Current Information:

Age-45

62, Chevening Road, Kensal Rise

Stanley Cemetery, Falkland Islands

Battle of the Falkland Islands

At the beginning of November 1914, the German cruiser squadron operating in the southern oceans had sunk HMS Monmouth and HMS Good Hope at the Battle of Coronel. A month later the Royal Navy gained revenge when they destroyed all but two of this German force at the Battle of the Falkland Islands. A large force had been sent to the South Atlantic to hunt down the German squadron.

On 8th December Admiral von Spee approached the Falkland Islands with the intention of raiding the supply base there. But unbeknown to him a much larger British force consisting of the battlecruisers Invincible and Inflexible and the cruisers Carnarvon, Cornwall, Kent, Bristol and Glasgow were already in the port, refuelling. On spotting this much stronger British fleet the Germans made a dash for the open sea, hotly pursued by the Royal Navy squadron. All but two of the German ships were hunted down and destroyed with loss of 2,200 lives. There were some hits on the British ships but little damage was done and there were only 25 casualties. HMS Kent pursued SMS Nürnberg and succeeded in sinking her but while doing so  Samuel Kelley was killed.