Admiral Graf Spee

Admiral Graf Spee had been at sea at the start of the Second World War in September 1939, and had sunk several merchantmen in the Indian Ocean and South Atlantic Ocean without loss of life, due to her captain's policy of taking all crews on board before sinking the victim.

Admiral Graf Spee was 186 meters long overall and had a beam of 21.65 m and a maximum draft of 7.34 m. The ship had a design displacement of 14,650 long tons and a full load displacement of 16,020 long tons, though the ship was officially stated to be within the 10,000-long-ton limit of the Treaty of Versailles. Admiral Graf Spee was powered by four sets of MAN 9-cylinder double-acting two-stroke diesel engines. The ship's top speed was 28.5 knots, at 54,000. At a cruising speed of 18.69 knots, the ship had a range of 16,300 nautical miles. As designed, her standard complement consisted of 33 officers and 586 enlisted men, though after 1935 this was significantly increased to 30 officers

and 921–1,040 sailors.

Admiral Graf Spee's primary armament was six 28cm SK C/28 guns mounted in two triple gun turrets, one forward and one aft of the superstructure. The ship carried a secondary battery of eight 15cm SK C/28 guns in single turrets grouped amidships. Her anti-aircraft battery originally consisted of three 8.8cm L/45 guns, though in 1935 these were replaced with six 8.8cm L/78 guns. In 1938, the 8.8 cm guns were removed, and six 10.5cm L/65 guns, four 3.7cm SK C/30 guns, and ten 2cm C/30 guns were installed in their place. The ship also carried a pair of quadruple 53.3 cm deck-mounted torpedo tubes placed on her stern.

Admiral Graf Spee's armored belt was 100 mm thick; her upper deck was 17 mm thick while the main armoured deck was 45 to 70 mm thick. The main battery turrets had 140 mm thickfaces and 80 mm thick sides.

The ship was equipped one catapult but had no aircraft hangar. One floatplane was carried on the catapult. The initial Heinkel He 60 was replaced with an Arado Ar 196 before the outbreak of the war.

Admiral Graf Spee was the first German warship to be equipped with radar. It was mounted on the foretop range finder.