Return to Naval Historical Center home page. Return to Online Library listing

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Photo # NH 51977-A:  Wreck of Admiral Graf Spee in the River Plate February 1940

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- SHIPS of the GERMAN NAVY --

Admiral Graf Spee (Armored Ship, 1936-1939) --
Views of the Ship's Wreck


This page features, and provides links to, all the views we have concerning the wreck of the German armored ship Admiral Graf Spee.

For additional pictures of this ship's wreck, see:

  • Admiral Graf Spee -- Views of the Ship's Wreck (Part II).

    For more images related to this ship, see:

  • Admiral Graf Spee (German Armored Ship, 1936-1939).


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 51977-A

    Admiral Graf Spee
    (German Armored Ship, 1936)

    Ship's wreck in the River Plate, near Montevideo, Uruguay, where she had been scuttled in December 1939.
    Photographed on 2 February 1940 by Ensign Richard D. Sampson, USN, for an intelligence report prepared by USS Helena (CL-50) during her shakedown cruise to South America. See Photo # NH 51977 for the entire page on which this photograph was mounted.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 50KB; 740 x 605 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 51980-A

    Admiral Graf Spee
    (German Armored Ship, 1936)

    Photograph looking toward the bow from atop the forward 28cm (11-inch) triple gun turret, showing the main deck awash. Taken on board the ship's wreck in the River Plate, near Montevideo, Uruguay, where she had been scuttled in December 1939. Note her starboard list.
    Photographed on 2 February 1940 by Ensign Richard D. Sampson, USN, for an intelligence report prepared by USS Helena (CL-50) during her shakedown cruise to South America.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 90KB; 740 x 590 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 51981-A

    Admiral Graf Spee
    (German Armored Ship, 1936)

    Photograph of the ship's forward superstructure, looking aft, with the conning tower rangefinder in the foreground and the mainmast partially collapsed in the left background. Taken on board the ship's wreck in the River Plate, near Montevideo, Uruguay, where she had been scuttled in December 1939.
    Photographed on 2 February 1940 by Ensign Richard D. Sampson, USN, for an intelligence report prepared by USS Helena (CL-50) during her shakedown cruise to South America. See Photo # NH 51981 for the entire page on which this photograph was mounted.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 74KB; 740 x 590 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 51983-A

    Admiral Graf Spee
    (German Armored Ship, 1936)

    Photograph of the ship's open control position at the forward end of the superstructure. The top of the armored conning tower, with its rangefinder and periscopes, is in the foreground. Among the instruments visible in the control position are target designators, directors, rangekeepers, ship speed and course indicators, ready lights, selector switches, telephone jack boxes, voice tubes and howlers. The rear of the forward 28cm (11-inch) triple gun turret is in the background.
    Taken on board the ship's wreck in the River Plate, near Montevideo, Uruguay, where she had been scuttled in December 1939.
    Photographed on 2 February 1940 by Ensign Richard D. Sampson, USN, for an intelligence report prepared by USS Helena (CL-50) during her shakedown cruise to South America.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 109KB; 740 x 585 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 50958

    Admiral Graf Spee
    (German Armored Ship, 1936)

    Ship's Number Four 15cm/55 gun mount (second gun in the forward port side group), photographed on board her wreck on 2 February 1940 by Ensign Richard D. Sampson, USN, of USS Helena (CL-50).
    Twin gun barrels in the upper left are those of the ship's Number Two 10.5cm/65 anti-aircraft gun mount.
    Admiral Graf Spee had been scuttled in December 1939 in the River Plate, near Montevideo, Uruguay.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 50KB; 740 x 520 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 50959

    Admiral Graf Spee
    (German Armored Ship, 1936)

    Ship's Number Two 10.5cm/65 twin anti-aircraft gun mount (port side, amidships), photographed on board her wreck on 2 February 1940 by Ensign Richard D. Sampson, USN, of USS Helena (CL-50).
    The shield of her Number Four 15cm/55 gun is partially visible in the lower right. Her port side crane is in the upper left.
    Admiral Graf Spee had been scuttled in December 1939 in the River Plate, near Montevideo, Uruguay.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 69KB; 740 x 515 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 51990-A

    Admiral Graf Spee
    (German Armored Ship, 1936)

    Photograph looking aft, on the port side, from the ship's forward superstructure. The searchlight platform on her partially collapsed smokestack is seen at left, with a mounting for a 20mm machine gun at the platform's outboard edge, just beyond the searchlight. At right is the broadside director (for the ship's port battery of 15cm guns). In the center, between platform and director, is the end of the aircraft catapult.
    Taken on board the ship's wreck in the River Plate, near Montevideo, Uruguay, where she had been scuttled in December 1939.
    Photographed on 2 February 1940 by Ensign Richard D. Sampson, USN, for an intelligence report prepared by USS Helena (CL-50) during her shakedown cruise to South America.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 72KB; 740 x 575 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 51991-A

    Admiral Graf Spee
    (German Armored Ship, 1936)

    Photograph of the ship's partially collapsed smokestack, with its searchlight platform, seen from the after port end of the forward superstructure. The aircraft recovery crane's boom is in the lower right.
    Taken on board the ship's wreck in the River Plate, near Montevideo, Uruguay, where she had been scuttled in December 1939.
    Photographed on 2 February 1940 by Ensign Richard D. Sampson, USN, for an intelligence report prepared by USS Helena (CL-50) during her shakedown cruise to South America. See Photo # NH 51991 for the entire page on which this photograph was mounted.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 117KB; 740 x 585 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 51992-A

    Admiral Graf Spee
    (German Armored Ship, 1936)

    Photograph of the ship's starboard (Number One) 10.5cm/65 anti-aircraft gun mount, seen from the after end of the forward superstructure. Her partially collapsed smokestack is seen at right, with a siren on its upper face. A mounting for a 20mm machine gun is visible (center) on the smokestack's searchlight platform.
    Taken on board the ship's wreck in the River Plate, near Montevideo, Uruguay, where she had been scuttled in December 1939.
    Photographed on 2 February 1940 by Ensign Richard D. Sampson, USN, for an intelligence report prepared by USS Helena (CL-50) during her shakedown cruise to South America.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 99KB; 740 x 585 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 51993-A

    Admiral Graf Spee
    (German Armored Ship, 1936)

    Photograph looking aft from atop the ship's forward superstructure tower, showing the partially collapsed smokestack structure, aircraft catapult and after port side (Number Eight) 15cm gun in the lower part of the image. Aft of the catapult, on the centerline, are the wreckage of the after main battery rangefinder and director, a small open ship control station, the after twin 10.5 anti-aircraft gun mounting, a loading machine, and the after triple 28cm (eleven-inch) gun turret. The turret's top was blown off and the guns blown out by explosions when the ship was scuttled. Torpedo tubes mounted on the after deck are underwater.
    Taken on board the ship's wreck in the River Plate, near Montevideo, Uruguay, where she had been scuttled in December 1939.
    Photographed on 2 February 1940 by Ensign Richard D. Sampson, USN, for an intelligence report prepared by USS Helena (CL-50) during her shakedown cruise to South America. See Photo # NH 51993 for the entire page on which this photograph was mounted.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 59KB; 740 x 565 pixels

     


    For additional pictures of this ship's wreck, see:

  • Admiral Graf Spee -- Views of the Ship's Wreck (Part II).

    For more images related to this ship, see:

  • Admiral Graf Spee (German Armored Ship, 1936-1939).


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 7 October 2006