F. S. Bell 1939. "Exeter's" six eight-inch guns were mainly responsible for seriously damaging the in the Battle of the River Plate in December 1939. In this battle, "Exeter" also incurred severe damage from seven hits by eleven-inch shells and suffered 61 killed and 23 wounded. One salvo from the "Graf Spee" did a great deal of damage to the wheelhouse and killed all but three of the officers in it. Bell survived with minor injuries and he ordered that the remaining turrets should continue firing on the enemy. As damage control parties battled fires and flooding, Bell used a compass from one
HMS Spearfish was reported that she sank her sister ship, . Later that year, on 20 May, she sank two Danish fishing vessels "S.130" and "S.175" with gunfire in the North Sea. "Spearfish" sailed from Rosyth on 31 July 1940, still under the command of "Jock" Forbes, to patrol off the Norwegian coast. On 1 August she was spotted on the surface by the under the command of Wilhelm Rollmann who attacked and sank her, about west-southwest of Stavanger. There was only one survivor. HMS Spearfish HMS "Spearfish" was a second-batch S-class submarine built during the 1930s for the Royal Navy. Completed