River Gunboats
Page 16
Launched:
KS 1 to KS 8 1943–4 by Lürssen.
Dimensions:
Displ: 19 tons; L: 15.95m/52ft 4in; B: 3.5m/11ft 6in; D: 1.1m/3ft 7in.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 2 × 650bhp BMW V-12 aero-engines/30–32 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 15mm MG151 cannon.
Fate:
KS 8 destroyed by fire.
The flotilla was completed by two river gunboats, Ustaša and Bosut, and two converted commercial steamers, Petar Zriniski (built 1885, displacement 200 tons, commissioned July 1944, lost 7 October 1944) and Zagreb (built 1897, 170 tons, commissioned August 1944, lost 23 October 1944).
An unloaded KS-Boat at speed. With no mines on board their BMW aero-engines could drive them at up to 32 knots. (Photo from Fock Schnellboote Volume 2, via Website: https://forum.axishistory.com//viewtopic.php?t=224703)
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Even before the Czechoslovaks of the new republic were incorporating former sailors of the Austro-Hungarian Danube Flotilla into a riverine branch of the army, gunboats of the Czech Legion were in action against Red forces far to the East.
On the Volga, on 8 June 1918 a small Czech tug, Prishlepala, armed with three machine guns, captured a Red barge carrying flour. On 20 July the Czech gunboat Milyutin damaged the Red gunboat Delo Sovetov, and two days later the same Red vessel was driven aground by three Czech gunboats and abandoned by her crew. On 31 July the Czech Legion gunboat Wolf captured the Red tug Gorchitsa, and five days later she engaged the Red gunboats Bratstvo, Lev and Olga. The Czech gunboats exchanged long-range fire with Red vessels on 1 September and again on 11 September, the last time when retreating from Kazan. Their gunboats were found by the Reds abandoned at Samara on 7 October 1918.
Meanwhile in Siberia, on Lake Baikal the Czechs had armed two small steamers with howitzers. On 16 August 1918 one of these, the Feodosia, engaged and destroyed the large ice-breaker ferry Baikal, which was being operated by the Red Guard Baikal Fleet. The first shell from Feodosia started a fire, the second destroyed Baikal’s steering gear. While her Red crew abandoned her, the ferry ran aground, and burned for several days, her siren howling while ammunition exploded.
Back home, in the confused situation following the Armistice of 11 November 1918, the ex-sailors were organised into Marine units, which fought on land as infantry, facing Polish and Hungarian threats to the new Czechoslovak Republic.
When the ships of the Austro-Hungarian Danube Flotilla were distributed by the Allies to various nations in the region, Czechoslovakia had hopes of obtaining several combat vessels, but in the end received none. They were, however, able to take over two wooden motor launches intended for use by the Austro-Hungarian Navy as torpedo recovery launches. These entered service in 1920, and were followed in 1922 by six armed patrol launches. The Czechoslovaks’ main efforts for several years were directed towards creating minelaying, barrage and bridging units of the army.
Then in 1929 they began construction of an armoured river monitor, which after two years of correcting problems, eventually entered service in 1932 as President Masaryk, the only Czechoslovak vessel on the Danube capable of engaging the former Austro-Hungarian ships.
With the German takeover of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1939, President Masaryk became part of the German Danube Flotilla, and engaged in combat with Soviet forces right up to the end of the war in Europe.
In 1945 the Czechoslovak Army recommenced its role of river defence, but in 1958 the decision was taken to hand over the role of guarding the Danube to vessels of the Soviet Navy. Ironically, their Border Guard function was not aimed at defending Czechoslovak territory, but instead at preventing Czechoslovaks from using the river to flee to Austria.
OMd 1 and OMd 2
Originally designed as torpedo-recovery vessels for the Austro-Hungarian Navy, in 1920 these wooden craft were armed with mountain guns and machine guns, and became patrol boats. They were initially numbered as MD-1 and MD-2. Recalling the trials on the Thames with Mimi and Toutou, armed with a smaller-calibre (47mm) 3-pounder QF gun, firing these large 75mm Škoda pieces on an extreme training angle to one side would have been interesting, to say the least. Both vessels were discarded in 1934.
OMd 1 and 2 at Prague, showing their heavy armament for such a small vessel. Note the classic Danube-style anchors hung from bowsprits, inherited from the Austro-Hungarian era. (Photo Czech Army Museum)
Launched:
1920 by Ústecká shipyard.
Dimensions:
Displ: 35 tons; L: 21m/68ft 10in; B: 4m/13ft 1½in; D: 1.60m/5ft 3in.
Power/Speed:
Single screw; 220bhp diesel engine. Changed 1923 for a 225bhp Škoda diesel/10.8 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 75mm L/12 Škoda vz.15 mountain guns; 2 × 7.92mm MG.
Fate:
Stricken 1934.
OMh 3, 4 and 5
These three machine gun-armed vessels were patrol launches, originally designed for the Danube Flotilla, but they were only completed in 1922.
Launched:
1922 by Ústecká shipyard.
Dimensions:
Displ: 24 tons; L: 16.9m/55ft 5in; B: 2.8m/9ft 2in; D: 0.80m/2ft 7½in.
Crew:
9.
Power/Speed:
Single screw; 200bhp Škoda petrol engine/10.8 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 7.92mm MG.
Fate:
Stricken 1939.
OMh 4 giving an impression of high speed, when in fact she is ploughing through the wash from the photographer’s boat. (Photo Czech Army Museum)
President Masaryk
Begun in 1929, but not commissioned until 1932, due to problems during her trials, President Masaryk was a large and well-armoured vessel, inheriting many of the desirable features of the old Austro-Hungarian river patrol boats, but by then her concept was becoming outdated, and the design was not repeated.
Taken over by the Germans, and incorporated on 8 September 1939 in their Danube Flotilla as Bechelaren, she was substantially rearmed by them, and in 1944 was re-engined with two U-boat diesels, losing her twin side-by-side funnels. For details of Bechelaren in German hands, see GERMANY.
Surrendered to US Army troops in Linz at the end of the Second World War, in 1947 she was towed in a disarmed state to Bratislava. Redesignated as a Czechoslovak patrol boat under her original name in 1948, no decision was taken as to a future role for her. Factors taken into account in deciding her fate were the impossibility of concealment from aerial reconnaissance in the river confines, and the obvious vulnerability of even an armoured riverine vessel in the face of air attack. Thought was given to converting her to a cruise ship, but this plan fell through, and she ended up moored as a pontoon at Komarno, being finally scrapped in 1978.
Launched:
19 October 1930 by Lodenice Komarno.
Dimensions:
Displ: 214 tons full load; L: 47.5m/155ft 10in; B: 6m/19ft 8in; D: 1.07m/3ft 6in.
Crew:
38-43.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; geared steam turbines, 2,300shp/17 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × twin 66mm Škoda vz.15 QF; 2 × twin 7.92mm MG; 10 mines/Hull: 10mm; Deck: 5mm; 66mm turrets: 10mm; MG turrets: 8mm.
Fate:
Scrapped April 1978.
President Masaryk getting up steam to move off. Luckily the crew are not wearing their summer whites . . . It is obvious why the funnel caps added by the Germans would be needed, to carry the smoke away from the personnel on her bridge. This is probably an official review, carried out by a VIP on the photographer’s boat, the wash from which can be seen brushing President Masaryk’s hull. Note that she lacks her bridge searchlight. The elevated turret of the aft twin MG has a wide field of fire. (Photo Czech Army Museum)
The aft twin 66mm turret on President Masaryk before the war. The device mounted on the guns is the barrel and action of an aiming ri
fle, used during gunnery training to save ammunition expenditure and bore wear of the turret guns. For a photo of the twin gun mounting itself, see AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. (Photo via Stephen Nemeth on Website: http://felvidek.ma/2016/07/komaromban-epitettek-a-hajdanicsehszlovakia-elso-es-egyetlenhadihajojat/)
President Masaryk before the war. Note how her foredeck narrows: she was built for speed. (Drawing from Website: http://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=212222)
Bechelaren disarmed after 1945, as restored to Czechoslovak control. (Modified from an original drawing by Benczúr László, via Erwin Sieche)
ĎC-1
This was the second prototype German armoured pioneer launch PiSi 42/43, abandoned by the Germans in 1945, and completed for the Czechoslovak river units in 1949 by KD Ústecká. The 5cm tank gun of the first prototype was replaced by the short 7.5cm KwK L/24 from the Panzer III Ausf N, and a Flakvierling was mounted on the rear deck. In 1954 her old BMW petrol aero-engines, similar to those used on the Siebel Ferries, were replaced with V-22 Diesel engines. She was stricken in 1959. For details and a photo of the first prototype, see GERMANY.
Launched:
December 1944 by Balatonfüred, Hungary.
Dimensions:
Displ: 30 tons; L: 20.1m/65ft 11in; B: 4.2m/13ft 9in; D: 0.90m/2ft 11in.
Crew:
12.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 2 × BMW VI petrol aero-engines, total 1,000bhp. Replaced by 2 × V-22 diesel engines, total 1,000bhp/16 knots.
Guns/Armour:
1 × 7.5cm KwK L/24; 1 × quadruple 20mm FlaK 38/Turret: 57mm front; 30mm sides and rear; 10mm roof; gun mantlet 50mm; Conning tower: 12mm; Deck: 12mm.
Fate:
Stricken 1959.
ĎC-1 rearmed with the 7.5cm KwK L/24 and Flakvierling. Note the Pz III turret lacks the commander’s cupola.
EGYPT
In the middle of the nineteenth century the rulers of Egypt attempted to seize and hold onto far-flung territorial possessions on the Upper Nile. To do this they needed steamers, and a sizeable fleet was built by Said Pasha, by Sir Samuel Baker, and by General Gordon when he was Governor General of the Sudan.
Before leaving on his first assignment to the Sudan, in May 1874 Gordon had met with Yarrow to discuss with him the best kind of vessel to use on the Upper Nile, where navigation was difficult due to the masses of floating vegetation, known locally as the ‘Sudd’. Yarrow concluded that screw propulsion would be out of the question, and decided to adopt the stern-wheeler design as used on Mississippi steamers. In addition, due to the distances involved, he came up with a sectionalised design which could be broken down into loads light enough to be carried on a camel’s back.
Several months later Yarrow received an order for four steamers designed according to the parameters the two had discussed. They were built, despatched to Suakin by ship, then carried by camels to Berber. Arriving eventually at Khartoum, two were assembled and put into service on the Nile, but the remaining two remained in pieces at Khartoum and would be discovered there by Gordon in 1884. The Egyptian steamers were used for postal and supply runs, the Bordein in particular being employed in provisioning the Egyptian garrisons along the Nile.
Two of these steamers had been lost prior to Gordon’s return to Khartoum in February 1884: No 9 had sunk at Khartoum in 1882 and was broken in pieces, and Embabeh was lost between Khartoum and Berber in 1883. Shebeen was at Khartoum, but was worn out and useful only for spares for other vessels. Two other steamers, Khedive and Nyanza, both twin screw vessels with high-pressure engines, the former of 108 tons and 20 nominal horsepower and the latter of 38 tons and 10 nominal horsepower, had been sent by Gordon for service on Lake Albert Nyanza.
Prior to Gordon’s return, none of these vessels had been armed. When he decided to stay in Khartoum and resist the Mahdi, he set about arming the ten vessels at his disposal.
The first three dated from the time of Said Pasha:
• Fasher, a paddle steamer some 27m/90ft in length, with a 34ihp engine. Built for passenger service with a cabin aft, she had sailed from England to Alexandria, and was sent up the Nile by Said Pasha. Sir Stanley Baker had used her to travel to Gondokoro in 1870–1, which had involved cutting through several miles of the grass barrier (‘Sudd’) on the Bahr el Girafe.
• Musselemieh, a paddle steamer 24.4m/80ft long with 24hp engines. Another of the steamers sent by Said Pasha.
• Tewfikieh, the third of Said Pasha’s paddle steamers, 22m/72ft long, with 24hp engines. Her large comfortable cabin meant she was used as the Governor General’s yacht.
The four survivors of the six steamers (less Embabeh and Shebeen) sent up the Nile for Sir Stanley Baker’s expedition to the White Nile in 1869 were:
The Bordein in her civilian guise. Note her minimal upperworks. (Photo from the Bordein Presentation document, courtesy of Michael Mallinson)
• Tel el Hoween, a paddle steamer some 46m/150ft long, with 60hp engines. Although not as fast as many of the other vessels, she was the most powerful steamer at Khartoum, and with her aft cabin and saloon was capable of transporting a battalion of infantry.
• Bordein, 42.7m/140ft with 40hp engines, speed 10 knots when new.
• Safia, similar in size and power to Bordein, but two knots slower.
• Mansureh, again, similar to Bordein, but speed 9 knots.
One of the three steamers sent in sections across the Nubian Desert to Khartoum for Baker’s expedition:
• Ismailiah, a large paddle steamer of 250 tons with 32hp engines. She had been assembled at Khartoum in 1875 by Gordon, for the postal service on the White Nile. She had a large deck cabin.
(The other two were the Khedive and Nyanza on Lake Albert Nyanza)
Two of the four Yarrow steamers sent in sections to Khartoum in 1874 by the Suakin-Berber road, which Gordon planned to send to the Upper Nile:
• Abbas, a small paddle steamer with high-pressure engines, still in sections at Khartoum when Gordon left, but assembled and launched in 1881.
• Mohammed Ali, identical to Abbas, again launched in 1881.
Of these ten steamers, Fasher and Musselemieh were captured by the Mahdists at Berber in May 1884, and Mohammed Ali was lost to them when Mohammed Bey was defeated on the Blue Nile. Against these three losses, Gordon was able to assemble and launch the two remaining sectionalised Yarrow vessels from 1874 which he found at Khartoum, the Husseinieh in October 1884 and the Zubair the following month.
Gordon had the steamers protected with boiler plate and timber baulks, and armed them with either Krupp 9cm guns or French 9-pounder howitzers. In addition they would have carried Nordenfelt or Gardner machine guns. Their protection was generally considered to be proof against rifle fire outside a range of 140m/150 yards, but was in no way capable of resisting the shells from the 9cm Krupp guns the Mahdi had captured from Hicks’ ill-fated expedition. In many instances, however, since the Krupp gunners were mainly captured Egyptian artillerymen chained to their guns by the Dervishes, the former could secretly ensure that the shells they fired were not always correctly fuzed. Of the serious hits by artillery suffered by the Nile steamers, most involved shot piercing the boilers. Only two shells actually caused serious damage by exploding, in both cases the victim being the Mansoureh.
GORDON’S GUNBOATS IN ACTION
Gordon deployed his gunboats offensively, harassing the Dervishes and maintaining control over the stretches of the Nile as far south as Shendy.
The Loss of Abbas
On 9 September 1884 Gordon sent his second-in-command, Colonel Stewart, down the Nile on board the Abbas, carrying despatches for Wolseley. Mansoureh and Safia attacked the Dervishes on both banks to create a diversion and allow the Abbas a clear run. Sadly, however, she ran aground and was wrecked. Her passengers and crew escaped unharmed, but when they sought refuge at the nearby town of Hebbeh, they were treacherously murdered by the inhabitants, only an Egyptian stoker surviving to tell the story.
The Four
-Month Saga of Nushi Bey Pasha
On 27 September Gordon ordered one of his Egyptian officers, Nushi Bey Pasha, to take three armed steamers, Tel el Hoween, Safia and Mansoureh 150km (93 miles) down the Nile to Shendy to meet the awaited British Army. Their orders were to attack the Mahdists on both banks during the run to the north. After several successful engagements with the enemy they reached their destination on the afternoon of 5 October. Having seized and fortified buildings in Shendy, the flotilla settled down to await the promised arrival of the British. They were to spend nearly four months there, fighting off repeated enemy attacks, while Wolseley’s men struggled up the Nile in small rowing boats.
Krupp 90mm Feldkanone C/73 as used on Gordon’s armed river steamers.
Richard Caton Woodville’s well-known engraving for The Illustrated London News, showing a 90mm Krupp field gun mounted in the bows of one of Gordon’s armed steamers, manned by Egyptian gunners.
On 10 October Nushi Bey heard of the loss of the Abbas. The arrival of Tewfikieh at Shendy allowed him to send Tel el Hoween to Gordon with the news. On the 11th Tel el Hoween went aground, but was refloated under fire.
On 21 October the fixed turret of Mansoureh was struck by a shell which exploded ammunition inside, killing five and wounding four. The attackers were driven off with the help of Tel el Hoween and Bordein arriving from Khartoum. And still the British did not appear.
On 20 November Mansoureh was sent downriver to seek news of the British, but returned with no news and a badly-wounded captain. Provisions began to run low, and several men were wounded on board Tel el Hoween during foraging expeditions for food and wood for the steamers’ boilers.