Battle of Coronel
Part of the First World War
The German squadron leaving Valparaiso on 3 November 1914 after the battle, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in the lead, and Nürnberg following. In the middle distance are the Chilean cruisers Esmeralda, O'Higgins and Blanco Encalada, and battleship Capitan Prat.
Date 1 November 1914 Location Pacific ocean off Coronel, Chile Result German decisive victory
Combatants
United Kingdom	German Empire
Commanders
Sir Christopher Cradock†	Graf Maximilian von Spee
Strength
2 armoured cruisers 2 light cruisers	2 armoured cruisers 3 light cruisers
Casualties
1,654 men killed 2 armoured cruisers lost	3 wounded

The World War I naval Battle of Coronel took place on 1 November 1914 off the coast of central Chile near the city of Coronel. German Kaiserliche Marine forces led by Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee met and defeated a Royal Navy squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock. This was Britain's first naval defeat since 1812 and the first of a British naval squadron since the Battle of Grand Port in 1810. Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Robert Nivelle Herbert Henry Asquith Sir Douglas Haig Sir John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Woodrow... Image File history File links Ostasiengeschwader_Graf_Spee_in_Chile. ... Valparaiso is the name of at least three cities and a village: Valparaíso, Chile Valparaiso, Florida Valparaiso, Indiana Valparaiso, Nebraska This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... SMS Scharnhorst was an 11,616 ton armored cruiser of the Imperial German Navy, built at the Blohm & Voss Shipyard in Hamburg, Germany. ... This article is about the WWI armored cruiser Gneisenau; for the World War II battlecruiser of the same name, see German battlecruiser Gneisenau. ... SMS Nürnberg, named after the town of Nuremberg, was a German light cruiser launched in 1907. ... November 1 is the 305th day of the year (306th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 60 days remaining. ... 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Coronel is a city in Concepción province of the Bío-Bío región, in south-central Chile, located along the Araunco Gulf. ... Motto: Gott mit Uns (German: God with us”) Anthem: Heil dir im Siegerkranz (unofficial) Territory of the German Empire in 1914, prior to World War I Capital Berlin Language(s) Official: German Unofficial minority languages: Polish (Posen, Lower Silesia,Upper Silesia, Masuria) French (Alsace-Lorraine) Government Constitutional monarchy Emperor  - 1871... Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock Rear Admiral Sir Christopher George Francis Maurice Craddock KCVO RN (2 July 1862 - 1 November 1914), was a British admiral. ... Count (Graf) Maximilian Johannes Maria Hubert von Spee (22 June 1861 – 8 December 1914) was a German naval officer, born in Copenhagen, Denmark, who joined the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial German Navy) in 1878. ... The armored cruiser was a naval cruiser protected by armor on its sides as well as on the decks and gun positions. ... A light cruiser is a warship that is not so large and powerful as a regular (or heavy) cruiser, but still larger than ships like destroyers. ... The Battle of Penang occured in 1914, during World War I. It was a naval action. ... Combatants Australia Germany Commanders John Glossop Karl von Müller Strength light cruiser HMAS Sydney light cruiser SMS Emden Casualties 3 men killed 8 wounded 131 men killed 65 wounded Emden scuttled The naval Battle of Cocos took place on November 9, 1914 during World War I off the Cocos... SMS Königsberg was a Kaiserliche Marine light cruiser, which was in German East Africa at the start of World War I. She operated in her design role as a raider of merchant shipping. ... Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Robert Nivelle Herbert Henry Asquith Sir Douglas Haig Sir John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Woodrow... November 1 is the 305th day of the year (306th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 60 days remaining. ... 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Coronel is a city in Concepción province of the Bío-Bío región, in south-central Chile, located along the Araunco Gulf. ... The Kaiserliche Marine or Imperial Navy was the German Navy created by the formation of the German Empire and existed between 1871 and 1919; it grew out of the Prussian Navy and the Norddeutsche Bundesmarine. ... Maximilian von Spee Count (Graf) Maximilian Johannes Maria Hubert von Spee (22 June 1861 - 8 December 1914) was a German naval officer, born in Copenhagen, Denmark, who joined the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial German Navy) in 1878. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock Rear Admiral Sir Christopher George Francis Maurice Craddock KCVO RN (2 July 1862 - 1 November 1914), was a British admiral. ... For the overture by Tchaikovsky, see 1812 Overture; For the wars, see War of 1812 (USA - United Kingdom) or Patriotic War of 1812 (France - Russia) For the Siberia Airlines plane crashed over the Black Sea on October 4, 2001, see Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 1812 was a leap year starting... Combatants France Great Britain Commanders Guy-Victor Duperré Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin Sir Samuel Pym Strength 5 ships 4 ships Casualties some ships damaged 2 ships lost (HMS Sirius, HMS Magicienne) 2 captured (HMS Néréide, HMS Iphigenia The naval Battle of Grand Port took place on 20... 1810 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

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 Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... The German East Asia squadron was a German Kaiserliche Marine (naval) cruiser squadron which operated mainly in the Pacific Ocean between the 1870s and 1914. ... Commerce raiding or guerre de course is a naval strategy of attacking an opponents commercial shipping rather than contending for control of the seas with its naval forces. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... (Simplified Chinese: 青岛; Traditional Chinese: 青島; pinyin: Qīngdǎo; Wade-Giles: Ching-tao), well-known to the West by its Postal System Pinyin transliteration Tsingtao, is a sub-provincial city in eastern Shandong province, Peoples Republic of China. ...

The British learned from an intercepted radio communication in early October of a Spee's plan to prey upon shipping in the crucial trading routes along the west coast of South America. Patrolling in the area at that time was Admiral Cradock's West Indies Squadron, consisting of two armoured cruisers, HMS Good Hope (Cradock's flagship) and HMS Monmouth, the modern light cruiser HMS Glasgow, and a converted liner, HMS Otranto. HMS Good Hope was a 14,100-ton Drake-class armoured cruiser of the Royal Navy; she was originally planned to be named Africa, but was renamed before she was launched. ... The sixth HMS Monmouth of the British Royal Navy was the name ship of her class of armored cruiser of 9,800 tons displacement. ... HMS Glasgow, the sixth ship of that name, was launched on the Clyde at Govan in 1909 and was a Town-class light cruiser of 4800 tons, capable of around 26 knots. ... HMS Otranto was a First World War Royal Navy armed merchant cruiser. ...

Cradock's fleet was by no means modern or particularly strong, and was certainly overmatched 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 ships. Nevertheless he was ordered to deal with Spee. SMS Scharnhorst was an 11,616 ton armored cruiser of the Imperial German Navy, built at the Blohm & Voss Shipyard in Hamburg, Germany. ... This article is about the WWI armored cruiser Gneisenau; for the World War II battlecruiser of the same name, see German battlecruiser Gneisenau. ...

On 18 October 1914 Spee, having learned of the presence of the Glasgow, set off with all five warships from Valparaíso with the intention of destroying it. October 18 is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years). ... 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Port of Valparaíso, Chile Valparaíso is an important Chilean seaport and an increasingly vital cultural center. ...

Cradock, aware that his ships were outgunned by Spee's, had been waiting in the hope of reinforcements. The Admiralty dispatched the armoured cruiser HMS Defence and the elderly battleship HMS Canopus, the latter sent from London. Neither reached Cradock before battle commenced on 1 November 1914. The armored cruiser was a naval cruiser protected by armor on its sides as well as on the decks and gun positions. ... HMS Defence was a Minotaur-class armored cruiser of the Royal Navy, launched in 1907. ... HMS Canopus was a pre-Dreadnought battleship of the British Royal Navy, built at Portsmouth Dockyard and laid down on the 4 January 1897, launched 21 June 1898 and completed in December 1899. ... November 1 is the 305th day of the year (306th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 60 days remaining. ... 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

Deciding that he could wait no longer, Cradock sailed 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, 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. The First Lord of the Admiralty was a British government position in charge of the Admiralty. ... Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can) (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was an English statesman, soldier, and author, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. ... October 28 is the 301st day of the year (302nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 64 days remaining. ...

Cradock received word, again via an intercepted radio signal on 31 October, that SMS Leipzig, the slowest light cruiser in Spee's fleet, was in the area. He promptly took his squadron north to cut it off - and instead found himself confronting Spee's entire force the following day at around 4.30pm. October 31 is the 304th day of the year (305th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 61 days remaining. ... SMS Leipzig was a German light cruiser, of the Bremen class. ...

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 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 did direct Otranto to flee. Map of ship positions and movements during the Battle of Coronel, November 1, 1914. ... Map of ship positions and movements during the Battle of Coronel, November 1, 1914. ...

With the seas difficult (to the disadvantage of the British), Spee maneuvered 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; Scharnhorst's third salvo crippled the Good Hope. It 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 thereafter 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). Glasgow and Otranto both escaped (the former suffering five hits but no casualties). Spee's own fleet suffered little damage, only three sailors wounded, and sailed 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 huge naval force was assembled under Admiral Sir Frederick Sturdee. This found and destroyed Spee's force at the Battle of the Falkland Islands. Sir Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee, Bt. ... Combatants British Empire German Empire Commanders Doveton Sturdee Maximilian von Spee Strength 2 battlecruisers, 3 armoured cruisers, 2 light cruisers and 1 grounded pre-dreadnought 2 armoured cruisers, 3 light cruisers, 3 transports Casualties 10 killed, 19 wounded No ships lost 1,871 killed, 215 captured 2 armoured cruisers, 2...

External links

• Battle of Coronel
• The Coronel Memorial - Online memorial to those who died in The Battle of Coronel