MV Liemba

MV Liemba
History
German Empire
NameGraf von Goetzen
NamesakeGustav Adolf von Götzen
BuilderMeyer Werft
Laid down1913
Launched5 February 1915
In service9 June 1915
FateScuttled on 26 July 1916
Tanganyika Territory
RenamedSS Liemba
Reinstated16 May 1927
Tanzania
NameMV Liemba
OperatorMarine Services Company Limited
HomeportKigoma, Tanzania in active service[1]
General characteristics
Displacement1,575 t
Length71.4 m (234.25 ft)
Beam9.9 m (32.48 ft)
Draught3 m (9.84 ft)
Installed power
  • Steam 500 ihp (370 kW)
  • Diesel 1,240 hp (920 kW)
PropulsionTriple-expansion steam engine, (until 1970, replaced with Diesel): 2 screws
Speed11 knots (20 km/h)
Armament
  • (removed 1916)
  • 1 × 10.5 cm (4 in) gun
  • 1 × 8.8 cm (3 in) gun
  • 2 × 37 mm revolver guns

MV Liemba, formerly Graf Goetzen or Graf von Goetzen,[a] is a passenger and cargo ferry that runs along the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika. The Marine Services Company Limited of Tanzania[3] sails her, with numerous stops to pick up and set down passengers, between the ports of Kigoma, Tanzania and Mpulungu, Zambia.

Graf von Goetzen was built in 1913 in Germany, and was one of three vessels the German Empire used to control Lake Tanganyika during the early part of the First World War. Her captain had her scuttled on 26 July 1916 in Katabe Bay during the German retreat from Kigoma. In 1924, a British Royal Navy salvage team raised her and in 1927 she returned to service as Liemba. Liemba is the last vessel of the German Imperial Navy still actively sailing anywhere in the world.

Liemba is believed to be the inspiration for the German gunboat Luisa in C. S. Forester's 1935 novel The African Queen, and John Huston's 1951 film version.[2] The ship featured in the 1992 BBC Television travel series Pole to Pole. Indican Pictures[4] and Breadbox Productions[5] released a documentary on the ship in 2010, Liemba.[6]

  1. ^ "The hardships of doing business in Africa: What a century-old German ship says about trade in the modern continent". The Economist. 4 February 2017.
  2. ^ a b Foden, Giles (2005). Mimi and Toutou Go Forth: The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-100984-1.
  3. ^ "MV. Liemba". Vessels. Marine Services Company Limited. Archived from the original on July 7, 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  4. ^ "Indican Pictures". Indican Pictures.
  5. ^ "Breadbox Productions". www.breadboxproductions.com. Archived from the original on 2014-05-17. Retrieved 2014-08-22.
  6. ^ "LIEMBA | An award-winning documentary film". Archived from the original on 2020-06-30. Retrieved 2020-05-21.


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