| Original caption: “Sailors lining the decks of the pocket battleship Graf Spee, as she steamed past Folkestone.” Nazi German sailors watch as a British aircraft photographs the Panzerschiff (“Armored Ship”) Admiral Graf Spee as it transits the English Channel. The ship’s forward turret, “Anton,” with its 3 283 millimeter (11.1 inch) SK C/28 naval guns. In April-May 1939, Graf Spee again served as a flagship, this time during large-scale Atlantic naval exercises that also involved Deutschland and Scheer, along with the latest addition to the fleet, the battlecruiser Gneisenau. The Commander-in-Chief for the exercises was Graf Spee’s Captain Hans Langsdorff’s (March 20, 1894 – December 20, 1939) former superior, Admiral Hermann Boehm (January 18, 1884 – April 11, 1972]. Within a few months, the 2 nations would be at war, and the Nazi German Kriegsmarine’s Graf Spee would be hunted by the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy. On April 18, 1939, Admiral Graf Spee and Deutschland – nicknamed “pocket battleships” by the British – the latter having just returned to the fleet after taking a very sea-sick Führer und Reichskanzler (“Leader and Reichchancellor”) Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945) to Lithuania to make a triumphal entry into the newly annexed city of Memel (Klaipėda County, Lithuania today) on March 23 – together with 3 cruisers and a flotilla of destroyers, sailed for a spring cruise in the Atlantic. Significantly, in the light of Generaladmiral Erich Raeder (April 24, 1876 – November 6, 1960) strategic plan to attack British seaborne commerce in the event of war, 5 days were to pass before the Royal Navy realized that the German ships were at sea. They were 1st sighted, not by a warship or a reconnaissance aircraft, but by a cross-Channel steamer peacefully wending its way from Dover to Calais. After transiting the Channel, the Nazi German Fleet dispersed and took up stations around the Mediterranean for state visits. The Daily Telegraph reported on April 16, 1939: “German Fleet Off Portugal – Visits to Atlantic Ports – From Our Own Correspondent – Berlin, Wednesday. It is announced tonight that the visit of the German warships now in Spanish waters to Southern Spain and Spanish Morocco has been concluded. The ten thousand ton battleship. Admiral Graf Spee, the destroyer Z17 Diether von Roeder, and the Sixth and Seventh U-boat flotillas, with the escort ship Erwin Waszner, left Ceuta yesterday. While the ships were in port, Admiral Boehm, the Commander of the German High Seas Fleet, who is flying his flag in the Admiral Graf Spee, was received by Moroccan caliphs in Tetuan. The crews were taken on sightseeing excursions in Spanish Morocco. The programme of visits in Portuguese and Spanish Atlantic ports between Saturday and Wednesday is as follows: Lisbon: The Admiral Graf Spee, the six thousand ton cruiser Koln, and the Sixth and Seventh U-boat flotillas. Pontevedra: The six thousand ton cruiser Leipzig, flying the flag of the Officer Commanding the reconnaissance units, and the destroyers Z1 Leberecht Maass and Z17 Diether von Roeder. Vigo: The ten thousand ton battleship Deutschland, flying the flag of the Officer Commanding the armoured ships. Arosa Bay: The destroyers Z3 Max Schultz, Z4 Richard Beitzen, Z2 Georg Thiele, Z14 Friedrich Ihn, Z15 Erich Steinbrinck, and Z16 Friedrich Eckoldt, comprising the 1st and 3rd destroyer divisions. Ferrol: The 2nd U-boat flotilla, with the escort ship Saar. The pocket battleship Admiral Scheer has returned to her home port from a training cruise, during which she visited Bilbao.” The Adelaide Mail, in H. G. Cooke’s (???? – ????) “Week’s Happenings Abroad” column of May 13, 1939, questioned the demonstration of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine Fleet as portent for the future of the British Empire: “Marshal Hermann Goering [(January 12, 1893 – October 15, 1946)], Hitler’s ‘strong man,’ has gone to Spain. His visit no doubt is intended to strengthen the ties between Spanish General Francisco Franco [December 1892 – 20 November 1975)] and his allies, Hitler and Italian Duce Benito Mussolini [(July 29, 1883 – April 28, 1945)]. The powerful German squadron (including the pocket battleships Deutschland and Graf Spee) which has been in Spanish waters for a few weeks, is now largely concentrated at ports in Northern Spain. German guns in the Spanish forts at Ceuta and Algeciras are a potential menace to Gibraltar. Those Conservatives in England who wished Franco to win in Spain can hardly be pleased at the outcome. Assuming that Franco would remain nominally neutral in the event of a war between England and Germany, can it be doubted that Spanish ports would be havens for German raiders, and that the new Spanish Government’s sympathy and moral support would be with Hitler? What General Franco and Marshal Goering say to each other this week may be fraught with great consequences for Britain this year.” On return to port, Graf Spee was 1 of many warships assembled in Hamburg to welcome home members of the Condor Legion, who had been taking part in the Spanish Civil War. On August 17, Graf Spee was conducting torpedo exercises in the North Sea when orders were received to return to Wilhelmshaven immediately. Once there, the ship loaded for war and sailed on August 21, 1939. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0948.jpg |
| Image Size | 269.57 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 1528 x 1201 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | Royal Air Force |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | April 20, 1939 |
| Location | |
| City | Folkestone |
| State or Province | Kent |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Archive | |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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