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The '''Battle of Coronel''' was a naval battle between [[German]] and [[British]] ships in the first year of [[World War I]]. A German [[cruisers|cruiser]] squadron, under Admiral Graf von Spee, went from its station in the Far East to the eastern South [[Pacific]]. On November 1, 1914, a British force under Rear Admiral Cradock found the ships, off Coronel on the coast of [[Chile]], and engaged the enemy that evening. The German force consisted of two armored cruisers (the ''Scharnhorst'' and ''Gneisnau'') and three light cruisers (the ''Leipzig'', ''Dresden'', and ''Nurembug''). The British force had two armored cruisers (HMS ''Good Hope'' and ''Monmouth''), one light cruiser (the ''Glasgow''), and a converted liner (the ''Otranto''). The British ships were outranged and outgunned, and the ''Good Hope'' was sunk, followed by the ''Monmouth''. There were no survivors. The remaining British ships escaped, and were sent to guard the facilities on the [[Falkland Islands]] in the South [[Atlantic]]. It was the first defeat of the [[Royal Navy]] in over a hundred years, and sent shockwaves through the British Admiralty.
==Aftermath==
See: [[Battle of the Falkland Islands]]
==Sources==
*The World’s Great Battleships, by Robert Jackson, Thunder Bay Press, 2000
*A History of War at Sea, by Helmut Pemsel, Naval Institute Press, 1975
==Links==
*[http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/coronel.html Battle of Coronel]