 The British gunfire became increasingly accurate , and by 16 : 00 , Scharnhorst had begun to list badly , while fires raged aboard the ship . Spee ordered Gneisenau to try to disengage while he turned Scharnhorst toward his attackers in an attempt to launch torpedoes at them . At 16 : 17 , Scharnhorst capsized and sank , taking her entire crew with her , including Spee . The British , still focused on Gneisenau , made no effort to rescue survivors . Gneisenau , Leipzig , and Nürnberg were also sunk . Only Dresden managed to escape , but she was eventually tracked to the Juan Fernández Islands and sunk . The complete destruction of the squadron killed about 2 @,@ 200 German sailors and officers , including both of Spee 's sons ; Heinrich died aboard Gneisenau , and Otto was killed aboard Nürnberg . 
