What type of ship was the panzerschiff"Admiral Graf Spee"?
Battle of the River Plate The Battle of the River Plate was the first naval battle in the Second World War and the first one of the Battle of the Atlantic in South American waters. The German panzerschiff "Admiral Graf Spee" had cruised into the South Atlantic a fortnight before the war began, and had been commerce raiding after receiving appropriate authorisation on 26 September 1939. One of the hunting groups sent by the British Admiralty to search for "Graf Spee", comprising three Royal Navy cruisers, HMS "Exeter" , "Ajax" and "Achilles" (the last from the New Zealand Division), found and engaged their quarry off the estuary of the River Plate close to the coast of Uruguay in South America.
German Navy The German Navy (German: Deutsche Marine or simply German: Marine —   ) is the navy of Germany and part of the unified "Bundeswehr" ("Federal Defense"), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the "Bundesmarine" ("Federal Navy") from 1956 until 1995 when "Deutsche Marine" ("German Navy") became the official name with respect to the 1990 incorporation of the East German "Volksmarine" ("People's Navy"). It is deeply integrated into the NATO alliance. Its primary mission is protection of Germany's territorial waters and maritime infrastructure as well as sea lines of communication. Apart from this, the German Navy participates in peacekeeping operations, and renders humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. They also participate in Anti-Piracy operations.