Admiral Graf Spee

The Treaty of Versailles sharply restricted German naval construction after World War I. Germany could retain six old pre-dreadnought battleships, six light cruisers, twelve destroyers and twelve torpedo boats. Article 190 permitted replacement of the battleships twenty years after commissioning, but limited each new armored ship to 10,000 tons.

The first replacement, Panzerschiff A, was ordered in 1928 and later entered service as Deutschland. Designers considered both a heavily armored coastal-defense ship and a faster cruiser with greater range but lighter protection. The latter concept was selected because it could threaten French merchant shipping while avoiding more powerful warships.

The design principle was to outrun any more heavily armed opponent and outgun any faster one. This concept was credible against the cruisers and older battleships then in service, although it became less effective after the appearance of fast battleships.

The Panzerschiffe introduced extensive welding and diesel propulsion to ships of this size. Welding reduced structural weight, while diesel engines provided the long range required for commerce warfare. Their declared displacement was 10,000 tons, but full-load displacement was about fifty percent greater. Deutschland, Admiral Scheer and Admiral Graf Spee shared the same basic design but differed visibly, particularly in their bridge structures.

All ships were used in the international sea patrols off the Spanish coast during the Spanish Civil War and had different fates in World War II. The Admiral Graf Spee was lost early in the war when it was scuttled after the famous battle of the River Plate.

Admiral Graf Spee entered service in January 1936 and spent much of her prewar career on Atlantic training cruises, non-intervention patrols off Spain and ceremonial duties, including the 1937 fleet review at Spithead. Sent into the South Atlantic shortly before the outbreak of World War II, she began commerce-raiding operations in September 1939 and sank nine British merchant ships totaling 50,089 tons in the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean. On 13 December 1939 she encountered the heavy cruiser Exeter and the light cruisers Ajax and Achilles in the Battle of the River Plate. After damaging all three opponents but suffering casualties and damage herself, Admiral Graf Spee entered Montevideo for repairs. Forced to leave the neutral port within 72 hours, she was scuttled by her crew in the Río de la Plata estuary on 17 December 1939.