At the start of World War One the Imperial German Navy had a large
number of surface warships deployed around the world. These posed a considerable
threat to British mercantile interests, particularly the import of food and fuel
supplies. Their elimination was a matter of urgency.
This book covers the major actions and includes the
following:
The escape of the Goeben and Breslau to Turkey, where they became units of the Turkish
Navy serving in the Black and Aegean Seas.
The remarkable cruise of the Emden. Detached from the German East Asia
Squadron she sank a Russian cruiser, a French destroyer, 21 merchant ships and
destroyed cargo valued at £3 million. She was cornered and sunk by the
Australian cruiser Sydney while raiding the Cocos
Islands.
The mystery of the Karlsrühe, destroyed by an internal
explosion.
The German East Asiatic Squadron, consisting of the armoured cruisers
Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and several light cruisers made passage across the
Pacific to the west coast of South America
where they encountered and sank two British cruisers, the Monmouth and Good
Hope.
The Königsberg operated from Germany’s colony of Tanga. After
sinking a British cruiser she hid in the upper reaches of the Rufiji River. After a lengthy naval and air
campaign by British forces she was finally destroyed by the indirect fire from
two RN Monitors.
By the middle of 1915 the high seas had been mostly cleared of German
surface warships, but two armed German ships dominated Lake
Tanganyika. Two British armed motor boats were shipped to the West
African coast from England and made their way by river
and overland haulage to the lake, a 400 mile journey. The result was the
destruction of the German lake boats and the invasion of Tanganyika by
British forces. This operation became the inspiration for CS Forester’s novel
The African Queen and the film that followed.
