Landships II

I think that this represents a reasonable summary of the main marine operations on the Lake. I have used 1915 place name spellings in this account.

Lake Tanganyika is effectively an inland sea bounded by a number of nations. It was (and still is) a vital means of international trade in an area with a poor land transport infrastructure. In WW1 it was initially under German control as they had three large gun boats operating on its waters and effectively barring the lake as a transport route for the Belgians who wished to invade German  held Ruanda and Urundi.. At the same time the Germans based in Uganda were able to use the lake to support their operations against the Belgian Congo and Northern Rhodesia. In 1915 two small motor gunboats of the Royal Navy (unofficially named Mimi and Tutu) were transported over land from Cape Town to the lake. This was an epic journey as there were no railways in significant parts of the route and the boats were hauled by traction engines. The expedition was under the command of Lt Commander G B Spicer-Simpson, referred to in at least one source as “one of the Navy’s less distinguished officers” (he had managed to sink his destroyer’s own jolly boat and had been absent on shore “entertaining some ladies” when a gun boat under his command at been torpedoed at anchor). Nevertheless he succeeded in getting the two gun boats to the lake where they were launched on December 26th 1915. Mimi and Tutu (armed with 3 pounders and machine guns) soon sank two of the German gun boats. At which point Spicer-Simpson took his boats off to the Northern part of the Lake to support British troops in Northern Rhodesia. This left the Graff von Gotzen still afloat. This may have been a case of ‘discretion being the greater part of valour’ for the remaining German gunboat was formidably armed with one of the Konigsberg’s 105 mm guns and various other calibre weapons. However the West side of the lake was now open to Belgian transport to support their troops in invading Ruanda  and Ulundi whilst the Germans still used the East bank to supply their defenders .

The Belgians succeeded in taking Ruanda and Urundi by manoeuvre and Kigali fell in May 1915 closing a vital port to the Graff von Gotzen. As the German position in East Africa became ever more desperate, the German commander disbanded his naval force, reincorporating the men into the army. The Graff von Gotzen was scuttled..

An interesting side light on all this is C S Forrester’s novel The African Queen later made into a classical film with Bogarde and Hepburn. In the book they are attempting to sink the Graff von Gotzen transmogrified in the film into the Louisa but in fact played by itself (the ship having been raised in 1924).

And yet more (yawn do I hear? shame on you gentlemen).

1. Mimi and Toutou were officially named Cat and Dog!

2. They traveled some 2,300 Km overland to battle. When traction engine towed they did about 40 - 80 miles a day. The railhead they reached was 20Km from the lake! I enclose photos  of these vessels and their opponents.

3. The Belgians had a gun boat on the lake - the  Alexandre Delcommune. She was put out of action on 22 Aug 1914 by the German gunboat Hedwig von Wissmann. She was later repaired and up armed and became the Vengeur (after the Hedwig von Wissmann was sunk). When Spicer-Simpson headed off North (doubtless in search of a wardroom that served pink gin with ice) the Vengeur was left to protect Belgian shipping from the Graff von Gotzen. The Belgians attempted to bomb the Graff von Gotzen using a flying boat. The type remains unknown but I suspect it might have been a Curtiss F Boat. The boat selected for the attack had to land on the water and effect repairs a couple of times before making its attack. Although it was claimed that this damaged the German ship in fact no harm appears to have come to the vessel.

4. The storm that sunk the Toutou was remarkably like that described in Forester's novel that sank the African Queen.

That about it - if I discover the laundry label on Spicer-Simpson's underpants or any other details I'll let you know.

A very unusual, yet interesting subject. Especially the part about Spicer's skirt.

Thank's for sharing this, Centurion!

magnificent information magnificent addition ! thank you very much centurion !

german ships look rather like armed trawlers than purpose built gunboats, especially Hedwig von Wissmann is so. The Story of Graf von Goetzen is incredible, she still sails after more than 90 years ! Shiplovers shall keep a close eye on her; if her owners decide to sell her one day, she certainly merits to be kept as a museum ship.

Mr. Kempf, may we add the information and the pictures in this thread as a special section to the website or would they be out of subject ?

kapudan emir effendi wrote:

---

 

Mr. Kempf, may we add the information and the pictures in this thread as a special section to the website or would they be out of subject ?

---

If Peter wishes I would be happy to put my earlier postings into a coherent article form. I'd add some info about the transport of Mimi and Toutou overland by traction engine.

I know the main part of the subject is not Landships but perhaps as part of the Fighting men section we could start to  add campaign notes (of interest as a general background and to war gamers in paticular) with a leaning toward some of the hardware involved. The Lake campaign although navalish had a significant impact on a number of land campaigns in Africa involving British, German, Belgian, South African and Portugese forces.
I've been trying to accumulate info on the use of armoured cars in the German South West Africa campaign and the fighting in South Yemen (slow going I'm afraid but when complete possibly of interest).
Some time back I did a series of postings on some of the smaller conflicts arising out of WW1 which Peter said he'd use one day -these would also fit.

I think if we go that route we are into Navy big way as your definition would include the British 12 inch monitors, M class submarines etc etc

Its really up to Peter K

Thems is probably Thames but could be Thame, Tees or Teme depending on where they were built.

I think the gun is a 3 pounder not a 2 pounder. In photos it looks identical to the 3 pounder mounted on some US built sub chasers used in the Adriatic by the RN. If it is 2 pounder it would be 37 - 40 mm.  3 pounders were about 45 mm. There is no exact calibre to pounder conversion as the weight of the shell can depend on a number of factors.

I've seen no drawings of the Tanganika boats but they look very like the MK 1 coastal motor boats minus the torpedo slide at the stern. I have drawings of these somewhere and I'll try and dig one out.

Centurion, did you find the plans for those boats?

I'm about to start my scratchbuilding project of Toutou in 1/72 scale, but I still need a few pieces of information before I can start.

How long is 40 feet (in meters)?

See this site

http://apma.org.au/reference/ships/cmb/cmb.html