 Also in November, the British sought to use the 12-inch (305 mm) guns of the old battleship Goliath to sink the cruiser. The attempt was unsuccessful, once again because the shallow waters prevented the battleship from getting within range. In December, Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel) Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck requested as many crew members from the ship as possible for the East Africa Campaign against the British; a total of 220 men were left aboard to keep the ship in fighting condition. This was not enough, however, to permit the ship to go to sea. Königsberg moved further up the river on 18 December. On 23 December, the British used a pair of shallow-draft ships to sail up the delta. They hit Somali once before German defensive fire forced them to retreat.
