Doric Star as a costly prize for Admiral Graf Spee

The Royal Navy treated merchant ships above roughly 3,000 gross tons as important losses, while Doric Star was about 13,500 tons and therefore an unusually valuable prize. Her scale is compared with large container ships to convey what she represented in 1939. She could plausibly have been Graf Spee's final prize before the raider turned home. Sinking her, however, required both torpedoes and shellfire. Those weapons could not be replaced at sea, and Altmark carried only limited supplies. Each sinking left a surface raider less able to fight or survive the next encounter.