Following the loss of Sir Christopher Craddock’s two armoured cruisers at the Battle of Coronel, the Admiralty dispatched two dreadnought battlecruisers to the South Atlantic to eliminate the threat of the German East Asia cruiser squadron under Vizeadmiral Maximilian von Spee. The two key vessels, the I-class Invincible and Inflexible were amongst the first batch of battlecruisers to be completed and that were specifically designed for the task of hunting and killing smaller commerce raiders at any point around the globe. Under the command of Vice Admiral Doveton Sturdee, who as Chief of Staff had been largely responsible for the faulty force dispositions, the Invincibles, with support from smaller armoured cruisers, would engage and comprehensively defeat almost all of von Spee's squadron off the Falkland Islands, he on the 8 December 1914. This talk explains the events and consequences of the battle, along with some of the strategic and tactical lessons.
Scott is a naval historian. His academic career started with BA in criminology, this was followed by a MA in Maritime History at Hull and a Ph.D. in Naval History at the University of Salford. He has been a Module Tutor and Research Fellow at the University of Hull and an editor for the International Journal of Maritime History.
image: HMS Invincible working up to full speed during the engagement.