 One hundred years ago today the Battle of the Falkland
Islands takes place. The British took the defeat at the Battle of Coronel on 1
November badly This was Britain's first naval defeat since the Battle of Lake
Champlain in the War of 1812 and the first of a British naval squadron since
the Battle of Grand Port in 1810. Retired Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Fisher
was reappointed First Sea Lord to replace Admiral Prince Louis of Battenberg, on
the eve of the Battle of Coronal. On learning of the defeat Fishers immediate response
was to send a large force to track down and destroy the victorious German
cruiser squadron.The overall feeling of Admiral Spree officers after the Battle
of Coronel was an immediate return to Germany. Spree’s ships had used up half
their ammunition, which could not be replenished and already had as much coal
as they could carry. Instead Spree ignored his officer and instead proposed the
unnesssecery raid on the Falkland Islands before he would turn north to sail up
the Atlantic back to Germany. The one sided battle saw the destruction of the German
fleet, the sinking of Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Nürnberg, Leipzig 1,871 German
seaman killed and 215 captured. The British lost 10 naval personnel killed. As
a consequence of the battle, German commerce raiding on the high seas by
regular warships of the Kaiserliche Marine was brought to an end. However,
Germany put several armed merchant vessels into service as commerce raiders
until the end of the war |
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CategoriesA DAY BY DAY ACCOUNT OF HOW THE GREAT WAR WAS PERTRAYED ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE BRITISH PRESSA DAY BY DAY ACCOUNT OF HOW THE GREAT WAR WAS PORTRAYED ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE A Necessary War THE GREAT WAR |
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