Good Hope and Monmouth are overwhelmed

Good Hope lost a 9.2-inch gun early, while heavy seas flooded the British six-inch casemates and reduced their ability to answer the German fire. Cradock continued closing to bring more weapons into range, but the resulting hits set his ships ablaze and made them easier targets against the darkness. Good Hope's forward section exploded before the ship broke apart, while the badly damaged Monmouth attempted to reach the Chilean coast. Glasgow escaped because her speed remained intact and Captain John Luce recognized that each muzzle flash invited another German salvo without changing the outcome. Nürnberg later illuminated Monmouth with a surrender signal, received no submission, and sank her, leaving no survivors from either British armored cruiser. The signal followed the convention of offering surrender before firing, though finishing a ship already sinking in heavy seas and unable to answer remains open to criticism. The disparity was stark: Scharnhorst took only two non-exploding hits while her gunners recorded 35 hits on Good Hope after firing 422 eight-inch shells, and Gneisenau suffered only four hits.