River Gunboats
Page 29
• The Soudan, a smaller vessel of 249 tons, powered by a single steam engine of 35 nominal horsepower.
Interestingly, all three were fitted with power-driven ventilator fans for cooling their interiors.
1874 and 1877 HMS Avon
The Beacon class were flat-bottomed for river work, and the first with composite hulls (wood planking on iron frames) which allowed the installation of watertight bulkheads.
Before transferring to West Africa, Avon had previously taken part in an expedition in May 1874 to fight pirates on the Lingie River, near Malacca. In January 1877 she proceeded up the Congo River on a punitive expedition against villagers. The following August she went up the River Niger on a second punitive expedition, during which the town of Emblana was burned. The operation was delayed by several hours owing to Avon having grounded on a sandbank, always a problem for ocean-going ships in rivers.
Launched:
1867 by Portsmouth DY.
Dimensions:
Displ: 603 tons; L: 47.2m/155ft; B: 7.6m/25ft; D: 3m/10ft.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; steam engines, 530ihp/10 kno ts.
Guns/Armour:
1 × 64-pounder; 1 × 7in; 2 × 20-pounders.
Fate:
Sold 1890.
1876 HMS Cygnet on the Niger River
The gunboat HMS Cygnet took part in a punitive expedition up the River Niger in June 1876. The locals had been blocking the river and interfering with trade. The settlements at Akado, Sabogrega and Agberi were attacked, three native guns were captured and others thrown into the river.
HMS Foxhound of the Forester class, similar to Cygnet. An unexpected bonus in this photo is a sight of the Dover Turret, with the largest coast defence guns ever mounted in the British Isles. It can be seen just in front of Foxhound’s foremast, at the seaward end of the Admiralty Pier. The turret has survived, still armed with its giant MLR guns, but is now halfway along the extended pier.
Launched:
1874 in Sunderland.
Dimensions:
Displ: 455 tons; L: 38.1m/125ft; B: 7.3m/24ft; D: 3m/10ft.
Power/Speed:
Single screw; steam engine, 457ihp/11 knots.
Guns/Armour:
4 × Armstrongs.
Fate:
Sold 1889.
HMS Alecto
Composite hull, teak on iron frames. Among the last of the Royal Navy’s combat paddle steamer river gunboats, HMS Alecto was a General Service Vessel, intended for anti-slavery patrols and policing. As such she spent virtually the whole of her time in commission in West Africa, and took part in several joint Army-Navy operations on the river system.
She participated in the Niger River campaign between 1883 and 1886, in October 1883 in a punitive expedition on the upper reaches of the Niger, which resulted in the destruction of the native settlement of Igah, and in December 1886 she was present at the attack on Patani.
In 1891 she was on the Gambia River, as part of the operation against Chief Fodeh Cabbah. In April 1892 she was part of the expedition against Chief Carimoo’s strongholds of Tambi and Toniatula on the River Scarcies.
1894 found Alecto once more on the Gambia, in the operations against Chief Fodeh Cabbah.
The superb model of HMS Alecto built by Alan Ludbrook, which is now part of the National Maritime Museum collection. Note her bow rudder for manoeuvring in the confines of narrow rivers, especially when going astern. (Photo courtesy of A Ludbrook)
In February 1897 she took part in the Benin expedition, during which her captain, Lieutenant Charles Edward Pritchard, was killed.
Lastly in 1898 Alecto saw action during the Sierra Leone Hut Tax War. This was to be her final campaign, as she was sold at Sierra Leone the following year.
Launched:
14 August 1882, by Westwood and Bailey, Millwall, London.
Dimensions:
Displ: 620 tons; L: 48.8m/160ft; B: 8m/26ft 3in; D: 2.2m/7ft 4in.
Crew:
68.
Power/Speed:
Side paddle wheels; steam engine, 490ihp; schooner rigged.
Guns/Armour:
4 × 25pdr BL; 2 × four-barrelled .45 Gardner MG.
Fate:
Sold at Sierra Leone 12 October 1899.
HMS Mosquito and HMS Herald, Yarrow Stern-wheelers for the Zambesi (sic) and Shiré
The stern paddle wheels were essential in view of their shallow draught. To give rigidity to the flat and shallow hull, Yarrow introduced a girder structure which can clearly be seen here. Also visible is the locomotive-type boiler. If this type of gunboat was to operate in an area where a potential enemy possessed guns, then the boiler as well as the engine room and pilot cabin would receive vertical armour plating. Such was Yarrow’s skill in building these vessels to a standard design, that both were delivered to the Navy just twenty-five days after receipt of the order.
HMS Mosquito, seen here on her trials on the Thames, before her armament has been fitted. Crinoline mountings for no less than seven 3-pounder QF guns are visible on her decks.
The two gunboats on station, in the Zambesi, HMS Mosquito leading HMS Herald. Note their altered funnels, perhaps a spark-catching modification. (From an old postcard)
HMS Mosquito or HMS Herald being hauled through the shallows on a tributary of the Shiré River, Nyasaland. (Illustration in The Graphic, 17 February 1894)
‘Bird’ Class
HMS Heron was the first of the ‘Bird’ class, intended for the Upper Nile but too late to participate in Kitchener’s campaign. Her sisters Robin, Snipe, Nightingale and Sandpiper would be sent to China (see below), but Heron was sent to patrol the Niger in January 1900.
HMS Heron in a doctored publicity photo. The original showed her on the Thames, still bearing the numbered sections on her hull. A giveaway is that she has not yet been fitted with her armament.
Launched:
1897 by Yarrow.
Dimensions:
Displ: 85 tons; L: 32.9m/108ft; B: 6.1m/20ft; D: 0.61m/2ft.
Crew:
25.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; tunnel guide blade type; 2 × VTE steam engines, 240ihp/9 knots.
Guns/Armour:
1 × 6-pounder QF; .303in Maxim MG/Bulletproof hull and superstructure.
Fate:
Transferred to the control of the local Nigerian administration 1 January 1899.
HMS Dwarf
In January 1901 HMS Dwarf accompanied French vessels up the Gambia River on an expedition against the still-troublesome Chief Fodeh Cabbah.
In 1914 during the Franco-British offensive against the German Colony of Kamerun, HMS Dwarf was anchored in Bimbia Creek, an offshoot of the Cameroon River, when she was attacked by the small German customs steamer SMS Nachtigal. On the night of 17 September the Nachtigal was coming down the Bimbia at speed, when her commander, Oberleutenant zur See Wendling, spotted the Dwarf. His vessel was spotted at the same moment by the lookouts on the Dwarf, and the British ship immediately opened fire. In their opening broadside the 5cm gun on the bows of Nachtigal was blown overboard, together with its crew. Without hesitation Wendling rammed the much larger gunboat amidships, tearing a hole in her hull but without causing fatal damage. The Nachtigal drifted away, disabled from the collision and in flames from end to end, and grounded on the bank where she blew up. Her captain and thirteen crew members, all wounded, were saved by the crew of Dwarf, but thirty-three other crewmen had perished in the brief encounter.
The previous night, and again on 20 September, Dwarf was the target of infernal devices, two improvised torpedo boats conceived by a local German missionary. In each petrol-engined launch he had rigged a pair of hydrogen gas cylinders filled with dynamite, fixed on frames allowing them to be lowered below water level. The target was to be the Dwarf, which each night anchored next to the line of blockships the Germans had sunk across the river, to prevent them from sinking more ships or from interfering with the wreck clearance work in progr
ess. The launches were to be steered at full speed towards the Dwarf, the single crewman locking the tiller and jumping overboard at the last moment. Shades of C S Forester’s African Queen?
HMS Dwarf in service during the Great War, seen here with later-type shields to her 4in guns.
The first attack on the night of 16 September failed when the brave but obviously nervous pilot accidentally latched the tiller to give a turn to port instead of straight ahead. When he jumped overboard the torpedo boat continued to circle, until it hit the bank and stopped. In the morning both the boat and the pilot were picked up by the British. The latter were therefore ready for the next attempt, which took place on the night of 20 September. This time the second explosive torpedo boat heading straight for the Dwarf was pursued by launches from one of the cruisers and fired upon. The German report records that when the petrol tank caught fire, the torpedo boat’s crew decided to surrender.
After the exciting events of September, HMS Dwarf went into action once more in October, this time as part of the flotilla carrying out amphibious operations on the 21st of the month on the Njong River, transporting a detachment of French infantry into the hinterland of the German colony.
Launched:
1898 by W H Potter and Sons, Glasgow.
Dimensions:
Displ: 710 tons; L: 54.9m/180ft; B: 10m/33ft; D: 2.4m/8ft.
Crew:
85.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; VTE steam engines, 1,300ihp/13.5 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 4in QF; 4 × 12-pounder QF; 4 × 0.45in Maxim MG.
Fate:
Stricken in around 1925.
Lake Nyasa
HMS Pioneer and HMS Adventure
These two gunboats were built by Yarrow & Co in 1891, and sent out in sections in 1892 and launched on Lake Nyasa in 1893. Their role was to help put down the slave trade. After the arrival of Guendolen in 1899 they were used on other government duties, Adventure being transferred to the Transcontinental Telegraph Company. She was later sold to a Portuguese company, but struck a rock in 1915 and was abandoned.
HMS Adventure of the Pioneer class in about 1895 at Fort Johnston. Note the starboard side sponson for the crinoline mounting, indicating that she carried two 3-pounder QF guns. (Photo Lake Malawi Museum, Mangochi)
Hotchkiss 3-pounder (47mm) QF. Unlike the the short-barrelled Hotchkiss 37mm Model 1885, on which the recoil is absorbed by the mounting, this model has a recoil cylinder on each side of the barrel.
Launched:
1891 by Yarrow & Co, Poplar. Launched on Lake Nyasa in 1893.
Dimensions:
Displ: 35 tons; L: 22.9m/75ft; B: 3.66m/12ft; D: 1.07m/3ft 6in.
Power/Speed:
Single screw; steam engine/9 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 3-pounder QF; .303in Maxim MG.
Fate:
Adventure wrecked 1915; Pioneer?
HMS Dove
HMS Dove was built by Yarrow in 1892 with extremely shallow draught, for service on the Upper Shiré River between Lake Nyasa and Matope. She was transported to the Zambezi on board the steamship Borrowdale. Because of her short length and relatively large side paddle wheels, and therefore her way of progressing, the local Africans called her ‘Chikapa’, a word which describes the circular motion imparted to the buttocks when dancing . . .
After 1900 she was used as a government transport, and occasionally entered the Lake. Sold in 1946, she was dismantled and her hull used as a barge. In 1966 she was moved to Monkey Bay and used as a landing stage, where she still was at the time of writing.
Launched:
1892 by Yarrow, Poplar.
Dimensions:
Displ: 25 tons; L: 19.8m/65ft; B: 4.27m/14ft; D: 0.30m/1ft.
Power/Speed:
Side paddle wheels; steam engine/9 knots.
Guns/Armour:
Not given, but likely to be 1 × 3-pounder QF plus at least one .303in Maxim MG.
Fate:
Sold 1946. Hull used as landing stage.
HMS Dove with one of the Pioneer class in the background, in about 1900 at Fort Johnston. (Photo by Barnaby Philipps on Website Ingrum.net)
HMS Guendolen
The gunboat HMS Guendolen was ordered for the British administration from G Rennie & Co. of Greenwich in 1897. She was shipped out in parts the following year, and after reassembly at Fort Johnson was commissioned in May 1899. She took over from the two smaller gunboats Pioneer and Adventure, releasing them for administrative duties.
On 13 August 1914 Captain Rhoades took Guendolen to attack the German steamer Hermann von Wissmann which was drawn up on the slipway at the German base of Sphinxhaven for repairs to her hull. With the ship rolling to a swell, Guendolen’s third 6-pounder shell struck the bows of the German vessel. On 30 May 1915, Guendolen returned a second time to Sphinxhaven, and supported the troops of the King’s African Rifles who captured the German base and the steamer, still up on dry land.
HMS Guendolen at Port Johnston. Note her gun sponsons beside her foremast, proving her gunboat origins rather than being a steamer which could be armed in time of conflict. (Photo National Maritime Museum Ref B8346)
One of HMS Guendolen’s 57mm 6-pounder QF guns as preserved at Mangochi in Malawi. Note that the recoil cradle with the shoulder stock should be horizontal, not angled upwards at the rear. (Photo from Website: http://ekarimbvundula.blogspot.fr/p/my-first-published-article.html)
Guendolen continued in government service up until 1940, when she was sold to Nyasaland Railways, but due to the deterioration of her hull, she was scrapped four years later. One of her 6-pounder guns which fired on the Wissmann is preserved near the Clock Tower in Mangochi.
Launched:
1897 by G. Rennie & Co., Greenwich; relaunched on the Lake May 1899.
Dimensions:
Displ: 340 tons; L: 41m/136ft; B: 7.3m/24ft; D: 1.7m/5ft 6in.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; steam engines/10–12 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 6-pounder QF; .303in Maxim MG.
Fate:
Scrapped 1944.
Chauncy Maples
Built for the Universities’ Mission to Central Africa (UMCA), the Chauncy Maples was ordered in 1897, one of the last ships designed by Henry Marc Brunel, son of the great Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. First built in 1899 in Glasgow, she was broken down into a kit of almost 3,500 parts, then transported to the lake where she was reassembled and launched in June 1901. When the parts arrived it was found that the numbers marking each piece had been covered over by the subsequent galvanising process, which caused a certain amount of delay while the enormous jigsaw was sorted out. Her boiler was dragged in one piece for 350 miles (560km) by hundreds of Ngoni tribesmen.
Chauncy Maples in civilian guise in 1905. (Photo Lake Malawi Museum, Mangochi)
The Krupp 4cm Kolonialgeschütz taken from the Hermann von Wissman and mounted on the bows of Chauncy Maples, to turn her into a gunboat.
She was named for the Bishop of Likoma who tragically drowned in the lake in 1895. Initially fitted with a set of auxiliary sails, these were soon discarded. Requisitioned as a troop transport in 1914, she was armed with two Maxim machine guns. She took part in the second attack to neutralise the Hermann von Wissman, following which Chauncy Maples was fitted with a 40mm gun removed from the German vessel. Returned to civilian use after the war, she was re-engined with a diesel in 1967, and at the time of writing was still in existence, hauled up on land at Monkey Bay. Her planned refurbishment as a floating medical facility had been abandoned.
Launched:
1899 by Alley & McLellan, Glasgow, reassembled at Mponda June 1901.
Dimensions:
Displ: 250 tons; L: 38.7m/127ft ; B: 9m/20ft; D: 1.98m/6ft 6in.
Power/Speed:
Single screw; steam engine; From 1967: Crossley 6-cyl diesel engine, 330bhp/9 knots.
Guns/Armour:
1 ×
40mm (1-pounder) Krupp; 2 × .303in Maxim MG.
Fate:
Still in existence 2017.
Lake Tanganyika
As described in the chapters on BELGIUM and GERMANY, it is clear that from the outset of the Great War the Germans intended to dominate Lake Tanganyika, capitalising on the presence of their trained naval personnel and armament recovered from the survey ship Möwe, which had been blockaded and then scuttled at Dar es Salaam. The sole potential British presence on the lake was the Good News, launched in 1887 for the London Missionary Society, and the Cecil Rhodes, launched in 1901 for Tanganyika Concessions Ltd. Both of these were beached at the southern end of the lake, with their engines removed, and they were therefore not available at short notice to be armed as auxiliary gunboats. In November 1914 the Good News was put out of action in the raid by Kapitänleutnant Kendrick. It seems that the TSS Cecil Rhodes, built for transporting the wires and equipment for the ambitious Cape-to-Cairo Telegraph from the Southern to the Northern shores of the lake, had been pulled ashore and laid up as early as 1903, when the death of Cecil Rhodes put a premature end to the telegraph project. She met her end on 4 July 1915 when she was towed out into the lake by the Götzen and allowed to sink.
While the Royal Navy supplied guns including 4in/27 calibre QFC and 12-pounder QF guns to the Belgians for coast defence and to arm their steamers on the lake, and the Belgians made preparations to install two 160mm gun cupolas taken from Fort Shinkakasa, the local Belgian authorities called for massive reinforcements, including aircraft, torpedo boats and even a submarine. The first of these to arrive, by the railway, was the 10-ton armoured launch Mosselback, followed by the torpedo boat Netta (with launch cradles but no torpedoes), but on the lake itself the Belgians were about to be heavily out-gunned by the completion of the large Graf von Götzen.