The battle in the South Atlantic was the first major naval battle of World War Two. Link here to For a greater understanding of what took place at the Battle and the command decisions taken, subject to much debate & conjecture, and much more, the Frequently Asked Questions Section is worthy of consideration. The 10th HMS Cumberland was a County class cruiser, built by Vickers Armstrong in Barrow-in-Furness and launched in 1926, HMS Cumberland served on the China Station with the 5th cruiser squadron from 1928 until 1938.

At 0636 Graf Spee about-turned to the west, from where she started her retreat. The Battle of the River Plate was fought December 13, 1939, during World War II (1939-1945). Commodore Harwood, commanding Royal Navy Hunting Group G, had studied the area and knew the attraction to a German raider of the rich pickings of British merchant ships leaving the River Plate estuary between Argentina and Uruguay in South America. Since this was not a RRR raider signal, Captain Fallowfield chose not to interpret this as a surface-raider attack and did not pass this message to Vice Admiral D’Oyly Lyon, the Commander-in-Chief South Atlantic based at Freetown, Sierra Leone. Between the wars he served in destroyers, as a staff officer in the Mediterranean and was second-in-command of HMS Cumberland. More notably, he was on the staff of the Royal Naval War College 1934-36 where he studied tactics how to attack a German Pocket battleship.
He was placed on the Retired List on 9 July 1941 but continued to serve in a variety of capacities, including an appointment in command of HM Ships Malaya and Kent in 1944/45. Fallowfield was born in Ayrshire. Admiral Graf Spee had been at sea at the start of the Second World War in September 1939, and had sunk several merchantmen in the Indian Ocean and South Atlantic Ocean without loss of life, due to her captain's policy of taking all crews on board before sinking the victim. THE WAR ILLUSTRATED Vol 1 No. Although he did not see action he was awarded the OBE for his work on torpedoes. She was then transferred to the Far East Fleet and carried out raids on Northern Sumatra. If he had, it is possible that Admiral Graf Spee may have been caught sooner. Even though Cumberland was observed to be turning towards Graf Spee, this was considered to be a routine anti-submarine manoeuvre since she then turned back and resumed her course and the two German ships were able to escape. At the start of December Cumberland was forced to self-refit in the Falkland Islands, thus depriving Force G of their strongest unit. The command was later split and he became Commander-in-Chief Levant (eastern Mediterranean) in February 1943, with responsibility for flank support and seaborne supply of the British Eighth Army. During the battle Cumberland received a garbled indication that a contact with the enemy was being made, raised steam and moved north to reinforce, arriving at the River Plate at 22:00 on 14th December, after steaming for 34 hours. It is 80 years since one of the first major sea battles of the Second World War - the Battle of the River Plate. However, a heart attack necessitated evacuation back to Britain where he spent almost a year convalescing. In early December 1939 Harwood received enemy reports from the British freighters Doric Star and Tairoa as they were captured and sunk. Cumberland served on the China Station with the 5th Cruiser Squadron from 1928 until 1938, returning to the UK in March 1935 for a refit.

In the South Atlantic Captain Langsdorff in the German pocket battleship, Admiral Graf Spee had been sinking British merchant ships since September 1939.

From 1940 to April 1942, Harwood served as a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty and Assistant Chief of Naval Staff. It is 80 years since one of the first major sea battles of the Second World War - the Battle of the River Plate.
The Second World War against Nazi Germany had been waged for three months. HMS Cumberland was finally decommissioned in 1958 and was immediately sold for scrapping. They met at the pre-arranged time and exercised their action plan. The Battle of the River Plate is remembered as being the last of the old-style sea battles fought without aircraft (other than Ajax’s Seafox spotter plane - Exeter's and Graf Spee's being inoperable) or radar (Graf Spee did have a rudimentary radar), where the speed of ships, their firepower and the tactics employed won the day. There was very little good news for Britain and France.