December 1915-July 1916: The Battle of Lake Tanganyika—The British dragged small motorboats overland from Cape Town to become H.M.S. Mimi & H.M.S. Toutou, captured the German gunboat S.M.S. Kingani & rechristened her H.M.S. Fifi, & sank the steamboat S.M.S. Hedwig von Wissmann; Belgian air attacks & changing fortunes in the fighting ashore forced the scuttling of the leviathan on the lake, the armed ferry S.M.S. Graf von Götzen.
Lest we forget.
Commentary: The fighting on & around Lake Tanganyika served as the inspiration for C. S. Forster's novel The African Queen, subsequently & brilliantly adapted to the screen by John Huston. The Graf von Götzen was raised after the war & still sails Tanganyika today, as the M.V. Liemba, pictured above.
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