Yeah,'though the german ships raged quite well on the oceans,they didn't have a long life....sad,sad.

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Scharnhost and Gneisenau - both sunk in the Battle of the Falklands - 8.DEC.1914  - Formerly of the Imperial German Asian Squadron ...

http://www.german-navy.de/hochseeflotte/ships/armoredcruiser/index.html

You really didn't think I meant the WW2 ships?

Admiral Spee was the commander, and went down with the ship.  His other sons were on other light cruisers that were sunk ....

The WW2 ship, Graf Spee was scuttled in the River Platte.

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Thanks for your trust...

I would propose the theory that the WW2 ships were named after their WW1 predecessors. 

In the Imperial German Navy, the East Asia Squadron was noted for their gunnery expertise.  At the start of the War, the squadron operated independently and realized that its base at Tsingtao, China was untenable.  While it raided some of the French Southeast Asia territories, the presence of Allied (British/Australian/French/New Zealand) forces endangered its existence, so Spee decided to make his way to the western coast of South America.

It's presence noted, the British South Atlantic squadron was sent to "destroy" the German light cruisers, or to shadow them....  Unfortunately, the ships available to the Royal Navy were older cruisers with neither the firepower or speed to deal with the two light cruisers and supporting vessels.  In the Battle of Coronel, the British flagship cruiser "Good Hope" was sunk in three salvos - one short, one long, and the third on the mark.

While there was a battleship, the Canopus, with 12-in guns, this was an older battleship, and its guns had only the same range as the German's smaller calibers.

In addition, at this time, the British Naval gunnery was not up to the standards of its foe, and many of the ships were manned by recently activated reservists.

However, a few weeks later, the two German light cruisers and other vessels met their fate.  Only the Dresden escaped (with Lt (future Admiral) Wilhem Canaris aboard) , but was scuttled in a Chilean harbor to prevent its capture by the British.

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Little old (emphasis on the old) me, cause confusion?



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Technically, Maximilian Johannes Maria Hubertus, Reichsgraf von Spee ...  is the Admiral, and the Admiral Graf Spee the WW2 battleship.

Of course, you're right in that I wanted to create a wee bit of confusion.

Basically, my point being that curiosity of how events seem to intertwine themselves throughout the years, and the curiosity that the Graf Spee - the ship - met its death in the same general waters that Graf Spee - the man - met his.

Well this has refeshed my memory that Germany did have a fleet in Asia in WWI. My downfall here is that the first Scharnorst and Gneisenau were Cruisers and so not listed in my book of battleships.

The first Graf Spee was a battlecruiser that never completed construction.

Now another point, why bring Scharnorst and Gneisenau into it in the first place as they are totally irrelivent to your point in the demise of Graf Spee and the ship of the same name.

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Fair do's. Now another question. Is the Admiral Graf Spee you are referring to the pocket battleship or the man himself?