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Six decades have passed since the pride of the Nazi navy, the "Admiral Graf Spee", was sunk off the coast of Uruguay, but the once feared battleship continues to stoke controversy and diplomatic angst.

The giant bronze eagle from the German battleship "The Admiral Graf Spee"
© AFP/File Miguel Rojo

The recovery of a giant bronze eagle from the Nazi ship, which was scuttled in 1939 in shallow waters off Montevideo, earlier this year has triggered a standoff between a local businessman and the German government.

The businessman, Alfredo Etchegaray, participated in an operation to salvage the eagle -- a favoured Nazi symbol that could fetch a handsome sum at auction -- from the wreckage of the Graf Spee in February.

"I couldn't put a price on it, it would be a sheer guess," Etchegaray said of the eagle, an imposing Nazi emblem with wings spread out and a swastika under its talons.

However, the German government is opposed to a public sale of the World War II-era relic which adorned the legendary battleship's stern, according to government sources here, and Etchegaray's patience is wearing thin.

The "Admiral Graf Spee" burning and sinking in 1939
© AFP/File

"It's been two months since a representative of the German government visited me and said a diplomatic note had been sent to the Uruguayan foreign ministry," Etchegaray told AFP.

A Uruguayan foreign ministry source, who asked to remain anonymous, said Berlin still claims ownership of the Graf Spee, but that the German government has signalled it would not be opposed to the eagle being placed on permanent exhibit here.

Salvage teams have already raised a gun and a communications tower from the Graf Spee which are on public display in this South American coastal city.

The recovery of these artifacts has sparked the enthusiasm of Etchegaray and other salvage experts to push ahead with the more ambitious project of raising the entire battleship from its muddy grave.

Hector Bado, a diver who helped recover the bronze eagle, said salvage efforts so far have cost about seven million dollars. He estimates that raising the whole Graf Spee could cost about 30 million dollars.

Uruguayan diver Hector Bado with the giant bronze eagle form the "Admiral Graf Spee"
© AFP/File Miguel Rojo

Such talk has concerned Berlin which has also informed Uruguay that German boats sunk during wartime remain the property of the state, the foreign ministry source said.

Etchegaray bristles at such suggestions.

"This boat sank in Uruguayan waters," he said, adding that "Uruguay law says the rights over abandoned sunken boats after a determined period pass to the state."

The Graf Spee's captain, Hans Langsdorff, scuttled the battleship on December 17, 1939 following one of the first naval skirmishes of World War II, the battle of the River Plate.

The Nazi ship, one of the Third Reich's largest battleships, briefly sought sanctuary in Montevideo's harbour from two British ships and a New Zealand battleship which were seeking to sink the Graf Spee.

After sailing out of the harbour, Langsdorff ordered the Graf Spee scuttled after apparently falling for a ruse that a large British naval force was awaiting his ship in international waters.

Langsdorff committed suicide days later following the naval humiliation.

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