Battle of the River Plate

British cruisers engaged the German commerce raider Admiral Graf Spee off the coast of South America.

The German ship had been attacking Allied merchant shipping in the Atlantic. Three British cruisers intercepted it near the River Plate estuary and damaged it in an artillery engagement.

Admiral Graf Spee entered neutral Montevideo. Under diplomatic pressure and uncertainty about the enemy forces outside the port, the commander decided to scuttle the ship off the harbour entrance.

The event became an early symbol of the global character of the naval war: operations by European powers were taking place far from Europe itself.

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