 Spee immediately turned to close and signalled his ships to open fire at 19 : 04 when the range closed to 12 @,@ 300 yards ( 11 @,@ 200 m ) . Spee 's flagship , Scharnhorst , engaged Good Hope while Gneisenau fired at Monmouth . Cradock 's flagship was hit on the Scharnhorst 's third salvo , when shells knocked out her forward 9 @.@ 2 @-@ inch turret and set her forecastle on fire . Cradock , knowing his only chance was to close the range , continued to do so despite the battering that Spee 's ships inflicted . By 19 : 23 the range was almost half of that when the battle began and the British ships bore onwards . Spee tried to open the range , fearing a torpedo attack , but the British were only 5 @,@ 500 yards ( 5 @,@ 000 m ) away at 19 : 35 . Seven minutes later , Good Hope charged directly at the German ships , although they dodged out of her way . Spee ordered his armoured cruisers to concentrate their fire on the British flagship and she soon drifted to a halt with her topsides all aflame . At 19 : 50 her forward magazine exploded , severing the bow from the rest of the ship , and she later sank in the darkness . Spee estimated that his flagship had made 35 hits on Good Hope , suffering only two hits in return that did no significant damage and failed even to wound one crewman . Good Hope was sunk with all hands , a total of 919 officers and enlisted men . Four of the midshipmen aboard the ship were the first casualties of the newly formed Royal Canadian Navy . 
