[Donger]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

1939. In the first major naval battle of WWII, the German pocket battleship Graf Spee engages with three British cruisers. The British ships got the worst of the exchange, as one might expect, but then shadowed the GErman commerce raider into the neutral port of Montevideo, in South America. The British planted false information that an overwhelming fleet was assembling almost immediately outside of the port, which entirely fooled the Germans into thinking they couldn't fight their way out of the harbor. Such a force was assembling, of course, but would take some time to get there. After communicating iwth Germany, the German commanded decided to scuttle his ship, reportedly infuritating Hitler, and then committed suicide on December 19.

The NAZIs surface fleet activities in WWII were almost quaint.