Re: Bad Weather Delays Efforts to Begin Recovery

Date: February 07, 2004

"Bad Weather Delays Efforts to Begin Recovery
of Sunken World War II German Battleship

By Raul Garces Associated Press Writer

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) - Gusty winds and strong currents have delayed an attempt to recover a sunken World War II German battleship, the leader of a salvage team said Thursday.

The Admiral Graf Spee has rested in 24 feet of water since being scuttled in the River Plate in 1939 after one of the first key naval engagements of World War II.

Hector Bado, head of the private recovery operation, told The Associated Press that plans to start work in earnest on Friday had now been pushed back to Sunday or Monday.

"It's incredible, but the River Plate is showing its colors and we might say it's rather tricky out there right now," Bado said.

He said blustery winds on the broad estuary separating Uruguay from Argentina had already posed troubles for divers navigating strong river currents. He said the divers on Tuesday were unable to finish preliminary work to attach steel cables to parts of the ship.

A symbol of German naval might early in the war, the Graf Spee prowled the South Atlantic chasing and sinking as many as nine allied merchant ships before it was crippled by British warships in a December 1939 naval engagement.

Scuttled by Capt. Hans Langsdorff who feared losing the ship in a battle with the larger British force, the Graf Spee remains only miles outside the port of Montevideo. "