Map illustrating approximately—from Admiral Sturdee's Dispatch—the Battle of the Falkland Islands from start to finish. The map must not be regarded as showing the proper scale of distances, &c.
More dangerous than the Emden was the German cruiser squadron under Admiral Graf von Spee, which concentrated in the South Pacific from Kiao-Chau and elsewhere. The squadron consisted of the twin cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, each of 11,400 tons, 22 knots speed, and an armament which included eight 8.2-inch guns; and three smaller cruisers, Dresden, Nürnberg, and Leipzig, each of 3500 tons, and carrying ten 4.1-inch guns. On 1st Nov. von Spee fell in with the weak British squadron under Admiral Cradock, who had been sent in August to protect the South Pacific trade, and was expecting reinforcements to cope with the German concentration. Cradock's squadron consisted of old ships like the cruisers Good Hope and Monmouth; the light cruiser Glasgow, and the armed liner Otranto; the pre-Dreadnought battleship Canopus, which had been left behind for repairs, being some twelve hours away.
Outsteamed and outranged—though the Good Hope (14,000 tons) had two 9·2-inch guns on board—with the setting sun silhouetting their surfaces against the sky, they were no match for the Germans, who made the most of the added advantage which their inshore position gave them, obscuring their outlines when, as the light began to fail, they drew nearer to Cradock's ships and opened fire. The Good Hope's two 9.2-inch guns could not find their target in the fading light, and were soon put out of action by von Spee's flagship, the Scharnhorst, whose eight 8.2-inch guns, like those of the Gneisenau, which meantime was engaged in a similar duel with the Monmouth, now had the British at their mercy. The 6-inch guns of Cradock's ships, almost awash in the rolling seas, were useless. At 7.50 p.m. the Good Hope blew up, but not before Cradock had ordered the Glasgow to get away with all speed and warn the Canopus. The useless Otranto had been ordered away before the battle opened. The Monmouth, after being silenced and set on fire by the 8.2-inch guns of the Gneisenau, was finally sunk by the Nürnberg. No survivors were picked up by the Germans, either from the Good Hope or the Monmouth. With Cradock perished in this naval disaster off Coronel some 1500 officers and men.
Meanwhile the Glasgow, making full use of her 25-knot speed, had warned the slow old Canopus, and together they made their way back to the Falkland Islands to await developments. Four days later Lord Fisher, who had just succeeded Prince Louis of Battenberg as First Lord of the Admiralty (20th Oct.), dispatched Admiral Sturdee with a squadron bent on avenging Cradock, and protecting the valuable base and coaling-station of the Falklands. Sturdee's squadron included the two first battle-cruisers built—the Invincible and Inflexible, each of 17,250 tonnage, with a speed of 27 knots, and eight 12-inch guns, besides sixteen 4-inch guns and five torpedo tubes. There were also four lighter cruisers—Carnarvon, Kent, Cornwall, and Bristol; and to these were added the Canopus when Sturdee reached the Falklands on 7th December. The Glasgow had already been picked up in the South Atlantic. The superiority both in number and weight of guns was now overwhelmingly on the side of the British.
Von Spee, who claimed to have suffered little loss in his victory off Coronel, had returned in the meanwhile to Valparaiso to refit, leaving again for the Falklands on 15th Nov. His programme apparently was to do as much damage as possible to the British base and coaling-station at Port Stanley; account for the Canopus and Glasgow, which he expected to find defending the port; and thence make for South Africa in support of the rebellion there. Only some twenty-four hours before he approached Port Stanley Admiral Sturdee had arrived, and the news sent by the signallers on the island at 8 a.m., that the unsuspecting enemy was approaching, found the crews grimy from coaling, but alert and ready. Von Spee sent the Gneisenau and Nürnberg ahead to shell the wireless station, but a salvo of 12-inch shells from the Canopus in the harbour at 9.20 a.m. caused them to change their course. It was not, however, until 9.45 a.m., when the Invincible and Inflexible put out to sea with the Glasgow and Kent, that the presence of the battle-cruisers was revealed to them. It was then too late to escape. The German ships were no match for the British battle-cruisers either in speed or gun-power. With the conditions of Coronel thus reversed, Von Spee, abandoning the attempt to run as hopeless, decided to die fighting, and met his death as gallantly as Cradock had done some five short weeks before. Both the Scharnhorst and her sister the Gneisenau, battered by the two British battle-cruisers, who were later joined by the Carnarvon, until they were mere helpless hulks, fought to the last before they capsized, the first at 4.15 p.m., the second just after six. Boats were ordered out to save survivors, and some 200 Germans were picked up from these and other ships that were sunk. The Leipzig, pursued by the Glasgow and Cornwall, kept up a running fight for three hours, and then, hammered to pieces, hauled her flag, but afterwards sank. The Nürnberg, after a longer chase, suffered a similar fate at the hands of the Kent, sinking an hour after surrendering. Only the Dresden escaped, seeking refuge at Juan Fernandez, but three months later she was called to account there by the Kent and Glasgow (14th March, 1915), when, after a five minutes' action, she was blown up by her commander.
With no enemy fleet at sea the task of the British navy was reduced to guarding British commerce from submarines and raiders, keeping watch and ward in the North Sea, and conveying troops to and from the widely scattered theatres of war. Every month added to Britain's commitments in various parts of the globe. All hope of an early peace had vanished by the end of 1914.
Mobilizing the Empire
Happily for the British Empire, Lord Kitchener had from the first anticipated a long-drawn struggle. His call for volunteers "for three years, or the duration of the war", showed how clearly he realized the gravity of the situation. One of his first demands had been for another half-million men to go on with, and history has recorded how nobly the young manhood of the