The GRAF SPEE drama

The German battleship GRAF SPEE, after an operation against Allied merchant shipping where she sank nine merchant ships without causing casualties to their crews, fought against three British cruisers on December 13, 1939 in the South Atlantic Ocean. In a few minutes she put the cruiser HMS EXETER out of action, but unexpectedly, due to a serious mistake by her commander, Captain Hans Langsdorff, the powerful German ship did not continue fighting and headed for the port of Montevideo, where she finally failed to receive any assistance. The neutral government of Uruguay ordered her to put to sea in 72 hours. Because of that instance, Commander Lanngsdorff decided not to go out to fight in the space of the Rio de la Plata and therefore the GRAF SPEE was self-destructed outside the Uruguayan port in a naval fact highlighted as one of the first of the Second World War. The crew was interned in Argentina. Finally the chivalrous Captain Langsdorff committed suicide in Buenos Aires, ending the drama.