The naval Battle of Coronel took place on 1 November 1914 during World War I off the coast of central Chile. During the battle, a Royal Navy squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock was met and defeated by the German Kaiserliche Marine forces led by Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee. This was not only the first British naval defeat of World War I but Britain's first naval defeat since 1812 and the first defeat of a British naval squadron since the Battle of the Chesapeake in 1781.
The Royal Navy, with assistance from other Allied navies, had spent the early months of the war searching for Spee's German East Asiatic Squadron, fearing its potential for commerce raiding in the Pacific. Spee left the German colony at Tsingtao in China, once Japan entered the war on Britain's side.
The British learned from an intercepted radio communication in early October of a plan devised by Spee to prey upon shipping in the crucial trading routes along the west coast of South America. Patrolling South America at that time was Admiral Cradock's West Indies Squadron, which consisted of two armoured cruisers, HMS Good Hope (Cradock's flagship) and HMS Monmouth, the modern light cruiser HMS Glasgow, and a converted ex-liner, HMS Otranto.
Cradock's fleet was by no means modern or particularly strong, and certainly ill-matched when set against Spee's formidable force of five vessels, led by the armoured cruisers SMS Scharnhorst and SMS Gneisenau plus a further three light cruisers, all modern, efficient ships. Nevertheless he was ordered to deal with Spee.
On 18 October 1914 Spee, having learned of the solo existence of the Glasgow, set off with all five warships from Valparaíso with the intention of destroying it.
Cradock, who was aware that his shipping was outgunned by Spee's, had meanwhile been waiting in the hope of naval reinforcements. In the event the Admiralty dispatched only HMS Defence - an armoured cruiser, and HMS Canopus - an elderly battleship, the latter sent from London. Neither reached Cradock before battle unexpectedly commenced on 1 November 1914.
Deciding that he could wait no longer for the delayed reinforcements, Cradock determined to sail from the Falkland Islands to a predetermined rendezvous point with the Glasgow at Coronel, the latter having been sent there to gather intelligence.
At this point the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, in London issued orders to Cradock on 28 October instructing him to halt, pending possible reinforcement from the Japanese navy. It is a moot point as to whether Cradock actually received Churchill's instructions; in any event he shortly afterwards ordered his squadron to adopt an attacking formation.
Cradock had received word, again via intercepted radio signal on 31 October that SMS Leipzig, the slowest light cruiser in Spee's fleet, was in the area. He promptly ordered his squadron north to cut it off - and instead found himself confronting Spee's entire force the following day at around 4.30pm.
Ship movements during the Battle of Coronel. British ships are shown in red, German ships are shown in blue.At this stage it is probable that the British force could have escaped by sailing towards Canopus, then some 300 miles to the south; with the failing light Spee would most likely have lost contact with the British squadron. Instead Cradock chose to stay and fight; however he ordered Otranto to break formation and flee.
With the seas difficult (to the disadvantage of the British) Spee reacted by moving his faster vessels out of Cradock's firing range; at sunset -(19:00 or 7pm) - with the setting sun clearly silhouetting Cradock's fleet, he began to shell the latter's force, with Scharnhorst's third salvo crippling the flagship Good Hope. Good Hope sank at 19:57 after being raked by accurate German gunfire and went down with all hands, including Admiral Cradock. The badly damaged Monmouth turned her stern towards the open sea in a desperate attempt to stay afloat, but her captain gallantly ordered Glasgow sailing nearby to make her escape rather than try to take Monmouth in tow. Monmouth sank shortly therafter at 21:18 hours, while Glasgow was able to get clear and re-unite with Otranto.
There were no survivors of either ship (1,654 officers and men), Cradock himself going down with Good Hope. Glasgow and Otranto both escaped (although the former suffered five hits but no casualties). Spee's own fleet had suffered little damage, only three sailors wounded, and sailed thereafter to Valparaíso to a rapturous welcome from the local German population.
Once news of the scale of the British defeat, and its consequent humiliation, reached the British Admiralty in London a decision was quickly taken to assemble a huge naval force under Admiral Sir Frederick Sturdee. This was promptly dispatched to destroy Spee's force: which it subsequently did, at the Battle of the Falkland Islands.
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