Nazi eagle from scuttled Second World War battleship to be recast as peace dove

The bronze sculpture was recovered from a wreck by a salvage team in 2006

The eagle from the stern of German battleship the Graf Spee, scuttled on December 17, 1939 off the coast of Montevideo, is recovered from the depths of the estuary. AFP

A bronze Nazi eagle recovered from the sunken Second World War battleship the Graf Spee will be melted down and turned into a dove of peace, Uruguay's President said on Sunday.

The eagle was recovered from the depths of the River Plate in 2006 by a salvage team who later claimed ownership of the 350kg sculpture, but the government of Uruguay contested their claim and it now belongs to the state.

Famed Uruguayan sculptor Pablo Atchugarry will recast the eagle.

Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou said that during “times of division, in times of violence, times of war in the world, the signal of our country to our people, to the outside world, is we are a society of peace, we are a society of unity and we practise it”.

He said the eagle, once a symbol of violence, would become a “symbol of peace”.

Small compared to some of the largest battleships of the Second World War, the 14,500 tonne Graf Spee was well armoured and heavily armed with a 28cm calibre gun, which compared well to many ships of the time.

The most famous German warship, the Bismark, for example, had a 38cm calibre gun.

The ship was however, one of the first big naval losses suffered by the Nazis, clashing with three British warships in the River Plate estuary in 1939 and suffering dozens of hits, while seriously damaging its Royal Navy adversaries.

The ship retreated to port at Montevideo to repair extensive damage and treat battle casualties, but British radio broadcasts convinced its admiral, Hans Langsdorff, that leaving the Plate estuary would be hopeless, as British reinforcements had arrived.

Langsdorff set fire to the ship, deciding that it was not worth losing all 700 crew in combat, after 36 had died in the initial clash, although the British radio reports of reinforcements turned out to be a deception.

An abstract sculptor, Mr Atchugarry usually works with marble and other stone, and said that recasting the eagle would be challenging.

No decision has been made as to where the new sculpture will be displayed, although Mr Atchugarry is the director of two galleries, in Garzon, Uruguay, and Miami, Florida.