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Airfix #04211 (1/600) |
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Graf Spee Information
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| Class: | Heavy Cruiser (Pocket Battleship) |
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| Country: | Germany | |
| Manufacturer: | Reichsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven | |
| Commissioned: | 6 January 1936 | |
| Fate: | Scuttled 17 Dec 1936 |
From September to December 1939 the Graf Spee raided Allied shipping in the south Atlantic & Indian Ocean, sinking 9 ships totalling over 50000 tons. Langsdorff, the Graf Spee's captain adhered to the Hague Conventions and avoided killing anyone; his humane treatment won the respect of the ships' officers detained as his prisoners.
After receiving damage from her engagement with HMS Ajax, Exeter & Achilles at the battle of River Plate she anchored off Montevideo, Uruguay to make repairs.
While in harbour, the British Navy had convinced the Germans through deliberately-intercepted radio transmissions that there was a sizeable nearby force awaiting their return to sea. This left Langsdorff with 2 choices - make a suicide run towards friendly Argentina or scuttle the boat. He decided to scuttle, largely to spare his crew further casualties. The Graf Spee was scuttled on the 18th December. 2 days later Langsdorff commited suicide.
Hans Langsdorff was buried in the German section of the La Chacarita Cemetery in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and was honoured by both sides in the battle for his honourable conduct.
| Specifications: | |
| displacement: | 16,020 tons (full load) |
| length: | 186m |
| beam: | 21.65m |
| draught: | 7.34m |
| complement: | 951 to 1070 |
| Performance: | |
| installed power: | 52050 shp (38810kW) |
| propulsion: | 8 MAN 9-cylinder double-acting diesel engines |
| speed: | 29.5 knots (55km/h) |
| range: | 8900 nautical miles (16500km) |
| Other: | |
| armament: | 6 x 28cm |
| 8 x 15cm | |
| ? | |
| other: | 6 x 53.3cm torpedo tubes |