(Here´s Phase Five of the Battle..... Enjoy!)
The Battle Phase Five
The Brazilians turn at 03:01pm brought them on a course nearly parallel to the Hertog Alexander, allowing a good fire solution for the latter. Range between both sides was 11,600 meters and increasing as the Brazilians higher speed let them pull away [Note 13] but the Hertog Alexander could hit her opposing number at 03:03pm and again at 03:06pm and 03:07pm with a total of four heavy shells. Fire from her secondary battery was kept up until 03:05pm and then halted. No hits from the 15cm guns were observed during this phase [Note 14]. In return the Hertog Alexander was hit two times by heavy shells during this phase.
The situation on the Hertog Rijnhard was different. When the Brazilians turned further away at 03:01pm Captain Phelan Kell of the Hertog Rijnhard had a decision to make. His ship had suffered heavily during the last minutes under very accurate fire from the unopposed Rio de Janeiro while fire from both South African units against a single target, the Recife, impaired their fire-control. He also had to consider that due to their new course the leading Brazilian would be masked by fumes and gun smoke very soon making the situation worse for the Hertog Rijnhard. He therefore decided to shift fire to the trailing Brazilian which happened to be the Rio de Janeiro.
Until 03:05pm the Hertog Rijnhard continued on her current course when Captain Kell ordered her to turn to course 325°. Range had increased to approx. 10,000 meters and the Brazilians were pulling away. The turn to 325° would reduce escape speed and allow his ship to remain in the aft sector of the Rio de Janeiro. However, at 03:07pm the Brazilians turned to 30° and at 03:15pm to 60°. Range had increased to 146hm to the Hertog Rijnhard and 134hm to the Hertog Alexander at this point and the Brazilian ships could no longer be clearly made out due to smoke and bad weather. During those minutes the Hertog Rijnhard scored twice against the Rio de Janeiro at 03:04pm and 03:07pm and again at 03:11pm before the target could no longer be shot at effectively after her turn at 03:15pm.
The Rio de Janeiro could land two heavy shells against the Hertog Rijnhard during this phase at 03:02pm and 03:03pm. However, fire from the Brazilian ship became more and more inaccurate as only her aft turret could be trained on the Hertog Rijnhard and at 03:08pm the Rio de Janeiro shifted target on the Hertog Alexander again. Only one hit could be achieved against the new target at 03:11pm before fire was then ceased after her turn at 03:15pm.
The first ship to be hit after the Brazilieans turn at 03:01pm was the Hertog Rijnhard. The Rio de Janeiro had kept up a steady fire and was rewarded with a hit at 03:02pm when a shell pierced through the weather deck abaft A turret, passed a 20mm bulkhead and struck the port side of B barbet, about 2 meters below the deck, where it glanced off and detonated. The surface of the 280mm barbet armour was spalled for 40cm x 30cm for a depth of 11mm with concentric cracks while the upper deck was holed between the barbet and the side longitudinal bulkhead. Many fittings were destroyed in the vicinity and the turret was heavily shaken, which temporarily interrupted the power supply to the training motor but this was quickly put right by the gun crews and the turret missed only three salvos. The second shell that hit the Hertog Rijnhard carried away her aft main director and killed most of the men in the area. Splinters from this hit also entered the aft coning tower and cut down several men of the port side aftermost 88mm AA gun.
The Rijnhards return fire resulted in three hits of which the first came in on the Rio de Janeiro at 03:04pm. Striking from aft, port side, the shell entered through the deck near the forward edge of A barbet. It made a hole approx. 2m x 1,5m in the upper deck over the sick bay and passed through several compartments being deflected down and up again by the armoured deck before it went out through the starboard hull plating without exploding. Considerable damage was caused in passing through and chemicals in the sick bay caused a fire. The next blow was dealt at 03:07pm. Full details of this hit have not survived but the shell went through the end of the after superstructure and then hit the after side of the communication tube (100mm walls) to the torpedo control tower, half severed it and being deflected before bursting. The port side of the after superstructure was holed in many places by fragments.
The shell at 03:11pm struck the main deck in line midway between C turret and the aft superfiring secondary mount. It tore a large hole into the side plating and exploded 3,5 meters from impact causing severe damage to light steel work up to 5 meters from the burst. A 50mm thick door was blown of its hinges in the 50mm longitudinal bulkhead which formed the far wall of the flooding cabinet. The base plug of the shell was driven through the decks and brought to stop by C magazine cooler which was damaged. A large number of ventilation trunks were holed by this shell and the fire-main broken. The fire-main pumps continued to pump water onto the main deck and this found its way into C cooler space until it rose high enough to burn out the pump starter and cause several short-circuits [Note 15].
All was not well on the Hertog Alexander during those minutes. Over 1.500 tons of water had meanwhile entered her bow, dragging it down, forcing Vice-Admiral van Spierenburg to reduce speed and still allowed waves to wash over her bow, causing troubles for A turret which subsequently missed several salvos due to short-circuits. However, the guns could be brought online time and again and while her manoeuvrability was permanently impaired the Alexanders fighting capabilities were not and she scored well against the leading Brazilian battlecruiser. At 03:03pm one of her 28cm smashed through the face plate of the aft superfiring secondary turret on the Recife. A shower of fragments from the shell and plate were driven into the gun house and the following blast, when the shell exploded on exiting the back plate, gutted the turret entirely, also blowing the aft roof plate away. Nobody of the crew inside the turret survived. Those who may have survived were subsequently burned when three charges on the ammo lift ignited and a large tongue of flames rose into the air through the open roof, clearly marking the hit for the Hertog Alexander. The flash did not reach the Recife´s magazines and the ship survived but only the aft beam secondary mount remained to cover the aft sector of the ship.
Hertog Alexander continued to proof being a deadly shooter and at 03:06pm two more impacts rocked the Recife. Out of a single half-salvo the South Africans had scored twice, first against the targets forward coning tower. Coming from slightly abaft the beam the shell hit the lower edge of the coning tower where it met the bridge deck. Range was about 120hm and the plate was partially holed, driving a plug into the coning tower. Heavy damage was done to communication trunks and cables to the main director cut, so the mains guns then had to be directed from the aft fire control station but no more hits were obtained. Fragments from the blast also travelled across the bridge, destroying the light AA guns in the vicinity and killing several men including the ships XO. The other shell that hit smashed into the ships fantail about 3 meters from the stern and 1,5 meters below the weather deck. The hull plating was torn open and the shell passed through the hangar bulkheads and out through starboard without exploding. Light structure in the flight pass was destroyed and shrapnel from the shell heavily damaged the floatplanes stored in the hangar. Avgas began to spread from ruptured tanks but luckily was not ignited and damage parties had the situation under control pretty soon.
Not allowing the crew aboard the Recife much time to recover another projectile hit at 03:07pm, this time against the funnel base of the second funnel. The shell smashed through the port torpedo bank, losing its cap during the process and exploded when passing through the funnel base just above the armoured gratings that protected the funnel uptakes. A large hole was blown into the upper deck, destroying supporting structure of the port boat crane which subsequently fell against the funnel and then onto the boat deck aft of its original position. The aftermost starboard side 76mm gun was destroyed by splinters and the crew cut down. Inside the funnel the armoured grating was heavily damaged but prevented large splinters from reaching the engineering spaces. However, everything above was either destroyed or heavily damaged. As a result the uptakes could no longer fan the exhaust gases and pressure was build up inside that reduced the machinery´s performance [Note 16].
Despite her heavy damage the Recife fought back well and one of her 30,5cm shells hit the Hertog Alexander´s main belt at the upper edge of the starboard bulge below No. 3 casemate. The shell burst on the 300mm plate of which a piece 26cm x 32cm x 60mm deep was broken off the surface. The plate was driven in about 20cm with a 80mm deep crack. The bulge was partially destroyed over a length of 5 meters and a depth of 3 meters. The backing plating of the belt was much torn and pierced at one place by a splinter. The starboard wings were flooded for 18 meters, the protective bunkers for 13,5 meters. A small amount of water also entered the protective bunkers further forward, but this was drained and the bunker doors in the undamaged torpedo bulkhead which admitted a little water in were made right.
The hit at 03:07pm struck the right gun of B turret, about 2,1 meters from the turret face. The gun was badly dented and flattened and thrown violently to one side with damage to the cradle and cradle carrier. It was completely out of action. The turret training gear was temporarily disabled due to short-circuits. The left gun was undamaged but the director-pointer gear was put out of action and the turret could no longer fire with the others.
As described above the Rio de Janeiro shifted fire at 03:08pm towards the Hertog Alexander and subsequently landed a single hit at 03:11pm. The shell entered the hull through the hull plating just forward of No. 6 starboard casemate, 90cm below deck edge, and exploded approx. 3 meters from impact while passing through a 25mm bulkhead. The weather deck was buckled and the 88mm AA gun atop No. 6 casemate could no longer be trained and operated. Everybody inside the casemate was killed, the gun displaced and blocked while fragments also travelled into No. 7 casemate where one gunnery mate was mortally wounded. A small fire was started due to smoldering debris but soon put out before ammunition could ignite.
At 03:15pm, when the Brazilians made their turn to obviously disengage the situation asked for Vice-Admiral Van Spierenburg to decide if he wanted to follow or let the enemy raiders escape. His flagship had suffered damage to her bow which resulted in a trim forward and reduced performance while her main armament was down one turret. Inside her hull the Hertog Alexander was still in good condition but she would be hard pressed to catch the Brazilians and a chase would have required an effective forward battery which was not available due to the damage to B turret. Conditions on the Hertog Rijnhard remained unclear as she no longer answered to the radio. Obviously her sea speed was not impaired as she had been able to catch up with the flagship but she was trailing smoke and fire and showed signs of heavy damage. It was questionable if she would have a chance against both Brazilians should the Hertog Alexander not be capable to keep up with her.
The Brazilians had both been hit and hit hard too. The Rio de Janeiro, flagship of Admiral D´Oro, had lost her aft director, making it difficult to fight back in a stern chase and the problems with C magazine were not yet solved. The battlecruiser was still in fighting order but would have been forced to turn around again to effectively battle the South Africans. Her sistership, the Recife, could no longer be rated as in fighting order. A total of twelve heavy calibre hits had torn into her hull and she had lost C turret and part of her secondary battery. Her forward range finder could no longer be used due to destroyed cables inside the damaged coning tower and her machinery showed reduced performance due to the heavily damaged second funnel.
However, this information was not available to the South African commander. Without a clear picture of the damage his own ships had suffered and the damage done to the enemy Vice-Admiral van Spierenburg decided against pursuit and at 03:27pm the Brazilians had effectively escaped [Note 17].
Notes:
[Note 13]
Speed of the Hertog Alexander can be generally assumed to be 18kn at that time. The damage to her bow did not allow higher speeds. Even so more and more water entered the ship forward of A barbet and she slowly settled by the bow. As a result she took over much more water forward and when an attempt was made to increase speed to follow the Brazilians between 03:09pm and 03:12pm water also entered A barbet and caused short-circuits which left the turret without power for several minutes.
[Note 14]
There actually was one at 03:03pm. The shell hit just forward of the torpedo tubes and detonated below the aftermost 76mm gun. The shelter deck was deformed and buckled by the blast and the gun mount could no longer be trained. Shrapnels were also blown through the upper deck and light fittings in the vicinity were destroyed. Why the hit was not observed remains unclear.
[Note 15]
As a result of this hit smoke and fumes entered C main magazine which had to evacuated for several minutes but this had little impact on the battle as firing calmed down after the Brazilians turn at 03:15pm anyway.
[Note 16]
Following this hit the Recife was forced to reduce speed by a knot but range was still opening as her new course carried her further away from the South Africans.
[Note 17]
At that time range was 20,000 meters to the Hertog Rijnhard and 21,200 meters to her sister respectively.
Rio de Janeiro rated 78%
Recife rated 64%
Port Elizabeth sunk 0%
Porto Alegre rated 99%
Hertog Alexander rated 74%
Hertog Rijnhard rated 67%