page_title: MV Liemba
section_title: First World War
hierarchical_section_title: MV Liemba / History / First World War
caption_attribution_description: Deutsches Dampfschiff Goetzen vor Umbau 1915, deutsches Foto mit belgischem Aufdruck aus dem Jahre 1919 Deutsch: DS Goetzen English: SS Goetzen Français&#160;: Vapeur Goetzen 日本語: グラーフ・フォン・ゲッツェン (砲艦)
context_page_description: MV Liemba, formerly Graf Goetzen or Graf von Goetzen, is a passenger and cargo ferry that runs along the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika. The Marine Services Company Limited of Tanzania sails her, with numerous stops to pick up and set down passengers, between the ports of Kigoma, Tanzania and Mpulungu, Zambia.
  Graf von Goetzen was built in 1913 in Germany, and was one of three vessels the German Empire used to control Lake Tanganyika during the early part of the First World War. Her captain had her scuttled on 26 July 1916 in Katabe Bay during the German retreat from Kigoma. In 1924, a British Royal Navy salvage team raised her and in 1927 she returned to service as Liemba. Liemba is the last vessel of the German Imperial Navy still actively sailing anywhere in the world.
  Liemba is believed to be the inspiration for the German gunboat Luisa in C. S. Forester's 1935 novel The African Queen, and John Huston's subsequent film version. The ship featured in the 1992 BBC Television travel series Pole to Pole. Indican Pictures and Breadbox Productions released a documentary on the ship in 2010, Liemba.
context_section_description: During World War I the Germans converted Goetzen to an auxiliary warship under the name SMS Goetzen. They gave her a 10.5 cm (4 in) gun from the light cruiser SMS Königsberg, a ship no longer operational and which her crew later scuttled in the mouth of the Rufiji River. She also received an 8.8 cm (3 in) gun, one of two that Königsberg had brought out from Germany to arm auxiliary cruisers should the opportunity arise. Lastly, the survey ship SMS Möwe contributed two 37 mm Hotchkiss revolver guns to Goetzen's armament.
  The Germans appointed Oberleutnant zur See Siebel captain of Goetzen. Under his command Goetzen initially gave the Germans complete supremacy on Lake Tanganyika. She ferried cargo and personnel across the lake between Kigoma and Bismarckburg (now Kasanga, Tanzania), saving troops from a two-week overland march, and provided a base from which to launch surprise attacks on Allied troops. It therefore became essential for the Allied forces to gain control of the lake themselves.
  Geoffrey Spicer-Simson and the Royal Navy succeeded in the monumental task of bringing two armed motor boats, Mimi and Toutou, from England and via the Belgian Congo to the lake by rail, road and river. The British then launched their two boats at Albertville (Kalemie) on the western shore of Lake Tanganyika. The two boats waited until December 1915, then mounted a surprise attack on the Germans, capturing the gunboat Kingani – renamed HMS Fifi. They sank a second German vessel, Hedwig von Wissmann, in February 1916; this left Götzen as the only German vessel remaining on the lake.
  As a result of their strengthened position on the lake, the Allies advanced towards Kigoma by land, and the Belgians established an airbase on the western shore at Albertville. From there on 10 June 1916 they used Short Admiralty Type 827 planes for a bombing raid on Goetzen as she sat in the harbour of Kigoma. These bombing raids didn't severely damage the Goetzen, but she remained in the harbour. The Germans had already removed most of her guns in the beginning of May as they needed them elsewhere. At the time of the air raid Goetzen had only one 37 mm Hotchkiss left, which she used as an anti-aircraft gun.
  The war on the lake had reached a stalemate by this stage, with both sides declining to mount attacks. However, the war on land was progressing, largely to the advantage of the Allies, who cut off the railway link in July 1916 and threatened to isolate Kigoma completely. This led the German naval commander on the lake, Gustav Zimmer, to abandon the town and head south. In order to avoid the ship falling into Allied hands, General Lettow-Vorbeck ordered that Goetzen be scuttled. The task was given to the three engineers from Meyer Werft who had travelled with the disassembled ship to Lake Tanganyika in order to supervise its re-assembly. The engineers decided on their own that they would try to facilitate a later salvage; they loaded the ship with sand and covered all engines with a thick layer of grease before sinking her carefully on 26 July, in a depth of 20 metres (66 ft) near the banks of the Katabe Bay (Belgian designation: Baie de l’éléphant; British designation: Bangwe Bay) at the position 4°54′5″S 29°36′12″E.
caption: SS Goetzen 1915
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