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Battle of Zanzibar
The Battle of Zanzibar was a minor skirmish between the British Navy and the German Navy in Zanzibar harbor. The German patrol unit for its colonial possessions in that part of Africa in 1914 was the SMS Königsberg, a fast, well armed light cruiser captained by Commander Max Loof. He was normally aware that the British African squadron was stronger than he was, but in middle September intelligence reached him that only a single light cruiser was currently on station, and that cruiser was in port. Loof decided to attack the same day the intelligence was recieved, but it was the 20th before he arrived at Zanzibar.
The British, in preparing for the war with the German High Seas Fleet, had not stationed modern light cruisers to the colonies as was the normal practice. Instead the protected cruiser HMS Pegasus, a 17-year old member of the Pelourus class, was on station. Caught without steam on its boilers and in peace-time mode, the Königsberg was able to set the distance of action, allowing its longer range guns to easily outrange the weapons on the Pegasus. The battle ended in the sinking of the British ship.
The victory was hollow for the Germans, who lacked the logistic ability to maintain Königsberg in fighting condition. She would be blockaded in harbor and eventually destroyed by simple river monitors.
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