A Raider’s End

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVII, Issue 21531, 19 December 1939, Page 6

A Raider’s End

WITH the scuttling of the Graf Spee, the victory ’’ obtained by the gallant and resourceful action of three British cruisers in the South Atlantic has been completed. It is suggested in both American and British Press comment that the captain of the pocket battleship chose the most ignominous way of closing his ship's career, but on the face of it there was little to choose between internment and scuttling. It was obvious, once the ship was taken to Montevideo to lick her wounds, that she would not have another chance of fighting a successful battle, and when all the circumstances are considered, fighting was out of the question if the Nazi naval authorities had any regard for the vessel’s crew. The ship could not have escaped sinking in a further encounter which would have amounted to deliberate and purposeless loss of life. The British naval forces must be glad that it had not fallen to their lot to exact this toll. Nevertheless the loss of the Graf Spee is a substantial blow to Nazi pride, and from the British standpoint the important thing is that a destructive raider’s career is ended. The Nazis may attempt to console themselves with the thought that she has already inflicted shipping losses on Britain, but they would have hoped much more of her than she did.