The World War I naval Battle of Coronel took place on 1 November 1914 off the coast of central Chile near the city of Coronel. German Kaiserliche Marine forces led by Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee met and defeated a Royal Navy squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock. This was Britain's first naval defeat since the Battle of Lake Champlain in the War of 1812 and the first of a British naval squadron since the Battle of Grand Port in 1810.
The Royal Navy, with assistance from other Allied navies, had spent the early months of the war searching for Spee's German East Asiatic Squadron, fearing its potential for commerce raiding in the Pacific. Spee left the German colony at Tsingtao in China, once Japan entered the war on Britain's side.
The British learned from an intercepted radio communication in early October of a Spee's plan to prey upon shipping in the crucial trading routes along the west coast of South America. Patrolling in the area at that time was Admiral Cradock's West Indies Squadron, consisting of two armoured cruisers, HMS Good Hope (Cradock's flagship) and HMS Monmouth, the modern light cruiser HMS Glasgow, and a converted liner, HMS Otranto.
Cradock's fleet was by no means modern or particularly strong, and was certainly overmatched against Spee's formidable force of five vessels, led by the armoured cruisers SMS Scharnhorst and SMS Gneisenau plus a further three light cruisers, all modern ships. Nevertheless he was ordered to deal with Spee.
On 18 October 1914 Spee, having learned of the presence of the Glasgow, set off with all five warships from Valparaíso with the intention of destroying it.
Cradock, aware that his ships were outgunned by Spee's, had been waiting in the hope of reinforcements. The Admiralty dispatched the armoured cruiser HMS Defence and the elderly battleship HMS Canopus, the latter sent from London. Neither reached Cradock before battle commenced on 1 November 1914.
Deciding that he could wait no longer, Cradock sailed from the Falkland Islands to a predetermined rendezvous point with the Glasgow at Coronel, the latter having been sent there to gather intelligence.
At this point, the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, issued orders to Cradock on 28 October instructing him to halt, pending possible reinforcement from the Japanese navy. It is a moot point as to whether Cradock actually received Churchill's instructions; in any event, he shortly afterwards ordered his squadron to adopt an attacking formation.
Cradock received word, again via an intercepted radio signal on 31 October, that SMS Leipzig, the slowest light cruiser in Spee's fleet, was in the area. He promptly took his squadron north to cut it off - and instead found himself confronting Spee's entire force the following day at around 4.30pm.
At this stage, it is probable that the British could have escaped by sailing towards Canopus, then some 300 miles to the south; with the failing light Spee would most likely have lost contact with the British squadron. Instead, Cradock chose to stay and fight; however he did direct Otranto to flee.
With the seas difficult (to the disadvantage of the British), Spee maneuvered his faster vessels out of Cradock's firing range; at sunset - (19:00 or 7pm) - with the setting sun clearly silhouetting Cradock's fleet, he began to shell the latter's force; Scharnhorst's third salvo crippled the Good Hope. It sank at 19:57 after being raked by accurate German gunfire and went down with all hands, including Admiral Cradock. The badly damaged Monmouth turned her stern towards the open sea in a desperate attempt to stay afloat, but her captain gallantly ordered Glasgow sailing nearby to make her escape rather than try to take Monmouth in tow. Monmouth sank shortly thereafter at 21:18 hours, while Glasgow was able to get clear and re-unite with Otranto.
There were no survivors of either ship (1,654 officers and men). Glasgow and Otranto both escaped (the former suffering five hits but no casualties). Spee's own fleet suffered little damage, only three sailors wounded, and sailed to Valparaíso to a rapturous welcome from the local German population.
Once news of the scale of the British defeat, and its consequent humiliation, reached the British Admiralty in London, a huge naval force was assembled under Admiral Sir Frederick Sturdee. This found and destroyed Spee's force at the Battle of the Falkland Islands.