Quiz #4
Armored cruiser SMS Scharnhorst was flagship of the German East Asiatic Squadron, under the command of VAdm Graf von Spee. After defeating a British force at the Battle of Coronel on 1 November 1914, off the west coast of South America, Spee took his squadron, including sister ship Gneisenau into the Atlantic, arriving off the Falkland Islands on the morning of 8 December 1914. He was surprised to discover a British squadron led by Adm Sturdee in the battlecruiser HMS Invincible, with sister Inflexible, which had been secretly dispatched to intercept him. The German ships were overwhelmed by the superior speed, range, and gun power of the British ships. Scharnhorst was sunk with the loss of all hands. Invinicble survived less than two years, sunk at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916, when a direct hit on one of her turrets detonated her magazines.
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