6 July 1915 – Attack the Konigsberg!

The Admiral decided to open his attack without further
The two monitors Mersey and Severn entered the Kikunja mouth of the Rufiji at 5.20 a.m. and began to work their way up river. Meanwhile the Caudron aeroplane, piloted by Flight Lieutenant Watkins, aimed bombs at the German cruiser from 6,000 feet, but with little success.

The Henri Farman (Flight Commander Cull and Flight Sub-Lieutenant H. J. Arnold) then arrived to relieve the Cauldron and direct fire. A strong current swung the anchored Severn out of position, and it was not until 6.48 a.m. that she opened fire, at a range of 11,000 yards, with the Mersey following almost at once.

The aeroplane reported that the Severn’s first salvo was yards short and to the left. For the next twelve minutes a steady fire was kept up, but no direct hits were reported. Then the Konigsberg began to reply with rapid four and five gun salvos. Thanks to a German observation post, concealed in a tree of a nearby island, that went undetected for the first hour, her fire was accurate and the monitors were several times straddled. After three-quarters of an hour a shell struck the forward 6-inch gun of the Mersey, killing four of her crew, knocking out the remainder, and all but exploding the magazine; another shell sank a motor-boat alongside.

The Mersey then shifted her berth, and had only just got clear when a salvo burst on the spot where she had been anchored.

The Severn, meanwhile, kept up her fire and, at 7.51 a.m., was rewarded with a wireless message from the aeroplane that she had made her first direct hit. For the next twenty minutes her fire was consistently good. News of five or six further direct hits came down from the observer, the remaining shots being reported mostly just over. At 8.10 a.m. the Mersey joined in once more, but the fire of both monitors was now reported off the target.

At this point the Cauldron returned, this time with Flight Lieutenant V. G. Blackburn and Assistant Paymaster H. G. Badger.

The Konigsberg’s salvos were now falling so close to the Severn that Captain Fullerton decided to shift his position and open the range. This decision to move came just in time, as a similar one had done for the Mersey, As the Severn got under way, a closely-grouped salvo burst in her wake. Soon after she moved, a platform and khaki figures were seen from the monitor in the mangroves about 400 yards from the ship. Three three-pounder shells brought the platform down and three 6-inch lyddite shells, dropped into the position from point-blank range, made a quick end of the observation post that had given the Kbnigsberg her accuracy. The fire from the German cruiser, from now onwards, fell away, although it was clear there was an alternative spotting post, probably on Pemba Hill, but certainly some distance off. The Severn again anchored, and firing at the longer range was reopened at 9.50 a.m.

At the same time the Caudron was relieved by the Henri Farman, flown by Squadron Commander R. Gordon, with Flight Sub-Lieutenant Arnold as his observer. Unfortunately the wireless communication between the aeroplane and the monitors broke down, and the ships were forded to get closer in to get direct observation from the foretop, but this also failed.

The Caudron reappeared at 11.45 a.m. but had to turn back with engine failure. At 1.40 p.m. the Henri Farman arrived on the scene once more and took up the spotting on fire being reopened at 2.30 p.m., but the results were now disappointing. All the shots were reported well short of their target , though actually they were falling inot the mud and failing to detonate.

The monitors retired about 4.0 p.m. The two aeroplanes, which had been fired at throughout the day by the German cruiser, had totalled fifteen hours in the air, and one of the observers had been up for nine hours. The Konigsberg had been hit and damaged, but she had not been destroyed.