Was it possible for the Graf Spee to break out of Montevideo?

I also have around 23.500 for 20 degrees elevation that was the maximum for the R, so the Germans did outrange her though at that kind of range hit probability is very low.
While the British didn't "cheat" on trials like other navies 21 trial speed (did she already have the bulges?) makes it unlikely she could do much more than 19knots 20 years later with quite a lot of additional weight, Wiki reports 18knots in 1939, IIRC one of the R slowed the Med fleet to around 19knots when she was part of it.

 

What happens if they keep up long enough to make a night time torpedo attack? One torp and Graf Spee is out of the war.

Then explain why Bismarck initially identified POW and Hood as cruisers.

At 33,000 yards could they even see the British cruisers? Indeed from http://www.bobhenneman.info/bhbrp.htm it appears that the range at which the initials sightings were made was well under 30,000 yards. Furthermore when you talk of hitting targets at over 30,000 yards you are looking at shell time of fligts of almost a minute which allows minor miscalculations in the speed of your opponents much less his maneuvers to introduce considerable error. It's also worth noteing that the guns on the twins were not the same as the ones on the heavy cruisers.

And what happens when he "bursts" out of the smoke in good range of three ships? One of the reasons he got off as easily as he did is Spee shot very well that day and inflicted heavy damage on Exeter before he could recieve much in return.

 

Thanks!

What sources do you have for that?
I'm asking because I'm looking for a better source on Spartivento, Wiki quotes Green & Massignani, which I do not have.
It seems to be saying the battle opened at 12:22, with Ramillies firing several salvoes from at least 23,500 meters, until 12:26 when the retreating Italians moved beyond range. 23,500 meters would be 25,700 yards.
It doesn't mention that their salvoes were falling short by several thousand yards, so i'm just curious.

I think the distinction is that the "R" could sustain only 17.5 - 18.5 knots, but could make about 20 or 21 knots for short periods.


The Scharnhorst's hit on the Glorious at 26,000 yards was against a carrier with a much larger profile than a battleship, and that was unaware of the BC's. Also (IIRC) they aproached from the rear of Glorious, so rangefinding would be easier with the entire length of the carrier to shoot at. Any plunging-fire hit on a carrier's deck is likely to cause havoc with ammo explosions & gasoline fires, wheras deck hit on a battleship has a decent chance to deflect or pass through non vital areas.

 

I have a number of Italian sources on Capo Teulada, the accounts are confusing, Wiki has Fiume intiating the action at 23.500 meters, Italian accounts puts it at a more reasonable 22.000 meters firing at HMS Manchester.
The action, where HMS Berwick and the Italian destroyer Lanciere were hit, is reported lasting from 12.20 to 13.15 at ranges between 17.000 to 22.500 meters. Around 13.00 Vittorio Veneto was briefly in range and fired a few salvoes at which point the British cruisers broke off the action. The hits on Lanciere are a bit of a mistery, she reported 3 6" hits but why would the British fire at a destroyer when heavily engaged with other cruisers is a mistery, the second hit broke the water pipes to her engines so she was dead in the water until the Trieste group came back to take her in tow.
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The following sketch of the battle is from Bernotti's book. The battleships didn't fire at the Pola group but at the Trieste group that was trailing it by 8.000 meters and continued to close on the British until fired on by the battleships, unfortunately he doesn't report range data for that phase.



The "slow ship" was HMS Royal Sovereign at Calabria, BTW on that occasion Cunningham complained that only the 30 degrees capable HMS Warspite could match the range of the rebuilt Italian battleships though the accuracy of the "retubed" Italian 12" was not comparable to 11" of the German twins.
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Here is a picture of H M N Z S Achilles one of three cruisers that fought the Battle of the River Plate against the Graf Spee.