At Coronel, the British squadron was both out-gunned and out-crewed
by a superior German squadron.
The resulting defeat was the first that the Royal Navy had suffered
for over a century, with the loss of two armoured cruisers and nearly
1,600 crew. The only damage the German fleet received was two hits
on SMS Scharnhorst as well as four hits and three wounded on SMS Gneisenau.
For the Germans, and the rest of the World, it proved that the Royal
Navy was not indestructible, for the British there can only have been
shock. |
