Sinking of HMS Pegasus at Zanzibar
- Category:
- Military operations
- Front:
- War at sea
- Date:
- 20 September 1914
- Author:
- Natalia
At dawn on 20 September 1914 the German light cruiser SMS Königsberg entered the harbour of the town of Zanzibar and attacked the British cruiser HMS Pegasus lying at anchor. Taken by surprise, the ship was unable to defend herself and sank after a short fight.
A ship under repair
Pegasus was an old, small protected cruiser, built at the end of the 19th century. From the start of the war she had been patrolling the coast of German East Africa with other ships and had taken part in the operations begun by the August bombardment of Dar es Salaam. In September her worn-out boilers and engines needed urgent repair. Her captain, Commander John Ingles, therefore put in at Zanzibar, a British protectorate off the coast of Africa, and began repairs. The ship lay in harbour with part of her machinery dismantled, unable to put to sea quickly.
Königsberg, commanded by Commander Max Looff, had been cruising the western Indian Ocean since the start of the war. As early as 6 August she had sunk the British merchant ship City of Winchester. Looff learned that a British warship was lying at Zanzibar and decided to attack her.
Attack at dawn
On the morning of 20 September Königsberg unexpectedly appeared in the roadstead. The harbour entrance was guarded only by an armed tug, which was unable to stop her or warn the crew of Pegasus. The German cruiser opened fire from a range of several kilometres. Her more modern guns outranged the old British guns, and the first salvoes hit their target. Pegasus returned fire, but her shells fell short of the enemy.
After only a few minutes, a quarter of an hour at most, the British ship was a burning wreck, unable to fight. Ingles ordered the colours struck and the ship abandoned. Königsberg shelled the harbour for a little longer and then sailed away. Pegasus sank later that same day. Casualty figures vary by source: between 31 and 38 members of the crew were killed and about 55 wounded. The Germans suffered no losses. The British later salvaged six guns from the wreck and used them in the fighting on land.
The end of Königsberg
The success did not change the German cruiser’s position. Her engines also needed repair, and Looff had nowhere to go. He hid the ship in the backwaters of the Rufiji delta on the coast of German East Africa. At the end of October the British found her and blockaded her. For many months, however, they could not reach her in the shallow channels. Only in July 1915 did two shallow-draught monitors make their way deep into the delta and badly damage the cruiser. On 11 July the crew blew up the wreck.
Königsberg’s war did not end there. The Germans salvaged the guns from the wreck and carried them inland. The sailors of her crew, together with the guns, joined the forces of Lieutenant Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, which for the following years waged the campaign in East Africa.
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Related events
(04)The same battle, people or subject.
- 31 October 1914 · AfricaKönigsberg found in the Rufiji deltaAt the end of October 1914 the British found the German cruiser Königsberg hidden in the Rufiji delta in East Africa and blockaded her.
- 11 July 1915 · War at seaDestruction of the cruiser KönigsbergOn 11 July 1915 the British monitors Severn and Mersey, directed from an aircraft, wrecked the cruiser Königsberg in the Rufiji delta. Her crew blew her up.
- 22 September 1914 · War at seaAboukir, Hogue and Cressy are sunkOn 22 September 1914 the German U-9 sank three British armoured cruisers in about an hour. Almost 1,500 sailors were killed.
- 1 March 1915 · AfricaBlockade of German East AfricaOn 1 March 1915 Britain declared a blockade of the whole coast of German East Africa, to cut the colony off from supplies and hem in the Königsberg.