Germany
Gun Boat
commissioning 1915, year that the model represent 1916
brandnew
In 1913, the Meyer-Werft of Papenburg, Germany, recieved a contract to build a colonial steamer to be comissioned on Lake Tanganyika,
most of which belonged to the German colony of East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika), at the time. The ship was built in the German shipyard within ten month, consecutively dismantled in parts, and - packed up in 5000 wooden boxes - sent on its journey to East Africa. After their arrival in Daressalam, the boxes were transported to Kigoma at Lake Tanganyika, via the Tanzanian Central Line (Mittellandbahn) railroad which was finished shortly before.
At Kigoma, the ship was reassembled by about 270 domestic workers under the supervision of three accompaning experts of the Meyer-Werft. Work was not always easy, but on February 5th, 1915, the ship was launched as "Graf Goetzen" (see mm 002). However, due to the outbreak of WWI the ship was decomissioned again, almost immediately.
On June 9th, 1915, she was armed with one SK 105 mm and SK 88 mm gun, each, as well as two 37 mm-guns, taken from the S.M.S. Königsberg
(which was not combat ready and which was later sunk in the Rufiji delta), and was comissioned as "S.M.S. Goetzen" (see mm 002a). The S.M.S. Goetzen was based in Kasanga, formerly Bismarcksburg, together with a garrison of approx. 1.000 soldiers, to warrant naval supremacy on Lake Tanganyika.
In the following she sunk a small English Steamer and made it possible German general Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck to quickly move his
troops and supply across the lake. On June 10th, 1916, the ship was bombarded by Belgian seaplanes. The same happened again as it lay at harbour for repair, at Kigoma. In the meantime, the British Army had brought two steam torpedo boats by land to the lake and together with the Belgian troops they succeded in squeezing the German colonial forces from Lake Tanganyika.
The Germans themselves subsequently sunk the S.M.S. Goetzen in shallow water, however, not without sorrowly greasing all parts of the ship.
The same year, she was salvaged by the Belgians and moored at Kigoma. In 1920, however, she sunk again, during a heavy storm.
After the end of WWI, in 1922, German East Africa fell to Britain as the new colonial power. Only five years later, the ship was salvaged
again and on May 16th, 1927, the ship was operational again and was now renamed Liemba (see mm 002b). In the years thereafter, it found
use as a cargo ship for copper from Zambia and the Congo, coffee from Burundi, and precious stones from Kasai and Katanga. All goods were
ferryed across the lake towards the former German Central Line railroad. Little border traffic was alive and the ship played an important
role in it. In 1961, the British mandate, along with the island of Sansibar, regained independence as the state of Tanzania and a new flag was hoisted on Liemba's flag pole. The ship was still used intensively as the flag ship of the Tanzanian inland water fleet.
1970, the ship was put ashore, the engine room was scavaged and its scraping was decided on, when out of nowhere Irish ship building engineer Dougherty showed up. He was instantly hoocked by one of the oldest steamers worldwide and persuaded Tanzanian president Nyerere to an important step in saving the ship. With support of the World Bank and money from foreign aid Liemba was overhauled and modernized to recieve her present day looks. In November 1976, she left the docks for the fourth time in her eventfull history. In the 1990ties her engine was again overhauled, this time by a Danish shipyard working on site.
Today Liemba is the single large ship on Lake Tanganyika. She she runss on a regular scedule on an approx. 700 km route from Mpulungu, Zambia, at the East side of the lake to Kigoma, stopping at various harbours in between. Where there is no harbour, passengers and goods are brought ashore with small vessels. Bevore 1994, when a bloody civil war started in Burundi and a few years later also in Congo, several other stops on the West side of the lake where also headed for. It speaks for the quality work of the shipyards and the almost miraculous talent for improvisation of its crews, that this ship still does its work, almost 100 years after its first launch.
In the meantime, it is roumored, that Liemba shall now thruly and finally be decommissioned, in the year 2013. Therefore, in autum 2009,
several media reported, that the Papenburger Heimatverein is considering to bring the supposedly oldest still opperational large steam ship
back home to Germany and to preserve her as a museum ship.
As it seems, the Liemba's ex Graf Goetzen's long journey isn't at its end, yet.
