KÖNIGSBERG
A Forgotten Heroine
by Kevin Patience
In the years before the First World War,
warships of Britain's Royal Navy were stationed at strategic ports around
the world to protect the trade routes of the Empire. In the case of East
Africa, the ships were based at Simonstown in South Africa with regular
patrols along the coast calling at Zanzibar and Mombasa. Three cruisers,
H.M.S. Astraea, Hyacinth and Pegasus formed the Cape
Squadron, but all had been built in the late 1800s and were well past
their prime and only capable of around 16 knots.
East Africa at the time
comprised the two colonies of British and German East Africa, now Kenya
and Tanzania. The latter with its capital of Dar es Salaam had a number of
visiting and resident German warships but until 1913 nothing of any note.
That year the colony's Government approached Berlin with a request for a
more modern warship to replace the elderly sail / steam gunboat then on
station. In April 1914 the 3,400 ton cruiser, S.M.S. Königsberg was
recommissioned under Commander Max Looff for service in East African
waters and arrived in Dar es Salaam on 3 June to a tumultous welcome from
a huge crowd of spectators.
Königsberg was one of
a new class of sleek, fast, well armed cruisers built between 1905 and
1913. The ship had a top speed of 24 knots, a range of 3,000 miles and was
armed with ten high velocity Krupp four inch guns with a range of around
ten miles. The arrival of this modern ship caused some concern at
Simonstown considering the age of the resident warships. Looff spent the
next few weeks showing the flag and taking many of the local population
for trips along the coast until on 30 July he was advised to prepare for
war. The political situation in Europe was about to explode.
The cruiser was refuelled and
headed north to the Aden sea lane where on 6 August, two days after war
had been declared, Looff captured and sank the British cargo ship City of
Winchester. Its loss alerted the Allies and all shipping to and from Aden
was halted. Looff had an achilles heel - coal. Without it his career as a
surface raider was finished and it was only the timely arrival of the
German collier Somali from Dar es Salaam that enabled Königsberg to
continue at sea. But not for long. After a fruitless voyage to Madagascar
in search of allied shipping and a second meeting with Somali, both ships
headed for the Rufiji River delta to refuel on 3 September 1914.
The Rufiji River meanders its
way across central Africa and empties into the Indian Ocean one hundred
miles south of Dar es Salaam. The delta, a huge mangrove swamp bisected by
numerous tributaries had been surveyed before the war and was partly
navigable by ocean going vessels. The two ships made their way six miles
upstream and awaited delivery of coal. Eight hundred tons of coal was sent
down for the cruiser and by 19 September, Looff was ready for sea. In the
meantime H.M.S. Pegasus under Commander John Ingles anchored in
Zanzibar for repairs, and word of its whereabouts was quickly relayed to
Looff.
That afternoon Königsberg
sailed slowly up the coast and appeared in Zanzibar harbour early the
following morning. In a forty-five minute battle, Pegasus was out
gunned and surrendered. Thirty eight had been killed and fifty five
wounded and the ship sank later that day. Looff headed south, planning to
sail back to Germany via the Cape of Good Hope and stock up on coal from
captured allied merchant ships. It was not to be and within hours of
leaving Zanzibar, a main engine failed, leaving Looff with no option other
than to return to the delta for repairs.
The damaged parts were
removed and sent to Dar es Salaam for repair and six weeks later on 30
October the ship was ready for sea. However the loss of the Pegasus had
infuriated the Royal Navy and three large modern cruisers H.M.S.
Chatham, Dartmouth and Weymouth arrived within two weeks
with orders to 'Sink and destroy Königsberg'. The ships patrolled
the coast and intelligence gathered led the Chatham to investigate
the Rufiji Delta on the day of Königsberg's departure. The masts of
the Somali were spotted and shelled and the ship destroyed. Looff moved
Königsberg further upstream. The game was up.
A blockade was enforced that
would last from 30 October 1914 to 11 July 1915 when the raider was
eventually sunk. What followed was a game of cat and mouse with Looff
taking the ship further and further upstream until he was twenty miles
inland. The crew were to suffer extreme hardship in the months that
followed with men falling ill and dying from all manner of tropical
diseases.
A tramp steamer the Newbridge
was located in Mombasa and sunk as a blockship and various types of
aircraft were brought out from England to keep an eye on the cornered
warship. The number of ships and personnel based at Mafia Island at the
delta mouth, increased until there were nearly twenty vessels offshore. As
all the British vessels were too deep draft to effect an entry over the
sandbars in the entrance, two shallow draft river gun boats H.M.S.
Mersey and Severn fitted with six inch guns were towed out from
Malta and prepared for battle.
On 6 July 1915 the two
monitors sailed up river to within five miles of the Königsberg and
with the aid of a spotter aircraft opened fire. The shooting was not
accurate and the monitors retired as the tide fell having fired over six
hundred shells and scored four hits. Five days later they returned and
this time they were more successful. Within an hour of opening fire
Königsberg was seriously damaged, on fire and with casualties. It was
the beginning of the end and Looff ordered 'abandon ship'. A torpedo
warhead was exploded inside the ship and the once elegant cruiser settled
on the bottom with its decks awash. Looff wrote 'Königsberg is
destroyed but not conquered'.
The Royal Navy retired and
within three weeks the Germans had stripped the ship of all its useful
fittings including the ten guns which were sent to Dar es Salaam. The
railway workshops fabricated carriages and the guns went on to see service
in the East African land campaign under the German commander Colonel Paul
von Lettow-Vorbeck until 1917 when the last gun was captured by the
Allies.
After the war Captain Ingles
of Pegasus fame bought the wreck and salvaged some of the
non-ferrous metal. The wreck was sold again and salvage continued into the
1930s. As late as 1965 an enterprising diver was still at work recovering
brass items. Over the years the ship had gradually rolled over on to its
starboard side and corroded away until its remains finally disappeared
into the mud in 1966. Max Looff returned to Germany after the war and
served in the navy until his retirement in 1922 with the rank of Vice
Admiral, and died on 20 September 1954, the fortieth anniversary of his
sinking of the Pegasus.
Today two four inch guns
survive, one in Mombasa outside Fort Jesus Museum and the other in
Pretoria, South Africa. The only relic in the delta to be seen today is
the rusting remains of the Somali, now heavily overgrown with mangrove,
some four miles downstream from the Königsberg site.
Although not as successful as
its sister ship Emden in the Far East, Königsberg acquitted
itself well in tying up a huge number of ships, aircraft and men for
almost a year. It has been said that the East African Campaign was the
last of the gentlemen's wars and this can possibly be summed up when the
captain of one of the warships off the delta on New Years Day 1915 sent
the following message to Looff, 'Happy New Year, expect to have the
pleasure of seeing you soon'. Looff replied, 'Thanks. The same to you. If
you want to see me I am always at home'.
The full story of this
extraordinary action is told in Kevin Patience's book Königsberg -
A German East African Raider available from the author at
saburi@hotmail.com
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