View source for Hedwig von Wissmann (steamship)

{{Short description|German steamship in Africa in early 20th century}}
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{{Infobox ship image
| Ship image=[[File:Riss Hedwig von Wissmann.jpg|300px|Design of the ''Hedwig von Wissmann'']]
| Ship caption=Plans of ''Hedwig von Wissmann''
}}
{{Infobox ship career
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| Ship country= German Empire
| Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|German Empire|civil}}
| Ship name=''Hedwig von Wissmann''
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| Ship ordered=
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| Ship builder=Janssen & Schmilinsky, [[Hamburg]]
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| Ship launched=1897, 6 November 1900
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| Ship acquired=
| Ship in service=20 September 1900
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| Ship fate=Sunk, 9 February 1916 
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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| Ship class=
| Ship type=Steam ship
| Ship tonnage=
| Ship displacement={{convert|60|MT}}
| Ship length= {{Convert|20|m|abbr=on}}
| Ship beam= {{convert|4.26|m|abbr=on}}
| Ship height={{convert|2.3|m|abbr=on}}
| Ship draught= {{convert|1.25|m|abbr=on}}
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| Ship propulsion=Steam engine, {{Convert|85|PS|0|abbr=on}}
| Ship speed={{convert|9|kn}}
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| Ship boats=
| Ship capacity= 400
| Ship crew= 14 + 14
| Ship armament=*3 × {{convert|3.7|cm|abbr=on}} [[Hotchkiss revolving cannon]]s
*From April 1915:
*1 × {{convert|4.7|cm|abbr=on}} quick-loading gun
*1 × 3.7 cm revolving cannon
| Ship notes=7 killed/20 captured (including 2 wounded)
}}
|}

The '''''Hedwig von Wissmann''''' was a German steamboat on [[Lake Tanganyika]], which became a feature in the story behind the film [[The African Queen (film)|''The African Queen'']]. She was [[Sister ship|sister vessel]] to the larger {{Ship||Hermann von Wissmann|steamship|2}} on [[Lake Nyasa]], and like that vessel originally used as a gunboat against slavers. Hedwig von Wissmann was the wife of the German explorer and colonial administrator [[Hermann Wissmann|Hermann von Wissmann]] who had raised funds for both boats.

On 12 August 1914 she was drafted for guard service on Lake Tanganyika. She was sunk by an Anglo-Belgian flotilla of small boats under [[Geoffrey Spicer-Simson]] in on 9 February 1916 at 11h50 in the [[Battle for Lake Tanganyika]] including {{HMS|Fifi}} and {{HMS|Mimi}}.<ref>Pan-African chronology III Everett Jenkins - 2001 "On February 9, in the early hours in the morning the German warship the Hedwig von Wissmann was sighted steaming down the ... At 100 tons, the Hedwig von Wissmann was more than twice the size of the now British manned Kingani (HMS Fifi) ..."</ref>

German casualties were engineer and two African stokers killed in the engine room; a warrant officer and some African crew members killed<ref>Apparently three African crew killed. See [[Battle for Lake Tanganyika]] Footnote # 55.</ref> and a European stoker and an African seaman slightly wounded when two of the ships boats were hit by shells. Twelve Europeans, including the captain Job Odebrecht,<ref>He served in World War II as a general in the Luftwaffe</ref> and eight Africans were captured by the British.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=WcEKAAAAYAAJ&q=National+Geographic+October+1922 National Geographic October 1922 .pp.362-363]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{February 1916 shipwrecks}}

[[Category:Steamships of Germany]]
[[Category:1897 ships]]
[[Category:World War I auxiliary ships of Germany]]
[[Category:Lake Tanganyika]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1916]]
[[Category:World War I shipwrecks]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of Africa]]