The Battle of the River Plate:

In December, 1939, the German pocket battleship "Graf Spee" was attacking Allied shipping in the South Atlantic. The raider sank nine ships of 50,000 tons, before heading for the South American shipping lanes off the River Plate in South America.

British Commander Harwood correctly anticipated her destination. He commanded two British warships: the 8 inch gunned cruiser "Exeter" and the 6in light cruiser "Ajax" plus the New Zealand light cruiser "Achilles". On December 13th, the Allied British warships attacked the much more heavily armed and armoured German "pocket battleship". The British cruiser "Exeter" was heavily damaged and all three Allied ships were hit repeatedly, but the captain of the "Graf Spee" was fooled into thinking that a much larger British task force would arrive at any time. The next day, with a huge crowd watching, the "Graf Spee" steamed out of Montevideo harbour, but instead of fighting, its captain deliberately scuttled the ship to avoid defeat at the hands of the British fleet. This was a major British psychological victory!