The WWI battle for control over Central Africa and access to the region’s vast natural
resources pitted Germany’s Kaiserliche Marine against Britain’s Royal Navy in one of the
war’s most unusual strategic locations.
Situated between what was then the Belgian Congo and German East Africa, Lake Tanganyika
is the second-largest freshwater lake in the world by volume.
It had been dominated by German forces since the start of the conflict thanks to the deployment
of two small warships.
German naval control of the lake had effectively prevented any British offensives into German
East Africa, and a new development threatened to put Allied territory at risk.
In April of 1915, John R. Lee, a British big-game hunter in Africa, observed Germany working
a new vessel that would make the Germans nearly invincible on Tanganyika.
The Graf von Goetzen was a converted and armed passenger ferry that was over 30-times the
size of the warships Germany already had patrolling the area.
Capable of carrying nearly 1,000 troops, the vessel could transport German Army units to
any point on the lake, cutting transit time to hours versus the weeks it would take Allied
forces to maneuver on land.
Together with Admiral Sir Henry Jackson, Lee came up with a bold idea to send two British
steamboats on a treacherous journey to Africa to counter the threat.
Sailed from Britain, packed on rail cars, dragged by oxen, and floated down a river,
the makeshift warships would fulfill, as Admiral Jackson put it, [QUOTE] “the duty and the
tradition of the Royal Navy to engage the enemy wherever there is water to float a ship...”
Lake Tanganyika
Tanganyika is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world.
An African Great Lake, it is the second-largest and second-deepest in the world, only surpassed
on all these fronts by Lake Baikal in Russian Siberia.
The lake connects to four countries: Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi,
and Zambia, making it strategically significant.
Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo today have the majority of the lake within
their territory, each accounting for approximately 40% of its total extent.
During World War I, control of the lake meant control of East Africa.
The Allies wanted to advance on Germany’s East African territory, but the lake gave
the Germans an almost absolute advantage.
Controlling the lake meant ease of deployment for troops along the bordering countries.
If the British attacked East Africa from the south or the Belgians from the north, the
Germans could simply send troops aboard vessels to cross the lake and cut their enemy’s
supplies and communications lines.
Due to its vital placement, the lake saw two significant battles happen on it during the
war.
By the start of the global conflict, the Germans had two warships controlling the lake.
Hedwig von Wissmann was a 66 short tons steamboat armed with 3 Hotchkiss revolving cannons and,
starting in 1915, also a quick-loading gun and an additional revolving cannon.
Kingani was slightly smaller at 50 short tons and armed with only one Hotchkiss revolving
cannon.
The Hedwig von Wissmann faced off the Belgian steamer Alexandre Del Commune three times
and sank it at the lake in 1914.
German General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck wrote about the confrontation in his memoir My Reminiscences
of East Africa, saying [QUOTE] “Lieutenant Horn at once proceeded with a few seamen to
Kigoma, where he manned and armed the small steamer Hedwig von Wissmann.
On Lake Tanganyika, he chased the Belgian steamer Del Commune, which he surprised and
shot to pieces after a few days, thereby securing to us the extremely important command of the
lake.
The ability to transfer troops from the Central Railway towards Bismarckburg or Usambara depended
entirely upon unimpeded transport on Tanganyika and played a part in the later course of the
operations.”
Their control of the lake gave the Germans a seemingly undefeatable advantage over East
Africa.
Their sinking of the Belgian vessel, and the subsequent sinking of the Briton African Lakes
Corporation steamer Cecil Rhodes in November of 1914, made their position even more robust.
The Germans even used their strong position to attack northern Rhodesia, with Major General
Kurt Wahle leading the charge.
Although the Belgians were able to push them back, they left significant damage, and the
threat encouraged Belgium to collaborate with the United Kingdom on the African front.
The Germans continued to launch raids and bombings on Lukuga, further weakening their
enemies.
Despite the pressing circumstances, there seemed to be little the two European powers
could do to fight Germany.
The Belgians had the option of building a large steamer for which they had the components
at hand, the Baron Dhanis.
However, they didn’t dare to commence the work because they feared an attack would see
the vessel destroyed before it was completed.
The constant German patrols would have made it nearly impossible to assemble it in secret.
In hopes that Belgium could build the vessel, the British sent two guns to arm it.
Instead, the Belgians used them as batteries to defend the shore at Lukuga...
John R. Lee
John R. Lee, a big-game hunter and Second Boer War veteran, had been in Eastern Africa
assessing the German ships on Lake Tanganyika.
He traveled to London and arrived at the Admiralty on April 21, 1915, to bring the information
he had collected on the warships and on the upcoming launch of the German Graf von Gotzen.
He also informed Admiral Sir Henry Jackson that rumors were surfacing of a possible uprising
in Northern Rhodesia should the British fail to display their military might.
By the end of the war, control over the lake would be invaluable for commerce.
To defeat the Germans, Lee proposed taking motor gunboats to Africa.
He hoped that small, maneuverable vessels could outrun and outgun the enemy if they
were decently armed.
His proposal focused on small ships because they could be easily transported and sent
into the lake without having to build or assemble under dangerous circumstances.
Jackson assigned the operation to Admiral David Gamble, who then appointed Lee as second
in command for the upcoming expedition.
As first in command, he placed the famed but controversial Lieutenant-Commander Geoffrey
Spicer-Simson.
Spicer-Simson was known as a hot-headed liar and a braggart.
Despite these negative qualities, he was the oldest and arguably most experienced Lieutenant
Commander in the British Navy.
Furthermore, he spoke both German and French, which made him an incredible asset to the
region.
Still, English author Giles Foden once described him as, [QUOTE] “a man court-martialled
for wrecking his own ships, an inveterate liar and a wearer of skirts.”
Spicer-Simson
Spicer-Simson had not progressed beyond Lieutenant-Commander up to that point due to a sequence of regrettable
disasters.
In 1905 he made the questionable choice of stringing a cable between two destroyers in
an attempt to sweep for periscopes and almost sank a British submarine.
While testing the defenses at Portsmouth Harbour, he crashed into a small boat, sinking it.
When the World War started, he was commanding a Royal Navy torpedo gunboat along with a
small flotilla near Ramsgate.
While he was ashore entertaining guests at a hotel, his vessel was torpedoed and sank.
All he could do was watch from the windows with his guests.
These actions led him to an unsavory transfer.
He had since been working at an office in the Admiralty working on transferring merchant
seamen to the navy.
Still, he was recruited for the mission because of a shortage of commanders.
The German Threat
The Graf von Goetzen is a passenger and cargo ferry that travels the route along the eastern
shore of Lake Tanganyika.
It was built in Germany in 1913 at the Meyer shipyard in Papenburg, Emsland.
It was one of three ships that the German Empire utilized to maintain control of Lake
Tanganyika.
After its construction, it was separated and placed into 5,000 different crates that were
shipped to Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania.
They were then secretly transported by rail and assembled at Kigoma.
The ship was 220 feet or 67 meters long, with a total displacement of 1,575 long tons or
1,600 tons.
Around 800 to 900 soldiers could be transported on it and moved around the lake at any given
time.
Its main threat was thwarting any Allied advance by taking troops to interfere with their bases.
Preparation
Mimi and Totou, two small motor mahogany ships, were put on the RMS Llanstephen Castle Ocean
Liner and sent to South Africa along with 28 men and supplies.
The following month, after the 9,600-kilometer sea voyage, they were loaded onto railroad
flatcars in Cape Town, South Africa.
Mimi and Totou traveled 4,000 kilometers towards Fungurume in the Belgian Congo, passing by
Bechuanaland in Rhodesia.
The next part of their journey was as bizarre as it was genius.
The small gunboats were hoisted to special cradles placed on wagons.
They were then hauled with the help of steam tractors and oxen to cross Mitumba Mountains
and Plateau, for around 240 kilometers.
To get there, the 28 men on the expedition had to hack through woodlands, fill up ravines
and cut firewood for the steam boilers on the tractors.
As they traveled, they had to hire natives to assist them.
The women carried water for the boilers from far away waterholes, forming bucket brigades.
The crew was assaulted by ticks, mosquitoes, and even tsetse flies, which resulted in all
sorts of unfortunate health complications.
Some suffered from malaria, hyperthermia, dysentery, and even snow blindness due to
the abundant fine-grained mica in the soil.
As if it weren’t enough, they had to put up with unfriendly weather in the form of
intense lightning storms and occasional grass fires.
Once they arrived at Sankisia, the two small boats were moved to flatcars to make a 30-kilometer
journey to Bukama.
From there, they would be transported through the Lualaba River.
Unfortunately, the river was a bit dry and running low.
The team was forced to paddle the two gunboats for 90 kilometers against the current.
The arduous journey brought them to Kabalo, where the boats were once again hoisted onto
flatcars for another trip.
By December 22, the Mimi and Toutou had arrived at their destination.
They were ready to begin sailing and testing on Lake Tanganyika.
The Battle
Mimi and Toutou set out on December 26 of 1915 to commence the Battle of Lake Tanganyika.
They attacked and captured the smaller of the German warships, Kingani.
It was tugged to shore, given a 12-pound gun, and sent back to the lake under the British
flag.
The now HMS Fifi was the first German vessel to undergo capture and transfer to the Royal
Navy during the First World War.
The Admiralty made Spicer-Simson a Commander as a reward for his success in this initial
skirmish, and the British, along with their new ship, next met Hedwig von Wissmann in
February 1916.
A fiery battle ensued, with Mimi, Fifi, and the armed barge Dix-Tonne shooting at the
German steamboat.
The engagement ended with the sinking of the Hedwig von Wissmann, and the loss of German
superiority over the region.
Graf von Gotzen was quickly scuttled to avoid having it sunk as well.
At the end of 1916, Spicer-Simson returned to England, as most of his entourage did.
Modern Ferry
In 1927, a British Royal Navy salvage team raised the Graf von Goetzen and rechristened
it.
In 1977, the vessel fell into the ownership of the Tanzania Railway Corporation, and in
2011, they reached out to the German Federal Government for help renovating or replacing
the ship.
The Germans studied the vessel and came to the conclusion that it would be cheaper to
build a new one.
TRC then appealed to the government of Lower Saxony, where the ship was built.
German authorities agreed that the vessel was worth saving due to what German President
Christian Wulff claimed was its [QUOTE] “singular history.”
It was sent to Kigoma for restoration in 2017.
Today the former Graf von Goetzen still travels down the same route under the name \. Service
resumed in August of 2018 under management by the Marine Services Company Limited from
Tanzania.
The vessel now carries civilians between the ports of Mpulungu in Zambia and Kigoma in
Tanzania.