Battle of The River Plate - Aftermath

Aftermath

The German propaganda machine had reported that Admiral Graf Spee had sunk a heavy cruiser and heavily damaged two light cruisers while only being lightly damaged herself. Graf Spee's scuttling however was a severe embarrassment and difficult to explain on the basis of publicly available facts. The battle was a major propaganda victory for the British during the Phoney War, and the reputation of First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill was enhanced. Exeter limped to the Falkland Islands for emergency repairs and later to Devonport for a 13-month refit.

Prisoners taken from merchant ships by Admiral Graf Spee who had been transferred to her supply ship Altmark, were freed by a boarding party from the British destroyer HMS Cossack, in the Altmark Incident (16 February 1940)—whilst in Jøssingfjord, at the time neutral Norwegian waters. Prisoners who had not been transferred to Altmark had remained aboard Graf Spee during the battle, they were released on arrival in Montevideo.

On 22 December 1939, over 1,000 sailors from Graf Spee were taken to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and interned there; at least 92 were transferred during 1940 to a camp in Rosario, some were transferred to Club Hotel de la Ventana in Buenos Aires Province and another group to Villa General Belgrano, a small town founded by German immigrants in 1932. Some of these sailors later settled there. There are many stories, but little reliable information, about their later wartime activities, including escapees illegally returning to the German armed forces, espionage, and clandestine German submarine landings in Argentina. After the war, many German sailors settled permanently in various parts of Uruguay, some returning after being repatriated to Germany. Rows of simple crosses in the Cementerio del Norte, in the north of the city of Montevideo mark the burial places of the German dead. Three sailors killed aboard Achilles were buried in the British Cemetery in Montevideo, while those who died on Exeter were buried at sea.

Plans to raise the wreck are discussed in the article on Admiral Graf Spee.