Uruguay now. The River Plate estuary near Montevideo was the setting for the first naval battle of WW2 in 1939. The Graf Spee, a pocket battleship, had been sinking commercial shipping & was being hunted by 3 cruisers, 2 English & 1 NZ. It was a complicated battle with cruisers heavily outgunned, 11inch to 8inch with greater range & shells weighing twice as much. The cruisers were faster & more manouervable. The cruisers took a lot of damage but in turn damaged Graf Spees fuel system that converted crude oil for use in its deisel engines. The GS moored in Montevideo but had not enough time for repair & did not have the range to return to Germany. The captain scuttled the Graf Spee & then committed suicide. The anchor is from the GS. Montevideo is a nice town, town. The big building is Palacio Salvo, which used to be the tallest in S America at 100m with a lighthouse that can be seen from 100km. There was a sale on so I bought a couple to bring home for Xmas presents. Also saw humming birds in the city squares.
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