battle-of-the-river-plate-commemorative-booklet

BATTLE OF THE RIVER PLATE ◊ 17The following is an excerpt from a letter written by ACHILLES gunnery officer Lieutenant Richard Washbournto his friend in England, shortly after the Battle of the River Plate. In it he describes the battle in detail, thetactics and the emotional impact.My Dear BillI have been wondering how this littlepicnic is affecting you and yours…It was a fine moment when I, being thePrinciple Control Officer on watch at thetime, inspected the smudge of smoke onthe port beam and came to the unshakeableconclusion that at last we had bumpedup against the enemy, and that all one’straining and thought was about to be put tothe test.ACHILLES to AJAX signalsThe three of us separated into two groups, the 8 inch ship out onto one flank,and we two six inch ships went off to the other. All three opened fire withina minute or two of the other. The job was the destruction or fixation of theenemy raider, and we went straight at it regardless. It was a proper ding-dongbattle on the old principles of warfare. The Hun was under the usual delusionof the decadence of the Royal Navy, and came on at us for the first ten minutes,which was just what we wanted to get into good effective fighting range withinour cannon. Thereafter, when we showed no sign of conforming to his expectationsand bolting from his undoubtedly superior force, he turned around and boltedhimself, and never again showed any inclination for a fight.We engaged him hotly, having the superior speed, for nearly an hour and a half.Poor old EXETER having the bigger guns and therefore being the more dangerousfoe, received the benefit of his attention mostly for the first three quartersof an hour, and she was unlucky. It was gratifying to hear that she was stillafloat at the end. I didn’t for a moment expect to see her alive. When last seenby us she was still gallantly holding on within range with only one of her gunsin action, and then, shrouded in smoke, she retired to the southeast leaving uswith a still very lively pocket battleship.We continued to lose until we reached the point blank range of four miles… wehad opened fire at about 11 miles. And then, with not very much food for ourcannon left, we hauled off and shadowed.That is what happened from the tactical point of view. Now from the personalpoint of view. You know of course that I seat myself up on top of all things inmy little Control Tower, in the company of ten others, and with their assistanceI am in complete control of all the Main Armament, even to the extent of havingthe Layer who actually presses the trigger and aims the guns within the reach ofmy right toe.There was something of a thrill of excitement. I think that is only natural.She looked very fierce and most menacing through my optical instruments. I have avery clear picture of her fixed in my memory. Her hull is just above the horizon,waterline still down. A great grey shape twisting and turning and making smoke,Right:Divisions on board ACHILLESand surrounded by the whitecolumns of water thrown up byour broadsides. Her great 11 inchguns belching forth a brilliantred flash followed by a thickopaque black cloud of smoke.My guns came into action verysmoothly and well, and weestablished hitting early on.It was just like a practice,only here was no crippling limitto the ammunition we fired, andthe target was a bit more difficult.Controlling the guns I was much too busy to worry about what was going on aroundme. I remember being most grateful to EXETER from time to time when I saw thosedamned great guns speaking in her direction, and leaving us to the ineffectiveattention off her secondary armament, although this was the same size as our ownto all intents and purposes.Occasionally when the splash of a short 11 inch shell intruded upon my line ofsight I realised that we were being fired at, and I felt a strangely illogicalresentment, and I was amused at my illogic.“It is all very interesting and impersonal. There is no hatred of theother fellow at all. It is a game of great skill, for high stakes, andone in which courage and resolution play a big part.”About 20 minutes after fire had been opened we were straddled by the 11 inchand the short shells burst on the surface of the water and peppered this shippretty thoroughly from truck to waterline. There were a few casualties amongthe goofers on the upper deck, the A.A guns crew who had nothing else to do, andthe bridge was penetrated by a splinter or two. One made a couple of holes inthe captain’s legs, both of them and then went on and shattered the knee of theChief Yeoman of Signals. Up in my little box we were unlucky. We had more thanour share. There was a hellish din, and I remember crouching down and nursing ahead streaming with blood. An undamaged officer on my left passed me up a bandagewhich permitted me to make running repairs. I wasn’t as dead as I had firstsurmised. A couple of light scalp wounds, and a small hole in the left shoulder.I didn’t notice this latter until some time later when it dawned upon me thatthe growing stiffness in that part of my anatomy might be worth looking in to.Looking round me I found the right side of the Control Tower was a shambles. Itresembled a slaughterhouse on a particularly busy day. I won’t harrow you withdetails. Five of my crew were out, three for keeps. Two who were actually inphysical contact with me were very dead. Two within a couple of feet of me wereshockingly wounded, and one down in the region of my right foot had been in theway of two large splinters.Six splinters in all had come inside. We are packed so closely in thatcompartment that we have to go inside in the right order or it is impossibleto find one’s own position. I have no complaints myself; I bear a very charmed