MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Salvage of Graf Spee range finder

This Friday, weather permitting the German battleship Admiral Graf Spee, scuttled off the coast of Uruguay at the beginning of World War II, will be revealing another of its secrets that has been resting in the muddy waters of the River Plate for decades.

A salvage team headed by Héctor Bado with other Uruguayan divers, British and Argentine marine archaeologists and German experts will be collaborating in removing a 27 ton, ten meters tall communications tower that includes one of the first naval radars and a sophisticated range finder for the artillery.

The range finder described as "a state of the art" optical piece for its time gave the feared German pocket battleship and its powerful gunnery an all weather clear precision edge over the Royal Navy.

A symbol of the German Navy the Graf Spee prowled the South Atlantic hunting and sinking allied merchant vessels before she was crippled and surrounded by a British flotilla in the River Plate.

The battle of the River Plate actually began December 13, 1939 when the Royal Navy group stationed in the Falkland Islands, light cruisers HMS Exeter and HMS Achilles and HMS Ajax from New Zealand commanded by Admiral Harwood confronted the Graf Spee under Captain Hans Langsdorff.

After taking several hits the German battleship took refuge in Montevideo and Uruguayan authorities extended a 72 hours period for the necessary repairs. Since time was insufficient Captain Langsdorff left Montevideo and decided to scuttle the vessel in the shallow waters of the River Plate December 17, thus avoiding capture.

"We've located the range finder, she's in good condition and clearly distanced from the rest of the vessel", said Mr. Bado.

Salvage entrepreneur Hector Bado and his team that includes Oxford University Marine Archaeologist, Falklands' born Mensun Bound a few years ago rescued one of the Graf Spee's guns which is exhibited in the Uruguayan Naval Museum in Montevideo.

However recovering pieces from the German pocket battleship is no easy task in spite of the fact she rests four miles from the coast and eight meters below water surface.

River Plate waters can be exceptionally muddy, it's the estuary of one of South America's main fluvial basins; and besides the Graf Spee still is wired with unexploded charges.