Reborn as a police officer in South Africa

Finding two warships in the vast Atlantic Ocean is about as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack.

The Royal Navy spent nearly a month without finding any trace of the "Deutschland" and the "Admiral Graf Spee". What they were waiting for was the news that two German warships kept sinking British merchant ships.

Especially the "Graf Spee". Within a month of leaving Wilhelmshaven, the "Graf Spee", under the command of captain Hans Langsdorff, continued to attack British merchant ships.

Within 20 days, the "Graf Spee" sank the 5,000-ton passenger liner "Clement", the 4,300-ton freighter "Ashlia", the 8,300-ton freighter "Hunter", and the 5,400-ton freighter "Hunter".

The freighter "Trevanion", the 10,300-ton passenger ship "Dorian Star", the 8,100-ton passenger ship "Tyrora", and the 4,000-ton freighter "Skili Shaoan'er".

In addition, at least three other passenger or cargo ships were also sunk by the Graf Spee. Because these three ships failed to send signals in time, the British government did not confirm that these ships had also been sunk until several months later.

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Hans Langsdorff participated in the last world war and had rich experience and a deep understanding of breaking up wars.

Continuous and frequent attacks have left clearer and clearer directions for the Royal Navy's search fleet. After the "Graf Spee" sank the "Skyrisauer", the commander of the search fleet, Commodore Harwood, accurately

It was determined that the destination of the "Graf Spee" was the mouth of the Rio de la Plata.

On December 30, the Royal Navy's G Fleet discovered the "Graf Spee" at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata.

Force G is one of the nine search fleets of the Royal Navy. Its members include one "York" class cruiser and two "Leander" class cruisers.

The "Graf Spee" has a standard displacement of 12,000 tons and a full load displacement of 16,200 tons. It is equipped with two triple-mounted 280mm main guns and two quadruple-mounted 533mm torpedo launch tubes.

Among the three cruisers of the G fleet, the "Exeter" is equipped with six 203mm main guns with a range of 28,000 meters.

"Ajax" and "Achilles" are each equipped with eight 152mm main guns with a maximum range of 23,300 meters.

Compared with the "Graf Spee", the biggest advantage of the three British cruisers is speed. The fastest speed of the "Graf Spee" is only 26 knots, while the fastest speed of the three British cruisers exceeds 30 knots.

The battle started at 6:15 in the morning. The "Graf Spee" had the firepower advantage and fired first at the "Exeter".

Before the encounter began, Commodore Harwood split the three cruisers into two and launched a pincer attack on the Graf Spee.

This strategy was effective and prevented the "Graf Spee" from taking care of both ends.

Hans Langsdorff was experienced and concentrated his firepower to attack the "Exeter". As soon as the battle began, the B turret of the "Exeter" was destroyed and the bridge was also hit.

The personnel inside were either dead or the "Exeter" was temporarily incapable of combat.

When the "Graf Spee" launched an attack on the "Exeter", "Ajax" and "Achilles" were also desperately attacking the "Graf Spee".

The 152mm cannon is indeed less powerful than the 280mm cannon. The "Graf Spee" has strong protection. The thickness of the turret armor reaches 160mm. The 152mm cannon is like scratching an itch.

The thickness of the turret armor of the three British cruisers is only 25 mm.

The thickness of the armor belts is pretty much the same.

The biggest hidden danger of the "Graf Spee" is that the Germans are not sure when British reinforcements will arrive.

Langsdorff was not interested in fighting. After damaging the "Exeter", he bombarded the "Ajax".

It has to be said that although the strength of the German Navy is not as good as that of the Royal Navy, the quality of the German naval officers and soldiers is indeed first-rate.

After taking "Ajax" as the main target of attack, in just five minutes, the two turrets at the tail of "Ajax" were destroyed, and its combat effectiveness was seriously damaged.

At this time, the "Exeter" fired a torpedo at the "Graf Spee".

After the "Graf Spee" escaped, it bombarded the "Exeter" again.

The already severely damaged "Exeter" suffered another heavy blow, and the last turret was completely destroyed. The "Exeter" completely lost its combat effectiveness and withdrew from the battle.

At this time, the "Graf Spee" released smoke bombs and left the battlefield. The entire battle lasted for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Three British cruisers were damaged to varying degrees. The "Graf Spee" was also hit multiple times, and the superstructure was seriously damaged.

The boiler bunker was damaged and there was insufficient fuel and power to return to Germany.

At this time, both the "Graf Spee" and the two British cruisers were running out of ammunition.

The "Graf Spee" took the initiative to withdraw, and two British cruisers followed in pursuit, fighting and stopping all the way. Shortly after midnight, the "Graf Spee" was forced to enter the port of Montevideo for repairs.

Montevideo Port is a port in Uruguay. Uruguay was not participating in the war at this time. According to international conventions, the "Graf Spee" could only stay in the neutral port of Montevideo for 24 hours.

At this time, "Ajax" and "Achilles" were just outside the port, and more British warships were quickly arriving. Around the "Graf Spee", a political game was underway.

After learning about the situation of the "Graf Spee", the German Minister in Montevideo took the initiative to negotiate with Uruguay, hoping to extend the stay time of the "Graf Spee" in Montevideo Port. The reason was that the "Graf Spee"

"Count" is no longer able to leave the port of Montevideo on its own and will need more time for repairs.

The Royal Navy firmly disagreed, believing that the "Graf Spee" was fully capable of navigation and must leave within 24 hours.

Langsdorff knew what was going on with the Graf Spee.

As long as the "Graf Spee" leaves the port of Montevideo, it will be sunk by the British cruisers guarding the port.

The "Graf Spee" has powerful turret armor, but average horizontal armor. The torpedoes of "Ajax" and "Achilles" can definitely cause a fatal blow to the "Graf Spee".

What's more, more British warships are coming, including the aircraft carrier "Ark Royal" and the fast battleship "Reputation" equipped with three twin-mounted 381mm main guns and with a maximum speed of 31 knots.

The Count Peck has lost all possibility of escape.

Uruguay does not want to offend Britain and France.

I don’t want to offend Germany either.

So the Uruguayans sent an investigation team to determine the situation of the Graf Spee, and eventually extended the stay of the Graf Spee in the port of Montevideo to 72 hours.

"Graf Spee" was severely damaged and could not be completely repaired within 72 hours.

When the time came to January 1, 1940, Langsdorff sent a telegram to the German Admiralty, reporting the situation of the "Graf Spee" and asking for instructions on what to do next.

After Mustache learned that the "Graf Spee" was blocked in the port of Uruguay, he personally presided over the meeting and finally decided: if possible, break through the siege and sail to Buenos Aires. He will never be captured in Uruguay. If necessary, he can

The ship was scuttled and completely destroyed.

Langsdorff accepted the result calmly.

He transferred more than 700 sailors on the "Graf Spee" and the remaining supplies on the "Graf Spee" to a German merchant ship in the port of Montevideo, and then aboard the "Graf Spee" at the critical moment

Place explosives at the location.

At six o'clock in the afternoon on January 3, the "Graf Spee" slowly left the port of Montevideo.

The British cruisers waiting outside the port were ecstatic that they finally arrived at the "Graf Spee".

However, before the British cruiser could fire its guns, the Graf Spee blew up on its own, without giving the British any chance.

Langsdorff did not go out to sea with the ship, but stayed in the port and shot himself at nine o'clock in the evening on the 3rd.

The forced sinking of the "Graf Spee" proved the failure of Germany's tactics to break diplomatic relations. From then on, Germany focused almost all its energy on submarines.

This decision soon took effect. On January 20, a German submarine took advantage of the Royal Navy's defense loopholes to sneak into the Royal Navy's naval base in Scapa Flow and steal the "Royal Oak" parked on the berth.

The battleship was sunk.

This is difficult to explain.

The heavily guarded military base was actually able to allow a German submarine to sneak in, which makes people question the professionalism of the Royal Navy.

The daring one was the German submarine U47. The captain, Captain Pullien, launched the first attack at 1:30 midnight, and a torpedo hit the bow of the "Royal Oak".

An even more incredible thing happened. At this time, no one realized that the "Royal Oak" was attacked by a German submarine. Everyone thought that the "Royal Oak" itself exploded.

Three minutes later, the U-47 submarine launched a second attack. Two torpedoes hit the middle of the "Royal Oak". A violent explosion caused fire and thick smoke. The situation quickly got out of control. The 29,000-ton "Royal Oak" lost control in just ten minutes.

It sank within minutes, killing 24 officers and 809 sailors, including Commander Blagorov, commander of the Royal Navy's Second Fleet, and only 375 people survived.

The "Royal Oak" was sunk, quickly detonating British public opinion.

In fact, we can't blame the Royal Navy for being lax. During the last world war, a German submarine tried to sneak into the naval base. As a result, it hit a mine and sank, killing all the crew members. People have reason to believe that any attempt to break through Scapa Flow will fail.

It would end in a disastrous defeat, with Scapa Flow's defenses impregnable.

After the outbreak of the European War, the Royal Navy strengthened the defense of Scapa Flow. In addition to mines, it also added multiple water booms and obstacle ships. This still failed to prevent the invasion of the U47 boat.

In addition to submarines, in January, Germany began to dispatch bombers to attack the Royal Navy.

The Royal Navy's warships have undergone many modernizations and modifications, and a large number of anti-aircraft weapons have been added. This time there is no winner.

On the evening of the 22nd, 12 German bombers were divided into four formations and launched an attack on the British warships docked at the Firth of Forth Naval Base, including the Royal Navy cruisers "Southampton" and "Edinburgh", as well as

The destroyer USS Moholan was injured and 25 officers and soldiers were killed.

Germany lost 6 bombers.

Also at the end of January, the first batch of southern African pilots arrived in the UK as volunteers to participate in the war against Germany.