The ten thousand ton German "pocket" battleship Admiral Graf Spee, which sped into Montevideo on Wednesday night, crippled, after an epic encounter in the South Atlantic with three British cruisers - who caught her trying to attack a French liner - must now fight five British cruisers or be interned.
New York reports say the Graf Spee has chosen to fight.
The Uruguayan authorities - who have promised to release six British merchant captains, prisoners aboard the Graf Spee - have given the German Commander forty-eight hours to repair.
Thirty-six are dead and about sixty wounded on the Graf Spee, whose control tower was shot through, guns damaged, and superstructure churned into a mass of twisted ironwork. She was also holed several times on the water-line.
The Irish Times, December 15th, 1939.