The Naval Battle of Coronel, 1914 ⚓ World War 1 at Sea

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In the waters off the coast of central Chile an encounter unfolded on 1 November 1914—the Battle of Coronel. The Imperial German Navy, under the command of Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee, clashed with a British squadron led by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock. The confrontation, born of misunderstandings and unexpected in its magnitude, thrust both admirals into a dangerous engagement.

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0:00 Introduction

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Written by House of History

🎵 Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound

🖼 Photos, paintings and imagery: Public Domain, Wikicommons
🧾Machinima: Total War, Creative Assembly

#HouseofHistory #History

[HoH]

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[princessofthecape]

The Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were just neat ships.

One thing that this video fails to discuss is that Cradock was repeatedly promised (and then those promises were rescinded) HMS Defence - a Minotaur-class cruiser, and a member of the last class of armored cruisers designed by Britain before the Invincible-class battlecruisers. Defence was (with her fully trained crew and 4 x 9.2 inch main battery, and extremely impressive 10 x 7.5 inch secondary battery [all distributed in TURRETS atop the main deck]), arguably more than a match for Scharnhorst or Gneisenau (and potentially both simultaneously - that was a lot of firepower). When she was ripped away and Cradock was ordered to proceed, he felt as if his personal honor was being called into question (Cradock knew that Canopus was essentially tactically useless. He might have 'hidden' under her guns, as Winston Churchill suggested, but that did not jive with the orders Cradock had received from the admiralty instructing him to bring Spee to action).

Cradock was also acutely aware of the court martialing of Admiral Troubridge in the Mediterranean for events involving the Goeben, and wasn't about to fall victim to calls of cowardice. That's why this slaughter happened - because the Royal Navy underestimated Spee, and goaded Cradock.

[rkitchen]

You have to admire the fatalistic courage of men like Craddick and Spee, who knew they were doomed to die, but insisted on doing their duty. I Spee's case losing his sons as well.

[ethanpf]

General Paul von Lettow-Volbeck's East Africa Campaign would make a great series

[mikearmstrong]

"The Glasgow closed the gap towards the flagship, covering fifteen miles in mere minutes."

I'd love to hear how a ship that topped out at 24 kts managed that.

[Jake-xecv]

Weird this, my grandfather and great uncle were n HMS Glasgow, one of the first cruisers to be fitted with oil fired boilers as well as coal. He was an engineroom artificer.
That they survived this battle was amazing or I would not be typing this. A month later in December 14 they had the revenge match and won.
I went there in the Royal Navy in 1982 for the war and had my photo taken in the same position as my grandfather after the guns had ceased firing.
Very little had changed in the background.

[mohammedsaysrashid]

It was an informative and wonderful historical coverage of the coronel naval battle in WW1 between British and German fleets. Thank you( house of history ) channel for sharing

[Jurgen-sxom]

Awesome! Told absolutely fair and without showing bad feelings against German Naval Forces or Germany in general. Such a tragedy, that this both great nations, had to fight against each other in history!

Kind regards from Germany

P.S. : One of my favourite songs, I love to hear and sing, is "Rule Britannia." Simply wonderful!

[Physiker]

Just one thing @11:53 you say "Among the turbulent south Atlantic waves..." but the engagement took place in the Pacific, right?

[theobessiris]

Great video. Naval actions of WW1 receive scant attention unless it's the battle of Jutland. I can't wait for the battle of the Falkland Islands and hope you do many more on this subject.

[jimsackmanbusinesscoaching]

There are two critical elements of this battle that you did not mention.

1 - Craddock's decision to engage could partly have been due to the soon-to-be court martial of Rear-Admiral Ernest Charles Troubridge. He was already set for trial at the time of the battle for cowardice in pursuit of the Goeben. It is quite possible that Craddock might have assumed that he would be court martialed if he did not attack.

2 - The "technical difficulties" that were faced by the Canopus were not real. The chief engineer was facing a bout of mental illness at the time. He reported these difficulties to the captain of the Canopus.

[Hillbilly]

Well done as always. Cheers from Tennessee

[geechyguy]

Damn it really shows how the intensity of WW1 shocked everybody. Imagine being part of the British navy and hearing that you just suffered your first defeat in 100 years

[bogdananghel]

12:54 "covering 50 miles in mere minutes"
You wot m8?

[danielsantiagourtado]

These naval battles are very interesting! Suggestion: the battle of actium!

[Andromeda]

That was a very informative and detailed account of the details leading up to, and, the Battle of Coronel. I knew about the engagement as a young distant cousin who I found while researching on Ancestry was lost when the Monmouth was sunk. The RN extracted their revenge a few weeks later at the Battle of the Falkland Islands sinking the Gneisenau and Von Spee’s flagship the Scharnhorst which went down with all hands.

[CristinaMarshal]

A quick quip from me, but can I just say how bloody brilliant and damn smooth this video looks!; And the ships' and their wakes, look so satisfying - bully to you!

[philjohnson]

I always find naval warfare fascinating. Nice video.

[lukaszwawszczak]

Great video. Hope to see more of the topic. Thanks

[franksposato]

Someday, could you please cover the life and events of Admiral Lawrence DuBose? One of the most underrated USN captains of WW2 and the only man to sink a Japanese carrier with gunfire.