Coronel 1914
The Zenith of the Armored Cruiser
Like if you want using the keys below; only I can see who you are.
The German East Asiatic Squadron (armored cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, light cruisers, Emden, Leipzig, and Nürburg) under Maximilian von Spee had been stationed at Tsingtao, China until just before Japan declared war on Germany on 23 August 1914. Japanese entry into the growing World War against Germany was unfortunate for the Germans, because the prewar plan had been to harass British and Russian shipping from there in the event of war.
Well, that didn’t work out.
On their way to the German colony on Pagan Island in the Marianas, Spee learned the British had stolen a march (or a sail) on him, Rather than hunt the Germans down as the Germans expected, the British and Australian navies captured their actual and potential bases in the Pacific, leaving them with nowhere (much) to go and, most important, take on fuel, food or ammunition, let alone personnel. Along the way, Spee took German merchant ships under his wing, if for no other purpose than to take their coal.
Still, the British searched for Spee and his squadron.
After bombarding Papeete in French Polynesia on 22 September, Spee realized he was not only in trouble with provisions, he was potentially short on ammunition that he couldn’t scrounge. A French steamer also reported that bombardment to the Royal Navy, fixing Spee’s position (at least as of that date). Cruising the high seas may have been what the cruisers were designed for, but they had to have bases…and Spee was out of them.
Spee decided to run for home.
A scratch British squadron led by Christopher Cradock (pre-dreadnought battleship Canopus, armored cruisers Good Hope and Monmouth, light cruiser Glasgow, armed merchantman Otranto) assembled off the Chilean coast, correctly surmising Spee’s plans. They met Spee’s squadron late afternoon on 1 November 1914, just outside the Chilean port of Coronel.
The issue was never in doubt, even if it was unexpected then and there.
The battle was fought so close to shore that people could watch the explosions from the shoreline. The Germans had an advantage because the sun was behind them, blinding the British while the Germans saw their targets clearly, but the rough seas made the fighting difficult for both. German gunfire sank both Good Hope and Monmouth; Monmouth capsized and sank with its flag still flying. Glasgow (with five hits and five wounded), Canopus (which didn’t fire a shot) and Otranto escaped west. There were no survivors from either Good Hope or Monmouth.
Over sixteen hundred British officers and men were dead, including Cradock.
Scharnhorst was hit twice; neither shell exploded. Scharnhorst hit Good Hope at least 35 times, expending 422 main gun rounds, leaving her with 350. Gneisenau was hit four times; one of hit nearly flooded the officers' wardroom (the horror!), and suffered four wounded. She expended 244 rounds and had 528 left.
Coronel was the first major naval engagement in World War I.
It was also the RN’s first sea battle since Trafalgar in 1805. But it was Britain's first naval defeat since Lake Champlain in September 1814, and the first of a British naval squadron since Grand Port in 1810. In response to the defeat, the Royal Navy assembled a large naval force under Frederick Sturdee. They would meet the Germans at the Falkland Islands in just over a month.
The zenith of cruiser theory.
Naval construction, design, doctrine, and strategy since time immemorial have been a game of rock/paper/scissors. In the 19th Century, it became a deadly rivalry that drove countries to diplomatic bankruptcy based on guesswork. Nowhere is that more obvious than in the merchant/armored/battlecruiser race between Britain and Germany, where someone was frightened that something could happen, diverting resources to counter it, then the other side dreams up another closet monster…and on and on. At Coronel, armored cruisers on both sides duked it out in an uneven matchup. The Germans, whose ordnance worked as intended, easily outgunned the British, who were plagued by lousy ammunition for ever-neglected guns. But “winning” at Coronel cost more than the Germans could pay then and there. The specter of the armed merchant ship begat the long-ranging, powerful armored cruisers. Armored cruisers, in turn, were the reason the battlecruisers came around. But all these vessels were logistically tied to bases for their coal and, more importantly, their ammunition. Spee might have been able to raid all the way back to Germany if the battlecruisers hadn’t entered the race, or reached the Falklands before he did. But they had.
Sergeant’s Business and Other Stories
Sergeant’s Business is my prototype collection of short stories about, well, the business of sergeants, among other things.
The only story in here that has anything to do with sea battles is “Bluffing,” which is my homage to the battles of Samar in November 1944. Available from your favorite bookseller or from me if you want an autograph.
Coming Up…
I Take It We're Still Here?
Jonestown
And Finally...
On 2 November:
1920: KDKA, the first commercial (paid for by sponsors) radio station, goes on the air in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. The station made the first commercial traffic report broadcast late in the morning. Radios were not common in automobiles until the 1950s, when the 12v/negative ground electrical system became the standard in the US.
1948: Harry Truman defeated George Dewey as President of the United States. Most newspaper editors, pundits, and other blowhards expected Truman to lose. The Chicago Daily Tribune even set a headline saying “Dewey Defeats Truman,” which Truman held up for an iconic photo opportunity after his victory.
And today is INTERNATIONAL DAY TO END IMPUNITY FOR CRIMES AGAINST JOURNALISTS. Now, OK, journalists are sometimes beaten up; sometimes they are killed. But…with impunity? With a camera literally every three feet in most urban areas? Really?