Admiral Graf Spee
Laid Down: 1/10/32
Commissioned: 6/1/36
Full Load Displacement: 16,020 tons
Draft: 24 ft
Speed: 29.5
Range: 8,900/20
Armor: 80mm side, 45mm deck
Armament: 6x 283mm, 8x 150mm, 6x 105mm, 8x 37mm, 10x 20mm, 8x 533mm torpedoes, 2x Arado 196 floatplanes.

Admiral Graf Spee departed from Wilhelmshaven ten days before the outbreak of war and hid in the South Atlantic with her tanker, Altmark. Given orders to commence commerce raiding on 26/9/39, Graf Spee sank her first victim off Brazil on 30/9/39. The Allies deployed eight hunting groups against her consisting of three battlecruisers, four carriers, and twelve cruisers. During the first half of October, Graf Spec sank four ships off the coast of Africa. After refueling from her tanker, she sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and entered the Indian Ocean on 3/11/39. She sank a tanker near the island of Madagascar on 15/11/39, causing the Allies to pull two battlecruiser, two carriers, and six cruisers off convoys in the Indian Ocean to form new hunting groups. On 20/11/39 Graf Spee re-entered the Atlantic, refueled again from her tanker, sank two ships off the coast of Africa in early December, and sank her last victim off the coast of South America on 7/12/39.

On 13/12/39 the Admiral Graf Spee was intercepted by the heavy cruiser Exeter (6x8") and the light cruisers Ajax and Achilles (both 8x6"). In a running battle the Graf Spee heavily damaged the Exeter and lightly damaged the two light cruisers, but was herself damaged by over 20 shell hits. No longer sea worthy enough to attempt to sail back to Germany, the Graf Spee entered the port of Montevideo, Uruguay. Unable to effect repairs quickly enough and facing either internment or battle against the Ajax and Achilles along with the newly arrived heavy cruiser Cumberland (8x8"), the Graf Spec was scuttled outside Montevideo on 17/12/39.

More WWII German Pocket Battleships

WWII German Pocket Battleship: Introduction
WWII German Pocket Battleship: Lutzow
WWII German Pocket Battleship: Admiral Scheer
WWII German Pocket Battleship: Admiral Graf Spee