Coronel's damage helped trap von Spee at the Falklands

Glasgow's damage to the German light cruisers required repairs after Coronel, reducing von Spee's chance of passing the Falklands before British reinforcements arrived. Invincible and Inflexible went south under Sturdee. A wide detour might have avoided detection from the islands, but Germany's overseas bases were already being attacked or occupied, leaving the squadron with few destinations. Canopus used shore observers to fire over the islands at the approaching Germans, who could not see her position well enough to reply. Their withdrawal gave the British battlecruisers time to prepare and pursue. Superior speed and 12-inch guns suited the mission for which the early battlecruisers had been designed: hunting armoured cruisers overseas.