The 1st class armoured cruiser, Monmouth, joined 5th CS West Africa station in August 1914, then South America station, and was sent to Pernambuco to join flagship Good Hope, Capt Frank Brandt.  At the battle of Coronel, the ship was engaged by Gneisenau which stayed out of range of Monmouth's 6in guns;the foremost 6in turret was blown off and her forecastle was on fire, hit by between 30 and 40 shells, many amidships, the after part  was on fire and the Monmouth tried to break away to the wes.  Here she was found at 2100 by the light cruiser Nürnberg which had just reached the area of battle; by this time  Monmouth was flooded, down by the bows and listing so far to port the port guns could not bear. Nürnberg stayed on that side and opened fire, then stopped to allow Monmouth to strike, she did not and the German re-opened fire, Monmouth capsized around 2120; 734 lives lost - 42 officers and 692 ratings. There were no survivors as the seas were too rough for Nürnberg to lower boats

Engaged by Scharnhorst - 8-8.2in guns versus 2-9.2in, third salvo put forward 9.2in out of action followed by serious hits to the forepart, upper bridge and foretop, repeatedly hit amidships setting her on fire, after turret hit twice, large explosion between mainmast and after funnel at 1950, flames reaching 200ft, ship left silent and dead in the water. Von Spee lost contact around 2000 and ordered his light cruisers to search for the two large British ship that were presumably damaged and finish them with torpedoes, Good Hope was not found but went down around this time, her end not seen in the darkness and the driving rain; 926 lives lost - 52 officers, 871 ratings and 3 canteen staff, no survivors