1915 1916 1917 1918 The Battle of Zanzibar was an encounter between the German Kaiserliche Marine and the British Royal Navy early in the First World War.

Shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, on 19 September 1914, Commander Max Looff of the light cruiser SMS Königsberg was coaling in the Rufiji Delta, when he learned from coast watchers that a British warship had entered Zanzibar harbour.

The protected cruiser Pegasus, under the command of Captain John Ingles,[2] had just left the company of HMS Astraea and Hyacinth for repairs at Zanzibar to her boilers and engines.

[3] Also at Zanzibar, the British had armed the captured German tug HMS Helmuth with a 3-pounder gun and posted her as a picket ship at the entrance of the harbor.

At dawn on 20 September, Königsberg entered the southern end of the Zanzibar approaches and sailed past the picket ship Helmuth, firing a few warning shots as she passed.

One of the first British sailors wounded was gunnery officer Lieutenant Richard Turner, who suffered both of his legs being mangled by shrapnel.

The British continued their futile fight for around 20 minutes more, taking additional hits from Königsberg, the majority landing on Pegasus' deck.

After Königsberg had finished with Pegasus, she fired a few parting shots at Helmuth, whose crew managed to abandon ship before one of the German cruiser's salvos struck the tug.

Staff Surgeon Alfred J. Hewitt was on the deck of Pegasus from the beginning to the end of the battle, aiding wounded sailors and marines.

The British were watching the port of Dar es Salaam so she had to return to the Rufiji River delta to await the overland transport of spare parts.