Graf Spee not scuttled

"Easy the British cruisers were desperately low on fuel, so one day S or SE or even NE should lose them."

But he could not know that. Nor the radar problems. He did not dare call their bluff. And, even a little more damage would be catastrophic. The RN would happily trade an old cruiser for the coup of sinking his warship. Game over.
 
Easy the British cruisers were desperately low on fuel, so one day S or SE or even NE should lose them.

Searching for ships at sea during this era was needle in haystack.

Buenos Aires is even further up the River Plate than Montevideo and the navigable channel is fairly well established so the question on how to get past Force G is literally how does the Graf Spee fight her way past them?
 
Easy the British cruisers were desperately low on fuel, so one day S or SE or even NE should lose them.

Searching for ships at sea during this era was needle in haystack.

Not true

Ajax refueled from RFA Olynthus on the 15th and Achilles refueled from RFA Olynthus on the 17th and Cumberland was fresh from the Falklands and arrived on the evening of the 14th with more than enough fuel and ammo for the job

Force H (Renown, Ark Royal and 3 Crusiers) was due to Arrive on the 19th

All 3 British Cruisers were faster and had Aircraft and their Lordships would swap all 3 for Graf Spee (it's why they were built after all) and would certainly have allowed them to run out of fuel in order to maintain contact assuming that she managed to somehow slip past

Other than damage to Exeter the German commander had no idea regarding the fighting condition of the 3 Cruisers while he did know that he had about a 3rd of his ammo left, a destroyed galley, serious fuel issues and damage to his ship.
 
The boffins @ warship 1 went over this scenario and concluded AGS was in a position to back off and escape. None of the three British cruisers could catch up to AGS before they ran out of fuel. BTW Langsdorff was ordered to avoid battles .

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/warships1discussionboards/pbb-vs-rn-6-how-many-t31934-s210.html
Did you actually read the thread you've just referred to? The idea put forwards is, if upon seeing the first hint of a mast on the horizon Graf Spee had turned tail and run she could have kept out of range until the British ran low on fuel. But that's in reference to the initial engagement on the 13th, not any engagement after she attempts to slip out of port (17th OTL)... by which time both light cruisers have refueled and a new heavy cruiser has arrived, and the available sea-room is rather more restricted (meeting offshore vs exiting a narrow estuary)...
 
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Jack1971

Banned
"Easy the British cruisers were desperately low on fuel, so one day S or SE or even NE should lose them."

But he could not know that. Nor the radar problems. He did not dare call their bluff. And, even a little more damage would be catastrophic.
But assuming the worst is also not a good strategy. Deal with what is, not what ifs. Get out there. Saving crew lives aside, scuttling the ship is the most catastrophic result. Anything else is better. Sail out, fight off the cruisers, run for home or continue your mission.

Could anyone imagine the RN or IJN conducting themselves in a similar fashion? HMS Repulse engages a Deutschland and two Hipper class, for example. Repulse takes some mission-limiting damage but her fighting ability is mostly intact, and then runs into a foreign port, her captain assesses the coming battle and scuttles the ship? Jesus, he’d be hanged from the mast of the next passing RN vessel.

Of course the Articles were long replaced, but the spirit would still be in place for our unfortunate RN commander:

The 12th Article of War read as follows:"Every person in the fleet who, through cowardice, negligence or disaffection, shall in time of action withdraw, or keep back, or not come to the fight or engagement, or shall not do his utmost to take or destroy every ship....; every such person so offending and being convicted thereof by the sentence of a court martial shall suffer death
 
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Did you actually read the thread you've just referred to? The idea put forwards is, if upon seeing the first hint of a mast on the horizon Graf Spee had turned tail and run she could have kept out of range until the British ran low on fuel. But that's in reference to the initial engagement on the 13th, not any engagement after she attempts to slip out of port (17th OTL)... by which time both light cruisers have refueled and a new heavy cruiser has arrived, and the available sea-room is rather more restricted (meeting offshore vs exiting a narrow estuary)...

That's exactly the point, Langsdorff was told not to engage WALLIE warships, but he wanted a success before he returned to Germany. There should never have been a river plate battle in the first place.

After post # 6 lordroel., It begs the question.
 
This would make a great mini timeline with HMS Conqueror sinking it in '82.

As fun as that smart ass answer is, I assume the Argies would have a hell of a time keeping a Deutschland-class operational. At least unless they're somehow able to get their hands on the other two and strip them for spares.
 
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