The Falkland’s Maritime Heritage Trust located the ruins of SMS Scharnhorst after a gruelling five year search. The armoured battleship was sunk during one of the biggest sea battles in history. In November 1914, a German naval fleet, who were under the command of officer Maximilian von Spee, overpowered the British Navy off the coast of the Falklands.
More than 1,600 Brits died during the attack, provoking outrage back in the UK.
A month later, on December 8 when the Brits had regrouped, the British Navy retaliated, sinking five German ships in the Battle of The Falklands at the beginning of WWI.
The battle proved to be a decisive moment in the war because as a consequence of the battle, the German East Asia Squadron, Germany’s only permanent overseas naval formation, effectively ceased to exist, bringing an end to commerce raiding by German warships.
Since 2014, the Falkland’s Maritime Heritage Trust has been searching for the ships, and has discovered the ruins of SMS Scharnhorst, on which General von Spee and two of his sons died.
A team from the trust had been using four Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), exploring a search box of approximately 4,500km squared of seabed.
The Scharnhorst was discovered 98 nautical miles – a nautical mile is based more on the circumference of Earth – south east of Port Stanley at a depth of 1610 metres.
Donald Lamont, Chairman of The Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, said: “It is less than a month since Remembrance Day, when we commemorated the millions who died in the First World War and subsequent conflicts.
“One episode in that conflict was the Battle of the Falklands in 1914. The search we organised had as its aim the locating of all ships of the German squadron, so that we may learn more about the Battle and commemorate all who perished in it.”
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Wilhelm Graf von Spee, a relation of Maximilian, said: “Speaking as one of the many families affected by the heavy casualties suffered on 8 December 1914 at the Battle of the Falkland Islands, the discovery of SMS Scharnhorst is bittersweet.
“We take comfort from the knowledge that the final resting place of so many has been found, and can now be preserved, whilst also being reminded of the huge waste of life.
“As a family we lost a father and his two sons on one day. Like the thousands of other families who suffered unimaginable loss during the First World War, we remember them and must ensure that their sacrifice was not in vain.”