The Royal Navy force has reduced its dawn alert so crews can eat, and it has not launched an early reconnaissance flight because it expects a merchant distress call to reveal the raider. Graf Spee is independently searching an area inferred from recent merchant traffic. Their converging courses bring HMS Exeter, HMS Ajax, and Achilles into contact with the German ship. British and German accounts differ slightly over who sighted whom first, but the near-simultaneous contact matters more than resolving a difference of a few minutes. The approach shows how two forces using different search methods unexpectedly arrive within fighting distance.
Chapter · 2:42-5:43
The opposing cruiser forces find each other
Admiral Graf Spee and Harwood's three cruisers approach one another on converging search patterns before the first shots.