, the armored cruiser In late 1912, Spee was given command of the East Asia Squadron, replacing
KAdm Günther von Krosigk on 4 December. Spee raised his flag on the
armored cruiser , and departed on a tour of the southwest Pacific along with
Scharnhorsts
sister ship , during which Spee made visits to several ports, including
Singapore and
Batavia. Spee was promoted to
Vizeadmiral the following year. Over the following year and a half, Spee met with the leaders of several East Asian countries. From 1 April to 7 May 1913,
Scharnhorst took Spee to Japan to meet the
Taishō Emperor. Later in the year, Spee met with
Chulalongkorn, the
King of Siam. In May 1914, Spee took
Scharnhorst and the torpedo boat on a visit to
Port Arthur and then to
Tianjin; Spee continued on to
Beijing, where he met with
Yuan Shikai, the first
President of the Republic of China. He came back aboard
Scharnhorst on 11 May and the ship returned to Qingdao. Spee thereafter began preparations for a cruise to
German New Guinea;
Scharnhorst departed on 20 June. The two armored cruisers proceeded to
Nagasaki, Japan, where they coaled in preparation for their tour. While en route to
Truk in the
Caroline Islands, they received news of the assassination of Archduke
Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of
Austria-Hungary. On 17 July, the East Asia Squadron arrived in
Ponape in the Carolines, where the ships remained while tensions steadily rose in Europe. In Ponape, Spee had access to the German radio network, and he learned of the Austro-Hungarian declaration of war on Serbia on 28 July, followed shortly thereafter by the Russian
mobilization—tantamount to a
declaration of war—against Austria-Hungary and possibly Germany. On 31 July, word came that the German ultimatum that Russia demobilize its armies was set to expire; Spee ordered his ships' crews to prepare for war. On 2 August,
Wilhelm II ordered German mobilization against Russia and its ally, France. Following Germany's violation of neutral Belgium during its
invasion of France, Britain declared war on Germany.
World War I The East Asia Squadron consisted of
Scharnhorst and
Gneisenau and the
light cruisers , , and . At the time,
Nürnberg was returning from the west coast of the United States, where
Leipzig had just replaced her, and
Emden was still in Qingdao. Spee recalled his ships to consolidate his forces;
Nürnberg arrived on 6 August and the three cruisers plus their
colliers moved to
Pagan Island in the
Marianas, at that time a German colony.
Emden and the liner , which had been converted into an
auxiliary cruiser, joined the squadron there on 12 August. The four cruisers, accompanied by
Prinz Eitel Friedrich and several colliers, then departed the central Pacific, bound for Chile. On 13 August, Commodore
Karl von Müller, captain of the
Emden, persuaded Spee to detach his ship as a commerce raider. On 14 August, the East Asia Squadron departed Pagan for
Enewetak Atoll in the
Marshall Islands. While en route across the Pacific, Spee relaxed formalities aboard his ships, integrating the messes for officers and non-commissioned and engineering officers. To keep the German high command informed, on 8 September Spee detached
Nürnberg to
Honolulu to send word through neutral countries.
Nürnberg returned with news of the
Allied capture of German Samoa, which had taken place on 29 August.
Scharnhorst and
Gneisenau sailed to
Apia to investigate the situation. Spee had hoped to catch a British or Australian warship by surprise, but upon his arrival on 14 September, he found no warships in the harbor. Spee decided against attacking the Allied troops ashore, since doing so would risk killing Samoans and damaging German property. On 22 September,
Scharnhorst and the rest of the East Asia Squadron arrived at the French colony of
Papeete. The Germans attacked the colony, and in the ensuing
Battle of Papeete, they sank the French gunboat
Zélée. The ships came under fire from French shore batteries but were undamaged. Fear of mines in the harbor prevented Spee from seizing the coal in the harbor. Spee then continued across the Pacific, passing through the
Marquesas Islands, where his ships acquired supplies including fresh meat by barter, purchase, or confiscation. On 12 October, the squadron reached
Easter Island, where it was reinforced by
Leipzig, , and four more colliers. Spee's ships were off the coast of Chile by 1 November, when he learned that the British cruiser was moored in
Coronel, ostensibly alone; he decided to try to sink the ship.
Battle of Coronel Glasgow was assigned to the
4th Cruiser Squadron, under Rear Admiral
Christopher Cradock; as it turned out,
Glasgow was joined by the armored cruisers and and the auxiliary cruiser . After discovering the entire squadron off Coronel, Spee decided to engage the British ships, but he delayed the action using his ships' superior speed until later in the day, when the setting sun would silhouette Cradock's ships. The German ships would meanwhile be obscured against the Chilean coast, making the task of the British gunners more difficult. At 18:07, Spee issued the order to open fire, with his two armored cruisers battling Cradock's armored cruisers and his light cruisers engaging
Glasgow and
Otranto. Cradock quickly detached
Otranto, as she had no place in the line of battle. By 18:50,
Gneisenau had disabled
Monmouth and so shifted fire to
Good Hope; the combined firepower of
Scharnhorst and
Gneisenau neutralized
Good Hope by 19:23. Spee then withdrew his two armored cruisers and sent in his light cruisers to finish off
Monmouth and
Good Hope. The British had lost both ships and suffered more than 1,600 dead, including Cradock, though the German ships had expended around 40 percent of their ammunition supply. Spee had inflicted the first defeat on a
Royal Navy squadron since the
Napoleonic Wars a century earlier. on 3 November after the battle After the battle, Spee took his ships north to Valparaiso. Since Chile was neutral, only three ships could enter the port at a time; Spee took
Scharnhorst,
Gneisenau, and
Nürnberg in first on the morning of 3 November, leaving
Dresden and
Leipzig with the colliers at Mas a Fuera. There, Spee's ships could take on coal while he conferred with the
Admiralty Staff in Germany to determine the strength of remaining British forces in the region. In addition, Spee sought to counter British press reports that attempted to minimize their losses and exaggerate German casualties. A reception followed at the German Club of Valparaiso, though Spee insisted that the event be restrained in tone. He received a bouquet of flowers to celebrate the victory at Coronel; Spee replied that they would do nicely for his grave. He stated that, While in port, Spee received the order from the Admiralty Staff to attempt to break through to Germany. The ships remained in the port for only 24 hours, in accordance with the neutrality restrictions, and arrived at Mas a Fuera on 6 November, where they took on more coal from captured British and French steamers.
Dresden and
Leipzig took their turn in Valparaiso, after which the re-formed squadron continued south and rounded
Cape Horn into the South Atlantic. In the meantime, the Royal Navy sent a pair of
battlecruisers— and —commanded by
Vice Admiral Doveton Sturdee to hunt down Spee's squadron and avenge Cradock's defeat.
Battle of the Falkland Islands On the morning of 6 December, Spee held a conference with the ship commanders aboard
Scharnhorst to determine their next course of action. The Germans had received numerous fragmentary and contradictory reports of British reinforcements in the region; Spee and two other captains favored an attack on the
Falkland Islands to destroy the British wireless station there, while three other commanders argued that it would be better to bypass the islands and attack British shipping off Argentina. Spee's opinion carried the day and the squadron departed for the Falkland Islands at 12:00 on 6 December. The ships arrived off the Falkland Islands two days later;
Gneisenau and
Nürnberg were delegated for the attack. As they approached, observers aboard
Gneisenau spotted smoke rising from
Port Stanley, but assumed it was the British burning their coal stocks to prevent the Germans from seizing them. As they closed on the harbor, shells from the elderly battleship , which had been beached as a
guard ship, began to fall around the German ships, which prompted Spee to break off the attack. As Spee withdrew, Sturdee quickly got steam up in his ships and sortied to chase the Germans. |alt=A large dark gray warship burning furiously rolls over By 13:20, the battlecruisers had caught up with Spee, who realized his armored cruisers could not escape the much faster battlecruisers. He ordered the three light cruisers to attempt to break away while he tried to hold off the British squadron with
Scharnhorst and
Gneisenau. Sturdee instead ordered his cruisers to chase down the fleeing German light cruisers while
Invincible and
Inflexible dealt with
Scharnhorst and
Gneisenau. Spee deftly maneuvered his ships, taking the
leeward position; the wind kept his ships swept of smoke, which improved visibility for his gunners. This forced Sturdee into the windward position and its corresponding worse visibility.
Scharnhorst straddled
Invincible with her third salvo and quickly scored two hits on the British battlecruiser. The German flagship was herself not hit during this phase of the battle. Sturdee attempted to widen the distance by turning two points to the north to prevent Spee from closing to within the range of his numerous secondary guns. Spee counteracted this maneuver by turning rapidly to the south, which forced Sturdee to turn south as well to keep within range. This allowed
Scharnhorst and
Gneisenau to turn back north and get close enough to engage with their secondary 15 cm guns. Their shooting was so accurate that it forced the British to haul away a second time. The British gunfire became increasingly accurate, and by 16:00,
Scharnhorst had begun to list badly, while fires raged aboard the ship. Spee ordered
Gneisenau to try to disengage while he turned
Scharnhorst toward his attackers in an attempt to launch torpedoes at them. At 16:17,
Scharnhorst capsized and sank, taking her entire crew with her, including Spee. The British, still focused on
Gneisenau, made no effort to rescue survivors.
Gneisenau,
Leipzig, and
Nürnberg were also sunk. Only
Dresden managed to escape, but she was eventually tracked to the
Juan Fernández Islands and sunk. The complete destruction of the squadron killed about 2,200 German sailors and officers, including both of Spee's sons; Heinrich died aboard
Gneisenau, and Otto was killed aboard
Nürnberg. ==Legacy==