as possible.” Captain Langsdorff’s statement revealed that he sought to remain 15 days. He said that the Uruguayan commission was convinced that there was no fear that the stay would be used to reinforce the limited potentiality of the engines and armaments because they were so little damaged. The commission might also have been convinced that repair to the hull damage was indispensable to put the ship into a condition to resist dangers to navigation and to make good the damage to the galley, the functioning of which was indispensable to the life of the ship on the high seas. Captain Langsdorff continued: “Customs 1 officers stopped the shore workmen at G p.m. on Saturday for several hours, and allowed the resumption of work only after the intervention of the German Legation. SHIP NOT REPAIRED “The Uruguayan ruling forces me to leave Montevideo with a ship not repaired in a manner necessary for the security of her navigation. To sally on the high seas would be negligently endangering the crew. I emphasise that I do not refer to the danger of enemy action, but exclusively the general dangers of navigation.” He concluded by admitting that Uruguayan neutrality was violated in the last hours of the sea battle, but claimed that he was forced to fire on a British cruiser near Lobos Island because the cruiser opened fire on the Admiral Graf Spee. It is reported without confirmation that Captain Langsdorff telephoned Herr Hitler and was instructed to destroy the ship rather than let the British do so. The Berlin Official News Agency announced: “Herr Hitler himself ordered the Admiral Graf Spee to be scuttled.” Before the Admiral Graf Spee sailed, representatives of the American States assured the Foreign Minister, Senor Guani, of full support for Uruguay’s, actions. The first explosion on the Graf Spee occurred at 7.55 p.m., ripping off the control tower and spraying the ship with oil. The ship immediately caught fire, flames shooting out from several parts, and she began to sink with smoke pouring from her sides and turrets. The Admiral Graf Spee’s thick plates buckled like papier mache, and a second blast destroyed the after turret. She settled down evenly, but listed as the water rushed into the gaping holes caused by the explosions. She sank with the swastika flying in 25 feet of water. Her upper works were still showing when she settled on the bottom.

BRITISH WARSHIPS ON SCENE As the hull: settled, the British cruiser Cumberland and an unidentified destroyer approached at full speed, the Cumberland’s searchlights playing on the pall of smoke. Immediately the explosions were heard and the flames and smoke seen, craft in the harbour began to blow their sirens and the public rushed to the better points of vantage. The British Minister to Uruguay. Mr Millington Drake, trained his binoculars from a 19th-story window. Forty minutes after the sinking there was a further series of explosions and flames engulfed the upper works. A column of smoke went skyward. Temporarily it appeared that the Tacoma was endangered by the flames. A number of launches still in the water dashed for safety. A New York message says the position where the Admiral Graf Spec sank is given as latitude 34 degrees 56 minutes south, longtiude 56 degrees 14 minutes west. The Montevideo correspondent of the Associated Press of America states that the wreckage has almost broken in two. The ebb tide uncovered parts of the bow and the superstructure. Sections of the bow are warped by the heat. The gun turrets and the funnel are in position.