Admiral Graf Spee

Design

The Germans classified Spee as an “armored ship”, however the British gave a much more generally accepted type name- “pocket battleship”.

Spee was the German naval engineers’ solution of combining powerful battleship armament with lightweight displacement of cruisers. Spee was also the first German warship to be equipped with radar equipment, which her firing accuracy had surprised the British.

With an almost 14.9k ton displacement, Spee had technically broke the limits of the Versailles Treaty.

Basic History

By the time she entered the fleet, Admiral Graf Spee shortly became a flagship of the German Navy. During the Spanish Civil War in summer 1936, Admiral Graf Spee conducted five non-intervention patrols off the Republican coasts of Spain. On return voyage from Spain, Spee stopped at Great Britain and took part in the Coronation Review at Spithead for King George VI, representing Germany.

Admiral Graf Spee had been at sea for weeks before World War II broke out, and on 26th September, she received orders to begin commerce raiding against Allied Atlantic shipping- she adhered to strict prize rules (stop, search(loot), and sink) and frequently rendezvoused with her supply ship SS Altmark. Her first victim, SS Clement was attacked off the coast of Brazil four days later.

On October 5, an Anglo-French task force of 23(planned) ships was formed to search for Spee- aircraft carriers HMS Hermes, Eagle, Ark Royal, MNF Bearn, battleships Dunkerque and Strasbourg, and 16 cruisers. (Dunkerque and Bearn stayed at Brest in reality.)

On that day and later, many other Allied merchant ships became Spee’s victims. These were the steamer Newton Beech, ship Ashlea, steamers Huntsman, Trevanion, tanker African Shell (sunk; not raided), an unidentified Dutch steamer (not sunk), SS Doric Star, steamer Tairoa, and freighter Streonshalh.

On 13th December 1939, Admiral Graf Spee encountered the heavy cruiser HMS Exeter, light cruiser Ajax and HMNZS Achilles and fought them at the Battle of the River Plate in the morning. Having heavily damaged Exeter mid-battle and moderately damaged Ajax and Achilles, Admiral Graf Spee escaped to the River Plate estuary with moderate damage.

Graf Spee ported at the Uruguayan port of Montevideo for repairs as well as managing the wounded, dead (which were buried) and captured sailors (which were released). Later the British deceived the Spee about sending a vast force to sink the cruiser, even though the closest large forces were too far to act, and Achilles and Ajax had only been joined by heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland. The captain of the Spee believed the deception, and after discussion with officials in Berlin, Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled.

In late January 1940, the neutral American cruiser USS Helena visited the wreck of the Spee.

• The Graf Spee is featured in the anime High School Fleet and represented as a shipgirl in Azur Lane.

In Suyukaz's Works and Fiction

• The Graf Spee is Suyukaz's most favourite historical warship. As such, Suyukaz often relates the ship with his own characters. For example, Spook was once depicted serving as Graf Spee's floatplane pilot, though this might never be canonical in his lore. In Suyukaz's Minecraft skin of Spook, the emblem of the Spee is on the jacket's right shoulder, though this was never seen in Spook's art design.

• The Graf Spee also became the second warship to have Suyukaz's own shipgirl design, after the battleship USS Missouri.