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IMHO: the wily Spee would have not taken on a Battleship knowingly on the ''far side of the world'. I only venture this on the subsequent action at the battle of the Falkland Islands when Canopus did open fire from her protected mooring using hilltop spotters; "The British cruiser Canopus opened fire and, although the two German ships were out of range, drove them back to rejoin their group which then steamed eastward at full speed to avoid action. Canopus then fired her rear turret using practice rounds which were already loaded for a planned practice shoot. The blank shells ricocheted off the sea, one of them hitting the rear-most funnel of Gneisenau." firing the first shots of the Battle of the Falklands at the extreme range of 12,000 yards (11 km); although von Spee was beyond the range of her guns she did succeed in hitting the after funnel of the armoured cruiserSMS Gneisenau with a 12-inch (305-mm) shell that ricocheted off the water Under fire from Canopus and spotting the tophampers of Sturdee's battlecruisers, von Spee called off his force's planned attack on the Falklands' radio and coaling stations and ran, allowing Sturdee's force to raise steam and pursue the German force. ADM Sturdee gave chase and destroyed von Spee's squadron by the end of the day. To go from attack to retreat on the effect of a 12" superior battery firing blanks indicates Spee understood his squadrons' greater value as " a threat-in-being' tying up precious British naval resources in the Pacific. Had the determined Cradock been able to uptick his firepower with Canopus present, to cause any amount of harm to Spee's squadron, Spee would have used his vessels' speed to evade harm at Coronel...http://www.christopherlong.co.uk/pub/coronelfalklands.html