Navy

WWI Battles Of Coronel And Falklands Commemorated

The 1914 naval battles of Coronel and the Falkland Islands have been commemorated a century after they took place.

Descendants of the three Admirals who led the Royal Navy and Imperial German Navy at the First World War battles paid tribute at sea.

Royal Navy ice patrol ship, HMS Protector, carried the descendants of Rear Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock RN, Vice Admiral Maximilian Graf Von Spee (Imperial German Navy) and Vice Admiral Sir Frederick Doveton Sturdee RN to the site where the Battle of the Falklands was waged on December 8, 1914.

Wreathes were then cast in memory of the thousands of sailors who lost their lives during the two battles.

Emanuel Graf Von Spee, the great-great-nephew of Adm Graf Von Spee, said:

“It was a really emotional moment to be at the site of the battle; back then our nations were at war but now we stand together"

“I cannot begin to imagine what the situation must have been like 100 years ago, especially when you consider that these Admirals knew each other personally but still had to go to war against one another,” he added.

On November 1, 1914, the Battle of Coronel was fought off the coast of Valparaiso, Chile. Adm Graf Von Spee’s fleet defeated Adm Cradock’s Royal Navy ships with the loss of all lives onboard.

En route back to Germany, Adm Graf Von Spee planned to attack the Falklands and destroy the islands’ base installations, but a squadron of Royal Navy ships was waiting for him under the command of Adm Doveton Sturdee. In the ensuing battle four German ships were sunk.

HMS Protector's Commanding Officer Captain Rhett Hatcher, whose ship is usually on tasking in Antarctica, added: “This poignant commemoration marks 100 years since those battles and despite being enemies through two World Wars, Germany and the UK are now strong allies working side by side.”

In Stanley – the capital of the Falkland Islands – a commemorative wall was also unveiled to mark a century since the battles.