Battleship Thiết giáp hạm GRAF SPEE

Kit thiết giáp hạm GRAF SPEE papercraft

Admiral Graf Spee was one of the most famous battleships of the German Navy during World War II, along with the battleship Bismarck. Her size was limited as a cruiser by the Treaty of Versailles, but she was more heavily armed than any contemporary cruiser due to the innovative weight reduction techniques employed in her construction.

She was sent to the South Atlantic in 1939 on a merchant robbery mission, where she sank nine Allied merchant ships with a total tonnage of 50,089 tons. Several British task groups were deployed to hunt for her, and finally three British and New Zealand cruisers caught her in December 1939. The Battle of River Plate followed, when the Graf Spee was damaged. She entered the neutral port of Montevideo, Uruguay for repairs, but was forced by international law to leave within 72 hours. Confronted with what he believed to be an overwhelming advantage, the captain ordered his ship to be scuttled rather than risking the lives of his crew.