Batalla de les Malvines: diferència entre les revisions

Spee's cruisers, the ''Gneisenau'' and ''Nürnberg'', approached Stanley first. At the time, the entire British fleet was coaling. Some believe that, had Spee pressed the attack, Sturdee's ships would have been easy targets,{{Fact|date=January 2009}} although this is a subject of conjecture and some controversy. Regardless, any British ship that tried to leave would have faced the full firepower of the German ships. Having a vessel sunk might also have blocked the rest of the British squadron inside the harbour. Fortunately for the British, the Germans were surprised by gunfire from an unexpected source: the ''Canopus,'' which had been grounded as a guardship and was behind a hill. This was enough to check the Germans' advance. The sight of the distinctive tripod masts of the British battlecruisers confirmed that they were facing a better-equipped enemy. The ''Kent'' was already making way out of the harbour and had been ordered to pursue Spee's ships.

''Inflexible'' and ''Invincible'' turned to fire broadsides at the armoured cruisers and Spee responded by trying to close the range. His flagship ''Scharnhorst'' took extensive damage with funnels flattened, fires and a list. The list became worse at 16:04 and she sank by 16:17. ''Gneisenau'' continued to fire and evade until 17:15 by which time her ammunition had gone and her crew allowed her to sink, going down at 18:02. During her death throes, Admiral Sturdee continued to engage ''Gneisenau'' with his two battlecruisers and the cruiser ''Carnarvon'', rather than detaching one of the battlecruisers to hunt down the escaping ''Dresden''. Of the ''Gneisenau'''s crew, 190 were rescued from the water. The battlecruisers had received about 40 hits and lost one man, with four more injured.