39 replies to this topic

[healey36]

The engagement that has come to be known as the Battle of the River Plate stands as the first significant action between the Royal Navy and the Kriegsmarine during WWII. It would be the initial clash of their two opposing doctrines, and for the German Navy an experience which would haunt it for the next 5-1/2 years.

 

The intervening years seems to have only sharpened the mythology that has evolved around this battle. It was a clash between a contrived “pocket-battleship”, the German Panzerschiff, the concept for which emerged out of the post-WWI treaty limits, and three lighter antagonists, all of which it was designed to defeat handily. I have excerpted the following recount of the cruise of Graf Spee from Geoffrey Bennett’s excellent Battle of the River Plate,  published in 1972, and various other sources.

 

Admiral Graf Spee, completed in 1936, was the third of the three Deutschland-class Panzerschiff. Deutschland and Admiral Scheer had been completed in 1933 and 1934 respectively. The class had a standard displacement of some 12,100 tons, with primary armament of six 11-inch guns in two turrets which were designed to be able to withstand up to 8-inch shells. Powered by diesel engines, the class had a cruising radius of 19,000 miles and a maximum speed of 26 knots. Of Britain’s capital ships (ships with guns larger than 8-inch), only the battlecruisers Hood, Renown and Repulse had the speed to run them down. They were conceived and built as commerce raiders, and as such Graf Spee passed between the Faeroes and Iceland on August 24, 1939.

 

With orders to steer clear of all shipping routes, Graf Spee and her supply ship Altmark passed to the west of the Cape Verde Islands on September 3, the day Britain and France declared war. On September 8^th they crossed the equator, and by the 13^th had taken up position undetected in the middle of the South Atlantic. On the 11^th they had been extraordinarily fortunate to have avoided the 8-inch cruiser HMS Cumberland, enroute from Freetown to Rio de Janeiro.

 

Deutschland had sailed three days after Graf Spee, taking up a position to the south of Greenland.

 

Graf Spee’s captain was career officer Hans Langsdorff. Ironically he had grown up in Dusseldorff, where he was a neighbor of the von Spee family. It was their influence that led to his choice of a naval career. He served in the High Seas Fleet and saw action at Jutland. After the war he served in a number of administrative posts before being posted aboard Graf Spee in 1936 as a member of the staff of Admiral Boehm. Langsdorff was appointed her commander in October 1938.

 

On September 26, 1939, Graf Spee was released for operations in the South Atlantic. Langsdorff headed for the coastal shipping lanes off Brazil, intending to disrupt British food-stuff shipments originating from Argentina. On the 30^thGraf Spee sank her first victim, SS Clement. With the alarm given, Langsdorff directed his ship eastward, intending to disrupt the lanes between southern Africa and Europe. There on October 5^th he sank SS Newton Beach. Reports of the attack reached HMS Cumberland later that day, but no message was sent to CinC South Atlantic at Freetown as Captain Fallowfield, commander of Cumberland, wished to not reveal his presence in the area.

 

Graf Spee continued her activities through October 10^th, sinking a number of ships. On the 12^th she refueled from Altmark. Langsdorff, having captured a copy of the Admiralty’s secret code for British merchant ships, headed south where she encountered SS Trevanion. Trevanion was stopped, boarded and scuttled, but not before she radioed a distress signal which was picked up by the liner Llanstephen Castle, which relayed the message to Freetown.  Having refueled again on October 29^th, Graf Spee rounded the cape on November 3^rd and entered the Indian Ocean.

 

After ten days with no sightings, Langsdorff sailed north where he sank a small tanker in the Mozambique Channel. Growing fearful of lingering, Langsdorff returned to the South Atlantic and his waiting area on November 23^rd. There he waited for four days making repairs and attempting to disguise Graf Spee as HMS Renown by erecting a third turret and a second funnel, all of wood. Langsdorff refueled again on the 26^th, then set off once again for the sea lanes off the western coast of Africa. On December 2^nd he sighted the liner Doric Star which was able to send a distress message before being boarded and scuttled. This message was relayed to Freetown. Concerned for his ship’s safety, Langsdorff made the fateful decision to cross the South Atlantic for a position off the Plate.

 

After sinking SS Tairoa, Graf Spee refueled from Altmark for the last time three days later. Langsdorff transferred most of his prisoners to Altmark, then continued west. On the evening of December 7^thSS Streonshalh was encountered and sunk before a message could be sent. From documents captured aboard Streonshalh, Langsdorff was able to determine the optimal position for intercepting shipping leaving the Plate.

 

Berlin had sent Langsdorff reports indicating that British capital ships were actively searching for him in the Freetown area. They also reported that four British cruisers were off the South American coast between Rio and the Falklands. Langsdorff considered these forces too light individually to be a threat to him, and changed his operational area to be off the river Plate where he had intel that a small convoy was being assembled at Montevideo.

 

Two days later Graf Spee reached Langsdorff’s targeted area, turning on a south-easterly course. At sunrise he got a surprise…at 0552 on December 13^th he received a report of a ship on the horizon, which a quick check of the recognition guide revealed a York-class heavy cruiser, HMS Exeter. Eighteen minutes later, two smaller ships were identified, light cruisers HMS Ajax and HMS Achilles. Langsdorff's assessment that he could individually defeat any of the British cruisers reported in the area was suddenly moot.

 

At 0600 Graf Spee went to action stations…

 

Graf Spee:

 

Force G:

 

We're headed to the table...AAR to follow.

 

Healey

 

 

Edit :: A number of contemporary sources place the Deutschland-class top speed at 28.5 knots, roughly equivalent to a King George V-class BB.

[healey36]

In an earlier thread, Phil Callcott posted a link to this map, useful for determining initial positions and headings:

 

A good representation of the historical movements and outcome. As Phil pointed out, in their play-throughs, as historically, allowing Ajax/Achilles to close to rapid-fire range looks potentially disastrous.

 

Healey

[W. Clark]

Letting the light cruisers close to under 12,000 yards and rapid fire certainly does not help, but they will not penetrate the Graf Spee's CA armor until they close to inside 9,000 yards. Never the less, they can still hurt her on damage die rolls 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8 & 12 on every D12 rolled for damage. 1,6, 7 & 8 will give her half a hull box damage; while 2 and 3 will reduce her torpedoes and secondary 5.9" respectively. Of course a 12 will result in a critical hit and that could be catastrophic. Obviously, more chances to hit ups the ante on the possibility of the golden BB.

 

But, Exeter's 8 inch will penetrate Graf Spee's armor out to 15,000 yards and there fore must be the primary target for her 11 inch until the Exeter is no longer a threat. The good news for the German is that his 5.9 inch secondary also gets rapid fire at 12,000 yards and he penetrates the light cruisers CL armor out to 15,000 yards. A couple of hits in the hull and the CL's speed advantage goes away. I would not forget the Grap spee's 4.1 inch tertiary guns. They can engage the second CL to prevent it from getting the benefit of being unengaged and there is always the chance of the golden BB critcal hit.

 

However, you still need to keep your distance. You will have 3 D12 from your 11" and be hitting on a 1 and 10 beyond 15,000 yards. You should not be lured inside 15,000 yards by the addition of a 2 to your hitting range until Exeter's 8 inch are history as a single hit on a turret inside 15,000 yards will reduce your MB by half. Given their speed advantage you will probably find it impossible to keep the CLs from closing while remaining outside 15,000 yards from Exeter. You will get 2 D12 from either 5.9 inch secondary battery and be hitting on 1 and 10 outside 12,000 yards, but inside 15,000 yards; that will penetrate CL armor. The Brits will have 3 D12 from Exeter's 8 inch and 8 D12 from the CLs' 6 inch. That's over twice as many D12 as you have if you let them all close. In other words, you need to fight your fight and not theirs; which is a (under 9,000 yards) knife fight in which they have more knives.

[healey36]

Well I certainly won't share that with the opposition, lol...you've worked out everything but the triangulation, Herr Clark.

 

It would certainly seem the opening rounds of this engagement are critical. A failure by the German to render Exeter into a condition of disrepair would seem to nearly assure victory for the British player. Sheer volume of fire is always critical, perhaps more so in this one, and the German is at a distinct disadvantage, or soon will be.

 

HMS Ajax in 1/2400:

 

Healey

[Phil Callcott]

Hi,

 

From a previous post on the subject of the River Plate Battle:-

 

We've done the River Plate a few times; current score is two victories to one in favour of the Royal Navy.

 

Modesty forbids me from mentioning who it was that achieved the one Kriegsmarine victory.

 

We used the map from Wikipedia to set up the starting positions and penalised the RN by not allowing any increase in speed from their cruising speed of 14 knots for three moves while they bought their steam turbines up to full power.

Spee's diesels of course went straight online.

 

In the game that she won Graf Spee immediately turned away nearly 180 degrees from the RN and ran for it while firing with her main turrets trained fully aft to port at HMS Exeter and engaging HMS Ajax with her secondaries.

 

A few hull hits caused Exeter to slow and fall out of effective range. Spee then switched main guns to Ajax and secondaries to Achilles as they raced in trying to close into effective range.

 

Both light cruisers took slowing hull hits while Spee danced away at full speed, zig-zagging to keep the range long, the British scored hits but could not penetrate anything important leaving an intact Spee free to pound each in turn to scrap resulting in a German victory.

 

Both British victories arose because Spee allowed the two light cruisers travelling at full speed to get too close, once they got within "rapid fire" distance they simply shredded their target.

 

Exeter took heavy damage in both games but diverted Spee long enough for her consorts to get in close, then it was game over...

 

Regards, Phil

 

PS, sorry but I won’t be in Oregon anytime soon, a small matter of 4800 intervening miles, which is a pity as these could do with a run out of port:-

 

 

 

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[healey36]

Phil, I'm only 3,600 miles away, here in Maryland (roughly). Come on over...

 

Always lovely to see the Regia Marina at sea. What are the airplanes? 1/3000? Awesome...let's see some more pics.

 

I'm hoping to get BoRP on the table in the next few weeks, Can't wait to see how this thing shakes out. 

 

We've also pulled together a follow-on whereby Spee exits Montevideo after hasty repairs to make a run at whoever is waiting for them, sort of a Langsdorff as Richard Grenville and Spee as Revenge epic. I mini-campaign of sorts, requiring some bookkeeping from the first go to determine conditions/force composition for the second.

 

As they said in the movie, A Good Day to Die Hard...

 

Healey

[Phil Callcott]

Healey,

 

You pay the air fare and I'll be right over  

 

The Italian aircraft are 1:3000 Cant 506b from Navwar in the UK. They don't do the SM 79 Sparrow, but at that scale the Cants can pass for them.

 

There's another picture showing them and Operation Rheinübung vessels, etc, plus HMS Ark Royal and Stringbags, again from Navwar.

 

Lastly an Italian battleship with British "fall of shot" marker from one of our games.

 

Regards, Phil

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[healey36]

Nice, Phil...very sharp. I'm still trying to sort out what scale of aircraft I want to use, then how to base them. At one point I was looking at just using airplanes printed on counters...may end up there yet. Not sure I can make a job of 1/2400-1/3000 scale, but I've not given up. I've got a bunch 1/1250-scale stuff as well.

 

This thing's going to go off at 1/6000, just to keep the table size manageable. 

 

Here's my 1/2400 HMS Exeter:

 

 

Always liked the look of the York-class cruisers...much prefer two funnels over three.

 

Healey

 

 

[W. Clark]

The Brits always make pretty warships. I still consider the Hood to be the best looking modern warship I've ever seen. I think the problem with British treaty cruisers is that their heart was never in them as they preferred more 6 inch cruisers in their stead. Its imply a case of finite resources versus world wide commitments.

[W. Clark]

Actually, the Graf Spee's real problem was ammo, she simply did not carry enough. I've fought this fight with at least 6 different sets of rules and if ammo limitations are not modeled, then the tactics proposed above often allow the Graf Spee to triumph. I've never seen the Graf Spee win if ammo limitations are modeled. Graf Spee had about 100 rounds per gun for her 11 inch. Her ROF was a about 2 RPM. If a turn is 6 minutes then she is expending about 12 rounds per tube if firing full broadsides per turn. Thus she only has about 8 to 9 turns of full broadside fire depending on whether you round up or down her ammo supply. Another way of putting it is that she has 24 to 27 D12 die rolls to destroy the British cruisers or at least cause enough damage to allow her disengage. Any reduction of your fire power just makes it worse as you can not transfer unused main gun rounds from one battery to another while engaged.

 

Your best bet with ammo rules is that if you pound a cruiser into a morale check over losing all its fire power; that it will fail causing further morale checks and if those fail then the Brits run living you alive and victorious.

[healey36]

Actually, the Graf Spee's real problem was ammo, she simply did not carry enough.

That's interesting...I've not read that Langsdorff was light on ammunition going into the confrontation with Harwood. Bennett contends that Spee still had 40% of her ammo stock after the engagement, but he doesn't specify details re: composition. I would agree that a shortage of 11-inch would severely crimp Spee's chances.

[Dave Franklin]

Graf Spee had expended little 11" before the River Platte battle, the overwhelming majority of the ships were sunk by scuttling them.  Wikipedia does mention she sank Clement by gunfire/torpedoes.

 

According to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia...d-class_cruiser) "The guns were initially supplied with a total 630 rounds of ammunition, and this was later increased to 720 shells."  630 rounds is 105/gun.  And according to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia..._C/28_naval_gun) and Navweaps (http://www.navweaps....11-52_skc28.php), the ROF is ~2.5 rounds per minute.  I am guessing these are the data items Bill is referring to, and he has sensibly rounded the ROF down to 2 rounds per minute.

 

However, even though a daytime GQ turn is 6 minutes, from page viii in the rules, "Movement and combat rates are actually based on three minutes. Time in daytime Game Turns has been doubled to simulate the effects of “dead time.”"  So at 2.5 rounds/minute, 105 rounds would be expended in 42 minutes, which equates to 14 3-minute turns of firing.  Not that far from the 18 turns of ammo from the old GQ1/2 days.

[W. Clark]

I did not mean to imply that Graf Spee's 11 inch ammo was depleted prior to the fight. I'm saying it was depleted enough after the fight for Langsdorff to be concerned about it. I don't believe the Graf Spee used her 11 inch on any merchant ships, but I do seem to recall that she fired her 5.9 inch secondaries at them and even sank one that way. Langsdorff is not on record as far I know, showing concern over his stock of 5.9 inch. That is probably because he viewed his 11 inch as his cruiser killers and the 5.9 inch were primarily for merchantmen and destroyers.

 

I agree with Dave on his points. The Brits and Italians had same problem in the early days of their fight in the Mediterranean. Both sides liked to engage in long range (often over 18,000 yards) fire and hope for the golden BB. The result was that both often sailed with partially filled magazines in their next couple of sorties until their ammo supply had caught with them. In the British case that ammo took 3 to 4 months (depending on the speed of the convoy) coming around the Cape of Good Hope. 

 

I personally engage regularly in long range duels, particularly when my armor gives me an immune zone while staying outside a given range; like 15,000 yards for 8 inch versus CA armor. But I try not to kid myself that I could get away with that continuously in reality if my supply lines are long and the stocks of on hand ammo are not enough replenish my magazines at the moment. I see GQIII as a game and I play the game as written. Ammo rules are a PITA to keep track of, but a limited ammo supply was built into each ship's design. The standard seems to be about 100 rounds per main gun tube, give or take a few rounds depending on the specific ship. I don't see it as a problem with GQIII as written, given that few fights last more than 5 or 6 turns, which is well inside the time/ammo supply limits mentioned by Dave. But, if you are trying for a simulation and you are going to be firing at long range (I define that as any range where hits only occur on a 1 or a 10), then you should at least consider some kind of ammo supply limit. There is no question that Kaptain Langsdorff was concerned about his depleted 11 inch ammo stocks if he had to engage in another fight. I don't recall ever reading an account (and I've read about a dozen) of the Graf Spee that didn't stress the roll that concern played in his decision to scuttle.

[W. Clark]

Don't get me wrong. I love River Plate. It is my favorite introductory scenario. In fact when I started buying 1:1250 scale as opposed to my much larger 1:6000 collection; Rive Plate was the first scenario I bought ships for.

[healey36]

I agree that ammunition was a concern of Langsdorff's as he broke for the Plate estuary, but he had a number of other issues to deal with as well, the worst of which was the damage Spee had incurred during the scrap. I seem to recall she'd taken a number of six-inch beneath the forecastle near the bow and an 8-inch amidships...this he believed required repair before he could contemplate a run for home through the plunging heavy winter seas of the North Atlantic. This, combined with a number of other mechanical issues, convinced him he was in trouble. Putting aside a dash for home, however, Spee was still fundamentally battleworthy.

 

In the end I always figured it was the sheer audacity of Harwood and fear of the unknown that intimidated Langsdorff into caving.

 

Interesting that you went from 1/6000 to 1/1250...I did the opposite.    

[W. Clark]

I agree with your analysis that Harwood's sheer audacity gave Landsdorff pause and given the way the Graf Spee handled the three cruisers, just maybe it should have given Harwood pause also. I don't fault Langsdorff, except that he failed to finish off Exeter and probably could have hurt the light cruisers a bit more also. Once he decided to engage, his cruiser warfare was over and in for a penny also means in for a pound.

 

I primarily game using 1/6000. But people like the big ships and I use them at cons to put on introductory games.

[Dave Franklin]

Bill,

 

When you play, and engage in long range gun duels, do play with the optional rule 1.5.16 Extended Range, where you use D20s instead of D12s if you end up in a row on the CRT with dark red font?

 

Dave

[W. Clark]

Yes, I do. If people don't want to use the D20 then I deem that ships cannot target beyond D12 range. I'm usually between 18,000 and 15,000 yards so that my New Orleans class CAs can have a good time in their CA (CA) immune zone while the Japanese with their CS gun houses are in trouble. The fact that their torps are in their fourth range band is also a blessing. This was a very pleasant surprise when I transitioned from GQII to GQIII. Gone are days when a defense factor based on displacement and belt armor hid the real flaw in Japanese protection. The Myokos, Atagos and Mogamis no longer reign supreme if the New Orleans fight their fight. But, it works because GQIII has no ammo rules. Its gamey, but after all its a game, not reality.

[healey36]

Still trying to get this thing on the calendar...had a few false starts schedule-wise. Looks like we'll run this through my ex-Navy guy down in Annapolis. If we have time we'll do both the historical engagement, followed by a what-if Langsdorff had made a run for it instead of scuttling Spee. We think we have a decent assessment of the state of the British force, together with Spee, post rudimentary repairs. 

 

In the meantime I've done quite a bit more reading. What seemed a closely run thing initially, maybe not so much. Certainly the German best be a bloody marvelous die-roller.

 

Edit :: Finally got this on the calendar for August 30 in Annapolis. AAR to follow. 

 

[healey36]

AAR – Battle of the River Plate, December 13, 1939

 

Well we finally got this thing on the table and I have to admit, I made a total cock-up of it from the start. Biggest mistake was we didn’t lay much background on the scenario, so it was a rather free-wheeling affair. Started from historical positions, and that’s about it.

 

As the British commander, for grins I followed the strategy of splitting the force, sending Exeter southeast to close on Spee, while continuing northwest with a big looping turn to the east with the light cruisers. The problem was Langsdorff didn’t turn east like he was making a run for Montevideo, he turned south, which put Exeter in the crosshairs and left Achilles/Ajax wandering about well north of the action.

 

The table, early, after Exeter reverses course to the northeast, badly damaged.

 

Spee and Exeter opened on each other at 0638 at maximum range. Between then and 0708 Exeter managed three non-penetrating hits, the range closing to a bit less than 20,000 yards. The German’s gunnery was ineffective.

 

At 0726 Exeter put two 8-inch rounds onto Spee, the first carrying away her searchlights and port torpedo mount, the second hitting her stern, damaging her steering gear and jamming her rudder in a central position. Efforts to effect repairs over the next thirty minutes would prove unsuccessful, and she would continue in this condition for the remainder of the game.

 

Graf Spee, looking sharp. Note the fake bow-wave   

 

Six minutes later Spee parks three 11-inch rounds (six hit equivalent) on Exeter, knocking out both of her forward turrets, destroying her tertiary battery, and blowing a pair of holes in her hull, along with an engineering hit. She successfully repairs the engineering damage the following turn, but is in rough shape.

 

Spee scores two more 11-inch hits on Exeter at 0744, taking out her remaining aft main and another hull-box. Speed down to 21 knots, her mains all out of action, Exeter turns away.

 

Exeter under fire.

 

So the game morphs into one of trying to run down Spee with the light cruisers, carefully keeping dead astern to minimize the incoming 11-inch fire. Unfortunately they are roughly 20,000 yards behind. The CL’s need to close to under 10,000 yards to have a chance of penetrating Spee’s armor. Spee takes Ajax under fire, nailing her at 0756 with an 11-inch (two hit equivalent), taking out her forward 6-inch main giving her a hull hit, knocking her speed down to 27 knots.

 

With Spee cranking along at something close to flank speed, the CL’s can’t close the range fast enough, while Spee executes some good gunnery. At 0814 she hits Ajax again, another hull-box and an engineering hit. Her speed is now down to 21 knots. As Ajax begins to fall behind, Spee turns her attention to Achilles. At 0820 Achilles takes bulkhead and engineering hits. While both are repaired in short order, her speed drops to 27 knots.

 

At 0838 Achilles lands a pair of 6-inch, but they fail to penetrate. The range is still roughly 20,000 yards. Spee hits Ajax again, starting a fire which is quickly extinguished.

 

Ajax on fire...miraculously extinguished during the next DC phase.

 

At this point it’s out of my hands. The CL’s at best might score a non-penetrating critical hit, but it’s unlikely. Much more likely that they get sent to the bottom. The CL’s break off to the west. Spee, other than a jammed rudder and the loss of one of her two torpedo mounts, is unscathed (okay, the jammed rudder might be a mortal wound as the rest of the Brit fleet closes in). Hopefully she runs into HMS Cumberland approaching from the south.

 

Achilles and Ajax under fire.

 

A blunder, sending the CL’s way too far off-line attempting to cast a net. His turn to the south threw me, never recovered from that, especially as Langsdorff’s gunnery got increasingly effective as the game went on. A polar-opposite result from expectations. Good game, good lesson.