The loss stung the British Royal Navy to the point that a special detachment was arranged to hunt down and end von Spee's advantage in the region. The battlecruiser's HMS Invincible and HMS Inflexible were both called for the action and this would begat the Battle of the Falklands Islands where the British fleet, under Doveton Sturdee, would meet von Spee. The forces included two British battlecruisers, three armored cruisers, and two light cruisers. This was against two German armored cruisers and three light cruisers. The battle took place on December 8th, 1914.
Spee had planned to assail the Falklands under an operation aimed at the coaling station of Port Stanley. The German ships were met by an alerted British contingency and the quick-reacting, inbound British naval force proved too hardy for Spee's tastes, forcing an order of withdrawal to be given. Unable to flee the advancing British ships under speed alone, the battle commenced. The Germans split their force and turned SMS Scharnhorst and SMS Gneisenau against the attackers while the other vessels continued in their retreat action. British cruisers continued on the tail of the other vessels which included Leipzig.
HMS Glasgow then met with SMS Leipzig and the two warships exchanged fire while desperately maneuvering in the chaos. Joined by HMS Cornwall and HMS Kent, Leipzig took on considerable battle damage in the fighting though she forced Glasgow to pull away. Cornwall then took the brunt of Leipzig's guns and was severely damaged. However, SMS Leipzig herself was evolving into a total loss which forced a scuttle order. While in a state of evacuation, the vessel came under heavy fire from British guns which hastened her sinking - even her rescue boats were not immune as just eighteen Germans were rescued. The Leipzig expectedly sank.
The Battle of the Falkland Islands proved a decisive British victory that certainly avenged the previous loss at Coronel. 1,871 Germans were killed with some 215 taken prisoner in all. Two of the German armored cruisers were sunk, joining a pair of light cruisers. Comparatively the British lost none of her own ships and casualties totaled ten with a further nineteen wounded. Of particular note was the von Spee himself was killed in the battle as were two of his sons - SMS Scharnhorst serving as flagship of the German fleet.
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