Бірінші дүниежүзілік соғыстағы Коронель шайқасы

Naval battle of 1 November 1914 near Chile in World War I

The Battle of Coronel was a First World War Imperial German Navy victory over the Royal Navy on 1 November 1914, off the coast of central Chile near the city of Coronel. The East Asia Squadron (Ostasiengeschwader or Kreuzergeschwader) of the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) led by Vice Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee met and overpowered a British squadron commanded by Rear Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock. The engagement probably took place as a result of misunderstandings. Neither admiral expected to meet the other in full force. Once the two met, Cradock understood his orders were to fight to the end, despite the odds being heavily against him. Although Spee had an easy victory, destroying two enemy armoured cruisers for just three men injured, the engagement also cost him almost half his supply of ammunition, which was irreplaceable. Shock at the British losses led the Admiralty to send more ships, including two modern battlecruisers, which in turn destroyed Spee and the majority of his squadron on 8 December at the Battle of the Falkland Islands.

At the outbreak of war the Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy, with assistance from New Zealand and Japanese naval and land forces in the Far East, had captured the German colonies of Kaiser Wilhelmsland, Yap, Nauru, and Samoa, instead of searching for the German East Asia Squadron commanded by Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee, which had abandoned its base at the German concession at Tsingtao in the expectation of war breaking out with Japan. The East Asia Squadron rendezvoused at Pagan Island in the Marianas in early August 1914. Eventually, recognising the German squadron's potential for disrupting trade in the Pacific, the British Admiralty decided to destroy it and searched the western Pacific Ocean after the East Asia Squadron had conducted the Bombardment of Papeete (22 September 1914), where a French steamer reported its presence. On 4 October 1914, the British learned from an intercepted radio message that Spee planned to attack shipping on the trade routes along the west coast of South America. Having correctly guessed the intention of the German commander, Rear Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock patrolled the area with a squadron consisting of the armoured cruisers (flagship) and , the modern light cruiser , and the armed merchantman The Admiralty had planned to reinforce the squadron by sending the newer and more powerful armoured cruiser from the Mediterranean, but temporarily diverted this ship to patrol the western Atlantic. Defence reached Montevideo two days after the battle, and Cradock instead received the pre dreadnought battleship
The change of plan meant that the British squadron comprised obsolete or lightly armed vessels, crewed in the case of Good Hope by inexperienced naval reservists. Monmouth and Good Hope had a large number of 6 inch guns but only Good Hope was armed with two 9.2 inch guns mounted in single turrets. Spee had a superior force of five modern vessels (the armoured cruisers and and the light cruisers , and ), led by officers hand picked by Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau carried eight 8.2 inch guns each, which gave them an overwhelming advantage in range and firepower; the crews of both ships had earned accolades for their gunnery before the war. The Admiralty ordered Cradock to "be prepared to meet them in company", with no effort being made to clarify what action he was expected to take should he find Spee. On receiving his orders, Cradock asked the Admiralty for permission to split his fleet into two forces, each able to face Spee independently. The two groups would operate on the east and west coasts of South America to counter the possibility of Spee slipping past Cradock into the Atlantic Ocean. The Admiralty agreed and established the east coast squadron under Rear Admiral Archibald Stoddart, consisting of three cruisers and two armed merchantmen. The remaining vessels formed the west coast squadron, which was reinforced by Canopus on 18 October. At the outbreak of war and said to be in need of overhaul, Canopus had a top speed of (After the fleet sailed, it was found that the ship could only make and that the senior engineer was mentally ill.) The Admiralty agreed that with Canopus the fleet would be too slow to force an engagement with the German cruisers and that without Canopus the west coast squadron stood no chance. Cradock sailed from the Falklands on 20 October, still under the impression that Defence would soon arrive and with Admiralty orders to attack German merchant ships and to seek out the East Asiatic Squadron. As the British squadron rounded Cape Horn, wireless transmissions from Leipzig increased in power and it seemed that the British would catch the ship while isolated, but Spee had made rendezvous with Leipzig on 14 October and had enforced wireless silence on the other ships.

On 22 October, Cradock cabled the Admiralty that he was going to round Cape Horn and was leaving Canopus behind to escort his colliers. Admiral John Fisher replaced Battenberg as First Sea Lord on 27 October, and the following day Fisher ordered Cradock not to engage Spee without Canopus. He then ordered HMS Defence to reinforce Cradock. The previous week Cradock had sent Glasgow to Coronel to pick up any messages the Admiralty might have sent. Spee, having learned of the presence of Glasgow off Coronel, sailed south from Valparaíso with all five warships with the intention of destroying her. Glasgow intercepted radio traffic from one of the German cruisers and informed Cradock, who turned his fleet north to intercept the cruiser. Given the German superiority in speed, firepower, efficiency and numbers, why Cradock chose to engage puzzles historians. At the time Rear Admiral Ernest Troubridge, a friend of Cradock, was awaiting court martial for failing to engage the enemy, and he had been told by the Admiralty that his force was "sufficient". The accepted view among Cradock's colleagues was that he was "constitutionally incapable of refusing action". On 31 October, he ordered his squadron to adopt an attacking formation. Both sides are thought to have expected to encounter a single ship until they sighted each other at 16:40 on 1 November.

On 31 October, Glasgow entered Coronel harbour to collect messages and news from the British consul. Also in harbour was a supply ship—Göttingen—working for Spee, which immediately radioed with the news of the British ship entering harbour. Glasgow was listening to radio traffic, which suggested that German warships were close. Matters were confused because the German ships had been instructed to all use the same call sign, that of Leipzig. Spee decided to move his ships to Coronel to trap Glasgow while Admiral Cradock hurried north to catch Leipzig. Neither side realised the other's main force was nearby. At 09:15 on 1 November, Glasgow left port to meet Cradock at noon, 40 mile (64 km) west of Coronel. Seas were rough so that it was impossible to send a boat between the ships to deliver the messages, which had to be transferred on a line floated in the sea. At 13:05, the ships formed into a line abreast formation 15 mile (24 km) apart, with Glasgow at the eastern end, and started to steam north at searching for Leipzig. At 16:17 Leipzig, accompanied by the other German ships, spotted smoke from the line of British ships. Spee ordered full speed so that Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Leipzig were approaching the British at , with the slower light cruisers Dresden and Nürnberg some way behind. At 16:20, Glasgow and Otranto saw smoke to the north and then three ships at a range of 12 mile (19 km). The British reversed direction, so that both fleets were moving south, and a chase began which lasted 90 minutes. Cradock was faced with a choice; he could either take his three cruisers capable of , abandon Otranto and run from the Germans, or stay and fight with Otranto, which could only manage The German ships slowed at a range of to reorganise themselves for best positions, and to await best visibility, when the British to their west would be outlined against the setting sun. At 17:10, Cradock decided he must fight, and drew his ships closer together. He changed course to south east and attempted to close upon the German ships while the sun remained high. Spee declined to engage and turned his faster ships away, maintaining the distance between the forces which sailed roughly parallel at a distance of At 18:18, Cradock again attempted to close, steering directly towards the enemy, which once again turned away to a greater range of At 18:50, the sun set; Spee closed to and commenced firing. The German ships had sixteen guns of comparable range to the two guns on Good Hope. One of these was hit within five minutes of the engagement's starting. Of the remaining guns on the British ships, most were in casemates along the sides of the ships, which continually flooded if the gun doors were opened to fire in heavy seas. The merchant cruiser Otranto—having only eight guns and being a much larger target than the other ships—retired west at full speed. Since the British guns had insufficient range to match the German guns, Cradock attempted to close on the German ships. By 19:30, he had reached but as he closed, the German fire became correspondingly more accurate. Good Hope and Monmouth caught fire, presenting easy targets to the German gunners now that darkness had fallen, whereas the German ships had disappeared into the dark. Monmouth was first to be silenced. Good Hope continued firing, continuing to close on the German ships and receiving more and more fire. By 19:50, she had also ceased firing; subsequently her forward section exploded, then she broke apart and sank, with no one witness to the sinking. Scharnhorst switched her fire to Monmouth, while Gneisenau joined Leipzig and Dresden which had been engaging Glasgow. The German light cruisers had only guns, which had left Glasgow almost unscathed, but these were now joined by the guns of Gneisenau. John Luce, captain of Glasgow, determined that nothing would be gained by staying and attempting to fight. It was noticed that each time he fired, the flash of his guns was used by the Germans to aim a new salvo, so he also ceased firing. One compartment of the ship was flooded but she could still manage He returned first to Monmouth, which was now dark but still afloat. Nothing was to be done for the ship, which was sinking slowly but would attempt to beach on the Chilean coast. Glasgow turned south and departed. There was some confusion amongst the German ships as to the fate of the two armoured cruisers, which had disappeared into the dark once they ceased firing, and a hunt began. Leipzig saw something burning, but on approaching found only wreckage. Nürnberg—slower than the other German ships—arrived late at the battle and sighted Monmouth, listing and badly damaged but still moving. After pointedly directing her searchlights at the ship's ensign, an invitation to surrender—which was declined—she opened fire, finally sinking the ship. Without firm information, Spee decided that Good Hope had escaped and called off the search at 22:15. Mindful of the reports that a British battleship was around somewhere, he turned north. With no survivors from either Good Hope or Monmouth, 1,660 British officers and men were dead, including Admiral Cradock. Glasgow and Otranto both escaped (the former suffering five hits and five wounded men). Just two shells had struck Scharnhorst, neither of which exploded: one 6 inch shell hit above the armour belt and penetrated to a storeroom where, in Spee's words, "the creature just lay there as a kind of greeting." Another struck a funnel. In return, Scharnhorst had managed at least 35 hits on Good Hope, but at the expense of 422 shells, leaving her with 350. Four shells had struck Gneisenau, one of which nearly flooded the officers' wardroom. Otranto steamed out into the Pacific Ocean before turning south and rounding Cape Horn. On 4 November the Admiralty issued orders for the surviving ships to go to the Abrolhos Rocks, where a new force was being assembled. Rear Admiral Archibald Stoddart, with the armoured cruisers and , were to meet them there and await the arrival of Defence. Sturdee was ordered to travel with the battlecruisers and —then attached to the Grand Fleet in the North Sea—to command a new squadron with clear superiority over Spee. Despite his victory, Spee was pessimistic about his own chances of survival and dismissive with regard to the harm done to the British navy. The official explanation of the defeat as presented to the House of Commons by Winston Churchill was: "feeling he could not bring the enemy immediately to action as long as he kept with Canopus, he decided to attack them with his fast ships alone, in the belief that even if he himself were destroyed he would inflict damage on them which would lead to their certain subsequent destruction." On 3 November Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Nürnberg entered Valparaiso harbour to a welcome by the German population. Spee refused to join in the celebrations; when presented with a bouquet of flowers, he refused them, commenting that "these will do nicely for my grave". He was to die with most of the men on his ships on 8 December 1914, at the Battle of the Falkland Islands.

The Coronel Memorial Library at Royal Roads Military College, now Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, was named in honour of the four Canadian midshipmen who perished in HMS Good Hope at the Battle of Coronel. In 1989 a memorial to those who perished in the battle was erected in the Plaza 21 de Mayo (21st May Square) at Coronel, Chile. Along with two plaques depicting HMS Good Hope and HMS Monmouth, it has a central dedication plaque (in Spanish) which reads