Chieftain Teaches: Battle of the River Plate

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[josefhlavsa]

Holy crap can you imagine Lt. Cdr. Jennings standing on the top of the turret of listing ship, shouting orders and his crew, while 11-inch shels were flying around and the ship was on the verge of sinking. These guys were just something else entirely.

[adrianharris]

My dad was the gunlayer in the 'Marine's' turret on HMS Ajax when it got hit by an 11" shell from the Graff Spee which came through the turret shattered and killed all his friends. My father died before I was old enough to talk with him, but I do have a memento from the battle beside me here, a fragment of that 11" Graff Spee shell which my father had engraved and brought home to present it to my mother. It is a small piece yet is incredibly heavy, needless to say it - is my most treasured possession.

[carlgomm]

I really enjoy listening to things like this, such a good speaker with lots of good knowledge, please keep this up !!

[steweygrrr]

Captain Langsdorf, he was an enemy but most definitely not a bad guy /salute from the grandson of one of Exeter's (I believe, he died before I was old enough to talk) firemen aka boiler operator.

[Redchrome]

A wonderful retelling of the story, with new things I hadn't heard before. Thank you.

[IndianaDel]

My Old Man's uncle was aboard HMS Ajax. After the battle he took part in the ships' company's parade through London. He brought his nephew bananas from the South Atlantic. On VE Day, now 10 years old, my Old Man was the sole member of his class that knew you had to peel a banana to eat it, as he had had one five years before!

[BenNewman]

Please make more of these, I really enjoy your history shows.

[Zakiriel]

HMS Achillies then HMNZS Achilles Then to the Indian Navy renamed Delhi. As the Delhi she was hired to play herself in the movie version of the Battle of the River Platte! So cool in my Book!

[AudieHolland]

I have read about this and watched a movie about it ("The Battle of River Plate") so this was an incredibly detailed account of the first and last voyage of "Graf Spee."

[stephenwoods]

Thank you for a good clear retelling of the battle and it's aftermath.

[troy]

This is the first of your videos i have come across. Great job. As a history buff i love this sort of content. I knew the basic sea story; it was nice to hear the full details. Great presentation and lecture.

[jonathanrogers]

keep these coming. The quality of research is fantastic.

[lordicedewd]

I ve been to the Graf Spee museum in Montevideo (as a merchant navy cadet)... very nice people, greeted our group with passing colours/honours =) ... A must have been to for all naval enthousiasts

[NickRatnieks]

HMS Renown was a battlecruiser although her 1930s rebuild made her look very much like the battleship Warspite after the reconstruction of her superstructure.

[mcmoose]

Thanks Nick . Best explanation of a naval action I have ever seen . Keep up the great work . .

[dk]

Love the technical details. They're fascinating in their own right and serve to paint in the detail of what life and operations are like. I love track tensioning..

[pnartg]

Every history of this battle I've ever read said that an 8" shell from Exeter damaged Graf Spee's fuel separation system, limiting her to 16 hours of usable fuel and that this was a major reason for Langsdorff's decision.

[davewolfy]

Some of the crew of HMS Cossack when boarding the Altmark used cutlasses, so, not only was it the last RN boarding action - it was the last with cutlasses.

[hawkertyphoon]

This was an awesome story of the events past.
Like your style and "humor".
Keep up this awesome work!

[adamskinner]

Really enjoyed that in-depth account of the battle, the more the merrier though so keep them coming please.