Battle of the River Plate 1939
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Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 13 December 1939 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1939 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Nearest landmass | At sea (nearest continent: South America) | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | South America | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | American Theater | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Nazi Germany, New Zealand, United Kingdom | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | -34.0000, -49.0000 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of the River Plate was fought in the South Atlantic on 13 December 1939 as the first British naval battle of the Second World War.
The Kriegsmarine heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee, commanded by Captain Hans Langsdorff, engaged a Royal Navy squadron, commanded by Commodore Henry Harwood, comprising the light cruisers HMS Ajax, HMNZS Achilles (on loan to the New Zealand Division) and the heavy cruiser HMS Exeter.
Graf Spee had sailed into the South Atlantic in August 1939, before the war began, and had begun commerce raiding after receiving authorisation on 26 September 1939. Harwood's squadron was one of several search groups sent in pursuit by the British Admiralty and sighted Graf Spee off the estuary of the River Plate (a.k.a. the Río de la Plata) near the coasts of Argentina and Uruguay.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of the River Plate (revision 1373661477), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Other battles of the American Theater
- Battle of Attu 1943
Browse more: battles at sea · South America · World War II era battles