Admiral Graf Spee was a Deutschland-class Panzerschiff (armored ship), nicknamed a "pocket battleship" by the British, which served with the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II.

The vessel was named after World War I Admiral Maximilian von Spee, commander of the East Asia Squadron who fought the battles of Coronel and the Falkland Islands, where he was killed in action.

[1] The ship conducted five non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in 1936–1938 and participated in the Coronation Review of King George VI in May 1937.

Convinced by false reports of superior British naval forces gathering, Hans Langsdorff, commander of the ship, ordered the vessel to be scuttled.

[11] Admiral Graf Spee spent the first three months of her career conducting extensive sea trials to ready the ship for service.

[12] In the summer of 1936, following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, she deployed to the Atlantic to participate in non-intervention patrols off the Republican-held coast of Spain.

[13] On the return voyage from Spain, Admiral Graf Spee stopped in Great Britain to represent Germany in the Coronation Review at Spithead for King George VI on 20 May.

She was part of the celebrations for the reintegration of the port of Memel into Germany,[13] and a fleet review in honor of Admiral Miklós Horthy, the Regent of Hungary.

The Admiral Graf Spee was instructed to strictly adhere to prize rules, which required raiders to stop and search ships for contraband before sinking them, and to ensure that their crews were safely evacuated.

While replenishing his fuel supplies, Langsdorff ordered superfluous equipment transferred to Altmark; this included several of the ship's boats, flammable paint, and two of her ten 2 cm anti-aircraft guns, which were installed on the tanker.

[16] On 11 September, while still transferring supplies from Altmark, Admiral Graf Spee's Arado floatplane spotted the British heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland approaching the two German ships.

Admiral Graf Spee took Clement's captain and chief engineer prisoner but left the rest of her crew to abandon ship in the lifeboats.

[20] Force G, commanded by Commodore Henry Harwood and assigned to the east coast of South America, comprised the cruisers Cumberland and Exeter.

On 10 October, she captured the steamer Huntsman, the captain of which had not sent a distress signal until the last minute, as he had mistakenly identified Admiral Graf Spee as a French warship.

On 15 October, Admiral Graf Spee rendezvoused with Altmark to refuel and transfer prisoners; the following morning, the prize Huntsman joined the two ships.

By this time, Admiral Graf Spee had cruised for almost 30,000 nautical miles (56,000 km; 35,000 mi) and needed an engine overhaul.

[26] On 15 November, the ship sank the tanker MV Africa Shell, and the following day, she stopped an unidentified Dutch steamer, though did not sink her.

[29] Doric Star was able to send out a distress signal before she was sunk, which prompted Harwood to take his three cruisers to the mouth of the River Plate, which he suspected might be Langsdorff's next target.

In the span of thirty minutes, Admiral Graf Spee had hit Exeter three times, disabling her two forward turrets, destroying her bridge and her aircraft catapult, and starting major fires.

[35] Both sides broke off the action, Admiral Graf Spee retreating into the River Plate estuary, while Harwood's battered cruisers remained outside to observe any possible breakout attempts.

[35] As a result of battle damage and casualties, Langsdorff decided to put into Montevideo, where repairs could be effected and the wounded men could be evacuated from the ship.

[36] Most of the hits scored by the British cruisers had caused only minor structural and superficial damage, but the oil purification plant, which was required to prepare the diesel fuel for the engines, was destroyed.

[39] British naval intelligence worked to convince Langsdorff that vastly superior forces were concentrating to destroy his ship, if he attempted to break out of the harbor.

[37] Under Article 17 of the Hague Convention of 1907, neutrality restrictions limited Admiral Graf Spee to a period of 72 hours for repairs in Montevideo, before she would be interned for the duration of the war.

[41][43] The explosions from the munitions sent jets of flame high into the air and created a large cloud of smoke that obscured the ship which burned in the shallow water for the next two days.

[42] On 20 December, in his room in a Buenos Aires hotel, Langsdorff shot himself in full dress uniform while lying on the ship's battle ensign.

[42] In late January 1940, the neutral American cruiser USS Helena arrived in Montevideo and the crew was permitted to visit the wreck of Admiral Graf Spee.

[45] On 10 February 2006, the two-metre (6 ft 7 in), 400-kilogram (880 lb) eagle and swastika crest of Admiral Graf Spee was recovered from the stern of the ship;[46] it was stored in a Uruguayan naval warehouse following German complaints about exhibiting "Nazi paraphernalia".

[48] On 2 January 2022, a newspaper in Punta del Este reported that an Argentine Jewish businessman, Daniel Sielecki, had offered to buy the eagle and swastika crest from the Admiral Graf Spee from the naval warehouse.

[49][50] On 17 June 2023, the New York Times reported that the eagle and crest would be melted down and recast into a dove by Uruguayan artist Pablo Atchugarry.