Battle of Coronel
The Battle of Coronel was a naval battle between German and British ships in the first year of World War I. A German 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
Sources
- The Worldâs Great Battleships, by Robert Jackson, Thunder Bay Press, 2000
- A History of War at Sea, by Helmut Pemsel, Naval Institute Press, 1975