Sunday, October 30, 2011

Rufiji.


This is coolbert:

See here a complete listing of naval battles of the First World War [WW1] as engaged in by the GERMAN navy!

A much more extensive list than as shown in my previous blog entry - - BUT my listing inclusive of only those naval battles involving massed number of ships and not solitary duels [surface raiders] or raids with groundings of ships, naval infantry going ashore, etc.

And here too with an entry of  German naval action  from WW1 that I had forgotten. A sideshow of a side show. [this naval action also more or less a duel and not involving massed numbers of ships!]

The  Battle of Rufiji Delta.

Part of the East African Campaign. Colonial German East African combat naval assets at the time in being one light cruiser - - the Konigsberg - - and no more than that. That one cruiser, however, causing havoc and creating a situation that required remedial action on the part of the British!

That one light cruiser being a stick-in-the-eye that needed for a solution to be found. Sorely needed reinforcements sent when normal and ordinary measures to deal with the Konigsberg found to be wanting.

"The German naval command had just one major warship in the Indian Ocean when war was declared, the light cruiser SMS Königsberg. After limited opportunities for commerce raiding, Königsberg sank the cruiser HMS Pegasus in Zanzibar harbour"

In the aftermath of Zanzibar - - the Konigsberg seeking refuge in the shallow waters of the Rufiji delta, besieged, a floating fortress, finally rendered ineffective by protracted bombardment - - the Konigsberg  demolished and scuttled but not sunk" [the crew and guns of the Konigsberg subsequently living to fight another day on LAND!]

"After being cornered by warships of the British Cape squadron, including an old battleship, two shallow-draught monitors with 6 in (150 mm) guns were brought from England that demolished the cruiser on 11 July 1915."

coolbert.

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