This painting shows the ship on patrol in October 1939. The ‘Graf Spee’ had some success against British shipping until 13 December 1939 when she ran into the cruiser pack of the British South American Squadron, consisting of the heavy cruiser ‘Exeter’, and the light cruisers ‘Ajax’ and ‘Achilles’. The result of this meeting is known as the epic Battle of the River Plate, having taken place off the Rio de la Plata estuary which divides Uruguay (north) from Argentina (south) on the Atlantic coast of South America. The ‘Graf Spee’ did some damage to the British ships but also received a number of hits during the battle and was forced to take refuge in Montevideo, Uruguay, inside the estuary, for repairs in the limited period allowed under international law for a combatant ship to remain in a neutral port before being interned. Unable to complete the repairs within the allotted time Langsdorff took his ship out into the estuary and prepared to scuttle her just outside territorial waters, sending all but essential members of her crew in Argentine vessels to Buenos Aires (Argentina being more pro-German than Uruguay). Just after sunset, the ‘Admiral Graf Spee’ was blown up with a series of well-placed charges, causing her to sink in shallow water. She sank intact and came to rest on the soft bottom with much of the ship still above the water line in plain view of the coast. A few days later, after ensuring the well-being of his men, Langsdorff shot himself in the Naval Hotel in Buenos Aires as a matter of honour.

The artist was a German merchant service officer who had served in the ‘Admiral Graf Spee’ in 1939. In 1963 he painted this portrait of her, which he and other former shipmates in her presented to the National Maritime Museum, through the offices of Sir Eugene Millington-Drake, the British Ambassador to Uruguay at the time of these events.