Delay gives Harwood time to concentrate at the River Plate

Any judgment carries a hindsight caveat because Langsdorff had to act on the information available to him. The eastward detour still delayed Graf Spee, consumed more resources, and gave the Royal Navy more time to organize. An earlier arrival might have found convoys or groups of merchant ships before British cruisers concentrated, perhaps allowing attacks on ten or twelve vessels instead of one prize. Harwood's force reached the River Plate only narrowly ahead of Graf Spee after covering a wide area. He inferred from Langsdorff's earlier timing and limited number of sinkings that Graf Spee still needed a conspicuous success before returning to Germany, so he concentrated at the River Plate. Doric Star was therefore both an attractive prize and one of the successes that hastened the raider's encounter with the Royal Navy.