Admiral Graf Spee Salvage

[Hawkeye]

Has there been any progress on the salvage operation of the Admiral Graff Spee? The last thing I remember them raising was the bronze eagle on the stern, and that was 2006, and before that the rangefinder in 2004. Any new developments or has the project to raise the ship been sidelined?

[marcelo_malara]

Who said the ship would be raised? And with what purpose? The superstructure has been cut, the ship is full of mud (it is sunk in a river, very muddy bottom), vsibility for underwater work nill, the hull has been blown. I think it is almost imposible.

[Jack B.]

The Graf Spee would be no more difficult to raise than the USS Maine was. Build a coffer dam around the ship and pump out the water. Having said that, there is no one that would do it in this current global economy. There would have to be some sort of payback before anyone would even touch that sort of project. Even the cost of salvaging the Eagle might prove cost prohibitive these days.

[RF]

Who actually owns the wreck of the Graf Spee?

The vessel sank in Uruguayan territorial waters, as internationally recognised. The property rights pertaining to the wreck I believe were appropriated by the Uruguayan government, who sold the wreck I understand to the British Admiralty. Platework from the Spee were used to ''patch up'' the holes in the AMC Carnarvon Castle after the battering it received from hilfskreuzer Thor, beyond that who now owns the wreck?

[Hawkeye]

From what I've heard the salvage team are basically the owners of the wreck now. The Uruguayan governmant is partly funding the operation, as A: the hull is a threat to shipping and B: they are very proud of that part of their history, and they want to make a large museum and memorial out of the ship. From the groups website:

"The Graf Spee Team, headed by Hector Bado was awarded the necessary permits to recover and salvage the Graf Spee from its location in the Rio de la Plata (River Plate) near Montevideo, Uruguay. These permits were issued in the spring of 2003. In effect, the Graf Spee Team is now the owner of the ship.
The Team intends to raise the Graf Spee as intact as is possible and to use her as an educational and historical showpiece so that future generations can better understand the sacrifices that men have made in war.

Many individuals and corporations have already shown an interest in purchasing or sponsoring specific elements of the vessel. Revenue from some salvaged elements will be used to finance the removal and preservation of the hull."

Website hasnt been updated for a while though.

[marcelo_malara]

The wreck is not dangerous. The River Plate is very shallow, due to this there are two dredged channels, one leading to Montevideo and another to Buenos AIres and the ports located on Parana river. The GS was sunk well clear of both channels, in about 6 or 7 m of water, no big ships sail near her, in fact they can´t do that. For the smaller ships that can sail nearby, the wreck is clearly buoyed. There are I think more than 100 wrecks in the River, the GS is just one more, and there is no ongoing plan to rise any of the wrecks due to the high cost and the lack of wreck related accidents in shipping.

[RF]

Hawkeye,

Reading your post, and seeing Marcelo's comments, I get the feeling in the back of my mind that this is really being done by the Uruguayans for commercial gain. I am puzzled at why the Urugauyans should be ''proud of their role'' as they actually did nothing beyond applying international law as Garauni was obligated to do at the time.

At least there are no war dead on the ship.