later. At 17:10 Cradock ordered his ships to head for Glasgow, the closest ship to the Germans. Once gathered together, he formed them into line astern, with Good Hope in the lead, steering south-easterly at at 18:18. As the sixteen guns aboard the armoured cruisers Scharnhorst and were only matched by the two guns on his flagship, he needed to close the range to bring his more numerous 6-inch guns to bear. The Force 7 winds and high seas, however, prevented the use of half of those guns as they were too close to the water. He also wanted to use the setting sun to his advantage so that its light would blind the German gunners. (Vice-Admiral) Maximilian von Spee, commander of the East Asia Squadron, was well aware of the British advantages and refused to allow Cradock to close the range. His ships were faster than the British, slowed by the maximum speed of Otranto, and he opened up the range to until conditions changed to suit him. The sun set at 18:50, which silhouetted the British ships against the light sky while the German ships became indistinguishable from the shoreline behind them. Spee immediately turned to close and signalled his ships to open fire at 19:04, when the range closed to . Spee's flagship, Scharnhorst, engaged Good Hope while Gneisenau fired at Monmouth. The German shooting was very accurate, with both armoured cruisers quickly scoring hits on their British counterparts while still outside six-inch gun range, starting fires on both ships. Cradock, knowing his only chance was to close the range, continued to do so despite the battering that Spee's ships inflicted. After disabling Monmouth around 19:35, Spee ordered his armoured cruisers to concentrate their fire on Good Hope when she continued to try to close the range. About 19:50 her forward magazine exploded and blew off her bow; she sank not long afterwards. Glasgow fought almost an entirely separate battle as the German armoured cruisers generally ignored her and she inconclusively duelled the light cruisers Leipzig and . Glasgow broke contact with the German squadron at 20:05 and discovered Monmouth, listing and down by the bow, having extinguished her fires, 10 minutes later. She was trying to turn north to put her stern to the heavy northerly swell and was taking water at the bow. There was little that Glasgow could do to assist the larger ship