Battle of the Falkland Islands—December 8.
Second Phase—11 a.m.
He began by taking the battle-cruisers ahead at 26-½ knots; then slowed down, cleared for action, and piped the men to dinner at 11.30 as usual; changing course at the same time to converge upon the enemy. At 12.20 he increased to 25 knots, and opened fire on the Leipzig, now within 15,000 yards. She was soon on fire, and at 1.20 turned away south-west with the Nürnberg and the Dresden. Admiral von Spee was dividing his squadron, in hope of saving some part of it. But Admiral Sturdee had foreseen this move. Without any fresh signal, the Glasgow, the Kent, and the Cornwall at once followed the light cruisers; Captain Luce was to have the honour of a separate action to himself, while the battle-cruisers and the Carnarvon held on after Spee.
The main action began with an experimental stage; the German ships concentrated their fire on the Invincible, but could not reach her. On the other hand, her smoke was smothering the Inflexible. At 2.5 Sturdee began to close, and Spee, covered by his own smoke, turned to starboard, and went off at full speed after his light cruisers. By 2.45 he was again overtaken. He then turned to port, and reduced the range; he had decided that the time was come to do what damage he could before the inevitable end.
He opened fire with every gun he had; but here, as in the fight of the Sydney against the Emden, and afterwards at Jutland, the German gunners, though highly trained, could not long keep their accuracy under British fire. The duel was practically decided in the first ten minutes: the Gneisenau was badly hit by the Inflexible, the Scharnhorst was set on fire and lost a funnel; both were staggering and smoking desperately. Sturdee seized his advantage, turned eighteen points, and crossed their wake; under his raking fire the Gneisenau listed till her 6-inch guns could no longer fire, the Scharnhorst lost all her funnels and all her port guns. Spee turned gallantly to bring his fresh broadside to bear, but at 4.0 his flagship ceased fire suddenly, and lay down on her beam ends; soon she heeled over, her stern rose steeply, and she went down head foremost. Admiral Sturdee's chivalrous dispatch records that Admiral von Spee's flag was flying to the last.
None of the sinking crew could be saved, for the Gneisenau was still fighting. The three British ships concentrated on her from three sides; at 5.8 her forward funnel fell, and her fire slackened; at 5.15 she hit the Invincible with a single shell; at 5.30 she turned round and stopped dead. At 5.40 she ceased firing, and hauled down one of her two flags; at 5.50, while her three enemies were rushing in at 20 knots to save life, she lay down on her beam ends very suddenly and plunged. Of her complement of 800, some 200 were still alive, and nearly all of these were rescued: 166 recovered; 14 who died of exhaustion were buried next day with full military honours.
Sturdee's next thought was for Captain Luce and his ships. He gave them his own news by wireless, and asked for theirs. The Glasgow replied that she and the Cornwall were over 70 miles to the south, and the Kent out of sight and hearing of them. It seemed not impossible that the Nürnberg had disposed of her by throwing mines overboard during the chase. But this was not so; Sturdee's good fortune was not to be broken. The Dresden, it is true, evaded him, but only because her superior speed and 12 miles' start enabled her to abandon her squadron when she pleased. The other two light cruisers fought gallantly, but failed to escape destruction. In their flight they separated, and the two defeats must be separately described.
When the Dresden decided to run out of action at 27 knots, after the first turn away, Captain Luce wasted no time in chasing her, but laid himself alongside of the Leipzig, the rear ship, in hope of tempting her consorts to fall back to her support. His manoeuvre was to close her repeatedly, engaging with his forward 6-inch gun, and forcing her to turn her broadside to reply. Each time she did so, the Kent and the Cornwall drew nearer, till at 3.36 they could attack the Nürnberg and the Leipzig respectively. The Dresden refused to turn back: she disappeared into the mist, not to be seen again till March 1915, when she surrendered and blew up after a five minutes' action with the Kent and the Glasgow, who had caught her at anchor.
The Nürnberg now turned away east, pursued by the Kent; the Cornwall began to hit the Leipzig, who was already engaged with the Glasgow. Captain Luce, having here the superior speed, turned right round and passed under his enemy's stern, raking her with his fresh broadside; then circled round the Cornwall, and came again into action ahead of her. At 6.0, after nearly two hours of such tactics, he gave the order to close; at 6.35 he received the admiral's wireless message of victory; at 7.17 he saw his own opponent silenced and burning furiously. He waited half an hour for her surrender, and then opened fire again. At that she burned green lights, and he at once lowered his boats. Five officers and thirteen men had been rescued, when the blazing Leipzig turned over to port and sank.
Battle of the Falkland Islands—December 8.
Last Phase.