HMS Fifi
HMS Fifi
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| History | |
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 German Empire
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| Name: | SMS Kingani |
| Namesake: | Kingani River |
| Builder: | Jos. L. Meyer-Werft, Papenburg |
| Yard number: | 92 |
| Laid down: | 1893 |
| Launched: | January 1894 |
| Commissioned: | 8 February 1894 |
| Renamed: | Renamed HMS Fifi after being captured |
| Captured: | 26 December 1915 |
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Fifi |
| Captured: | 26 December 1915 |
| Fate: | Scuttled in 1924 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Screw steamer |
| Displacement: | 45 metric tons (44 long tons; 50 short tons) |
| Length: | 17.75 m (58 ft 3 in) o/a |
| Beam: | 3.65 m (12 ft 0 in) |
| Draught: | 1.3 m (4 ft 3 in) |
| Propulsion: | 1 × 85.5 ihp (64 kW) steam engine |
| Speed: | 9.4 knots (17.4 km/h; 10.8 mph) |
| Complement: | 1 officer, 7 men |
| Armament: | 1 × 3.7 cm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss revolver gun |
HMS Fifi was an armed screw steamer, captured from the Germans by Royal Navy units during the Battle for Lake Tanganyika, and used to support Anglo-Belgian operations on the lake and its surrounding areas. She had previously been operated by the Germans under the name Kingani named after the river Kingani.
After a short career supporting German troop movements in central Africa, she was unexpectedly challenged by two motor boats, named HMS Mimi and HMS Toutou, which had been transported from Britain to the lake by an expedition led by Lieutenant-Commander Geoffrey Spicer-Simson. The faster and more nimble motor boats were able to chase down Kingani, which was unable to bring her larger weapon to bear on the small vessels without turning to face them. After being hit several times and crippled, and with her commanding officer and several men dead, she surrendered and was brought back to the British base. Brought into British service as Fifi, she became the first German warship to be captured and transferred to the Royal Navy.
Fifi went on to join the Anglo-Belgian flotilla in attacking and sinking her former consort, Hedwig von Wissmann, after a prolonged engagement which left Fifi with only two shells remaining, before she scored a crucial hit. She supported further Allied operations on the lake, which involved working with land forces, but the flotilla did not participate in any offensive actions, and the last remaining German vessel, Graf von Götzen, was left unmolested. Fifi spent her last days as a government steamer, carrying passengers across the lake, until being scuttled as unseaworthy in 1924.
Kingani was one of two screw steamers constructed by Meyer-Werft in Papenburg, Germany in 1893/4 for service as customs cruisers in the German East Africa. The ships displaced 45 t (44 long tons; 50 short tons) (20 GRT), their overall length was 17.75 m (58.2 ft) with a 3.65 m (12.0 ft) beam. An engine (one boiler with 30 m2 (320 sq ft) and 10 at) delivered 85.5 indicated horsepower (63.8 kW) for a maximum speed of 9.4 kn (17.4 km/h; 10.8 mph). Crewed by one officer and seven men, the boats were armed with a 3.7 cm (1.5 in) revolver gun.
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