Rendezvous with the Altmark - A River Plate 80 Video

Graf Spee returns quickly to the Atlantic, where preparations for the next phase take precedence over immediate commerce raiding.

At the 24 November rendezvous, Altmark provides fuel and supplies used to fabricate disguises and prepare Graf Spee for the rest of its raiding cruise.

Graf Spee transfers more captured merchant seamen and officers to Altmark, which already carries machine guns supplied by the raider. Further guns may have passed between the ships during the same quiet rendezvous, but their timing is uncertain.

Graf Spee's earlier slow progress leads the British to expect another slow passage, but Langsdorff's rapid return to the Atlantic puts the raider past Forces H and K before they can intercept it.

When the southern search ends, the hunter groups turn north and remain far from the 13 December Battle of the River Plate.