BATTLE OF THE FALKLANDS

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11827, 7 January 1933, Page 9

BATTLE OF THE FALKLANDS

STURDEE’S REPLY TO CORONEL

EIBST. BRITISH -NAVAL DEFEAT T\)R 100 YEARS AVENGED

The defeat ■ of • Rear-Admiral Christopher Craddock’s squardon • off Goronekon November J., 1914, .wasythe the. ---British. -Navy-had gujfered for. moro than. 'l9O years, writes Commander H.» T. - Bennett - 'in • 4io Melbourne Argus. .Still more .men- ; aping* was/the, rfact tljat Admiral; von Spec’s homogenous, squadron was abs’oS - lutelv-in tact-. If ‘he chose. to use His; ships -as commerce destroyers; incalculable damage could-be done to shipping ‘of the, Allies.-Lord Fisher was ; by pow .at the-helm at the ( Admiralty, ho-immediately .ordered that the enemy-squadron be ‘''destroyed with thh Ijtt-le-cnusers .Invincible and In. flexible were • ordered away from the Grand Fleet for. foreign service. ’(Toe-Admiral Sir Doveton Sturdee vy as placed .in,command of these ships, ; and hoisting his flag in the Invincible, he .’sailed from Deyonport on the’ afternoon.of November 11. On, the .night of December. 6 a signal was ■ received . at Port Stanley, the .capital of Falkland Islands, from the Invincible to . the Canopus, on which I was. serving, and which'had been ordered to,Port , Stanley, stating: “Arriving at-day- , lig-ht'-'with. eight other ships requiring provision's and coal.” At half-past 7 o’clock on the morning of December 7 the fleet, arrived, and it was my duty and .’honour to, hoard!/ Admiral Sturde-e’s.-.ffagship .and pilot her through the narrow; channel left'in a line of.mines. In an hour’s time there was a strong fleet of.ships anchored • in the -outer • harbour - known as : Port Wilfiani, ■ Coaling and provisioning .was'immediately begun.Yon’ Spee' had detached two ships, the Gneisenau and the Nurenberg, with 'instruction's that they should land htj Port Stanley, ' destroy the wirelfess station, j and. carry‘ off the govenror of Samoa. -He had been inthat on 'December G Port Stanley was empty of /British warships. Early oil December • 'S' the British lookout at the signal station reported that two warships approaching the wireless station- were enemy ships. Orders were piimedis*':/given for the ships to raise steam with all haste : coaling was pushed "forward, and’the clouds or smoke, which aro’se - from the . harbour made the approaching enemy ships believe that-'the/coal stocks ashore had been set. on fire. Soon, however, this drifted clear, and. about 20 minutes past nine o’clock the German officer lookout in the Gneisenau reported I that J&ori William wa s filed with warships.,* and that he thought he could ’see the masts of a battle-cruiser inside, but the captain considered this too fantastic to believe. yox SPEE’S MISCALCULATION. Sturdee had despatched the cruiser Kent outside to investigate, and as soon as she res ighted by the Gneisenau the enemy determined, to attack. To the consternation of- the (Hermans the Canopus opened fire and dropped a salvo of; 12-in. shells about-- 1,000 short/ This was more, than a shock fl>r the Germans, who had not seen the Canopus at all, for she had been painted on the leward side, Ted, green, drab, and grey which.. from three miles off rendered, her quite invisible. The Gneisenau now gave up the-idea of engaging , the Kent, ior the Germans saw that there were battle.cruisei*s';in the harbour. Yon Spec, keeping away at a distance pf about 10 miles from the shore with the Leipzig and the- Dresden, immediate-. Ay realised that Ids plans had gone badly wrong somewhere, and ordered his detached ships to , rejoin with a despatch. Neither.of our battle-cruisers . had anything like-finished coaling, but as soon as steam was raised, all the. ships proceeded out of the harbour, each ship, flying four or more batt e_ flags, and increasing speed rapidly. The single flag signal “c-hase” from Sturdee’s Invincible fluttered from the yardarm, and very!, soon . the s ll P s were making good speed. The enemy could; he seen to he making despera o efforts to get- away, but it was ° vibfe to Von Spee that he must . be caught in the dark, unless some miracle occurred. There was no need °r Sturdee to press his ships,, for t e v had at least four knots superiority over Yon Spee’s two large armoured cruisers. At 12.55 the signal HP® 1 * fire and engage the enemy hoisted, and. with a xoar Inflexib fired her fore turret at the Leipzig. . Von Spec saw that the Leipzig must be. hit sooner-or later. He ordered to get out of range and proceed in -P® dentiy. The Nurenberg, too UeganT drop behind, so orders-were immedi ately given, “Light cruiser s .to. s*»t and use every nndeavour to Left now with, - only cruisers Seharnhorst and n ’ Von Spec decided to force the aeti n him'self, hoping that by 50 ; e might inflict some damage ® himself was sunk. The British armmircd and light cruisers, as Soon,: a . A saw the move, -took up the c _ a& 13,1n* yard., and the’ Germans scored a hi • . Idea in such rapid closing movement

THE END OF THE! SCHAR-N- ---. HOBST.

could not.be disregarded, .and as it was of the utmost importance that Invincible and -Inflexible should not -bo damaged Sturdee altered bis course ta the open range. By 2 o’clock the Germans, were out of range, and taking advantage of this made ■ < a bid to .but Sturdee, . seeing this immediately gave chase.. -.

-By . 3 o’clock • the range was down I to 12,000 yards, for Von Spee had turned 1 directly" toward his adversaries, .This manoeuvre sealed his doom, for the British shells, found their mark, with terrible execution. In spite of . the ' terrific ’ damage done the Germans braveliy kept up a hot and ac. curate fire, scoring a number of hits. : Sturdee again opened the range and the ’ Gorman shooting slackened. The iScharnhorst seemed to be little more than a wreck—funnels shot away and a blazing inferno in her fore part, • when at half-past 3 o’clock she sud- • denly turned right round and, bringing her previously disengaged side to ; hear, reopened the action with reviewed vigour. This ' could not last long for Sturdee had her well in -hand. By 4 o’clock the flagship’s masts and three of her funnels had gone and she/ .was ablaze from stem to •stefln. Knowing that the end was •near the Soharnhorst signalled to the to e’seape if possible. The Gneisenau signalled asking if- the -admiral was -still alive. The reply '“■Yes. do your best to get- away,” was immediately forthcoming. Then, turning straight* for Sturdee, the .Soharnhorst came to a dead stop, Tolled over slowly, and sank with her flags still flying. By 20 minutes past .5 o’clock the -Gneisenau,- reduced to .a wreck and with her colours shot away repeatedly, but always replaced, could do no more, for she had no ammunition left. The crew were on the deck awaiting the end, when shortly after 6 o’clock she turned over and sank. Immediately the work of roscu-e wa's taken in hand, and 220 officers' and men out of her crew oi -COO were saved. Tims came to an end the main engagement.

The light cruisers in their endeavor to escape suffered severe punishment. The Cornwall and the Glasgow feduced the Leipzig to a wreck, but, oven so, she refused to surrender, and at a quarter past- 9 o’clock that- night, a ma'ss of flame, she sank beneath the waves. OuLy three officers and 17 men were saved. The Kent engaged the Nurenberg. which suffered terribly, and through forcing her speed burst two boilers. Tbits very soon the range was down to only 6,000 yards. Determined to end the action then and there, the Nurenberg turned broadside on and poured an accurate fire into the Kent. In, 15 minutes only 2,500 yards separated the antagonists, land,,unable to stand 'such fire, the Nurenberg turned away, but to* no avail, or a raking fire sealed her doom. Blazing fore and aft her speed dropped to nothing, but still her flag flew. Her upper deck a wreck and a Bias's of leaping flame, the Nurenberg stopped, and, wallowing, helplessly, awaited the end. Just as the flc* s t rescue boat was being launched at half-past 7 o'clock the Nurenberg rolled slowy over in thg ray s of the searchlight-. On her side could he seen a group of German sailor s waving an ensign la'shod- to a stave. Only seven survivors were picket up. The fastest of the squadron, the Dresden, made good; her escape.