African Entrepreneurship Record

The intelligence from the city of Dedradawa was obviously delayed. Although there were telegraphs and connections to the rear, the intelligence source came from Arabs in British Somaliland, and it took them several days to reach the city of Dedradawa. In that time, the British Royal Navy could have already made their next move.

Mogadishu port waters.

The East African Navy had long entered a state of readiness, with warship patrols becoming routine, but the naval force in Mogadishu was not strong.

There were only three gunboats as the main combat ships, but the entire Somali coastline stretched nearly two thousand kilometers.

”Galad reported that seventeen minutes ago, a British fleet sailed past the waters near Galad. They are heading towards our Mogadishu port. According to the report from Galad town, there are a total of thirteen warships, including four first-rate ironclads and five second-rate ironclads, aggressively bypassing the waters near Galad.”

Alex: ”Send a telegraph directly to Bajamojo. We need reinforcements. If something unexpected happens, our Mogadishu Navy cannot undertake this level of interception task.”

At this point, it would extremely test the patience of the East African Navy. Although the naval headquarters had warned against the British Navy, currently, Britain had not declared war on East Africa.

This is like the United States’ naval exercises in the South Sea of the Far East Empire in the past; you couldn’t be sure whether its purpose was really ”military exercise,” so at this time, you absolutely must not be impulsive, but also cannot let down your guard!

”Don’t get too close to the British warships. First, see if we can drive them away,” commanded Captain Alex Gough of the Mogadishu Navy.

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At three in the afternoon, Alex led his ”small” fleet, laying in wait, successfully intercepting the British Royal Navy’s fleet in the north, but things didn’t look too good.

”Laizuo’er, are these ships driven by the East African monkeys the main combat ships of the East African Navy?”

Feiler liked to call East Africans ”East African monkeys” because he viewed Africans in this uncivilized region as a group of ”apes” unable to integrate into civilized society, even though East Africans were largely part of the German people.

”Don’t underestimate the East Africans. Although their shipbuilding technology is lagging, the combat power of ironclads largely tests the military capability of their commanders. The East African Navy is learned from the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, which still has some merit in shipbuilding technology,” said Laizuo’er.

”Moreover, we have yet to encounter the main force of the East African Navy. According to intelligence, the primary naval force of East Africa is in the waters of the former Sultanate of Zanzibar, currently with more than a dozen ironclads; although the quality is uneven, they can still pose a certain threat to us.”

The strength of the East African Navy was vastly different compared to the British Royal Navy; many of East Africa’s first-rate ironclads were actually second-rate ironclads in Britain.

Firstly, in terms of tonnage, the main warships of the British fleet visiting East Africa this time all had a tonnage of over six thousand. Among them, four were over eight thousand tons.

Meanwhile, East Africa’s largest-tonnage ironclad was only a bit over seven thousand tons, and there were only three of them, with the lowest tonnage barely higher than East Africa’s gunboats, only over a thousand tons.

The gunboats in East Africa had a displacement of less than a thousand tons. In Britain, similar naval equipment was the Randall gunboat, which rose rapidly in the 1870s but quickly declined and withdrew from the naval stage by the 1890s.

The history of this kind of replacement-type gunboat was very short-lived, only glorious for less than twenty years, yet it was currently the most mature domestically produced warship in East Africa.

But to contend with this British Royal Navy’s main warship in front, with a displacement of at least over eight thousand tons, was simply absurd.

In the original history, in 1879 the naval battle between the Far East Empire and Japan, the ”Mosquito Boat,” that is, the Randall gunboat, couldn’t even match the ironclad in a single encounter.

Britain also equipped a large number of such cheap ”gunboats,” though primarily for colonial regions.

As for the main combat ships of the British Royal Navy, all types of ironclads were mainly deployed in the British homeland waters of the North Atlantic or the Mediterranean waters, which were Britain’s two most important areas of maritime hegemony.

East Africa had a similar approach; ironclads were the main naval force to ensure national security, so the East African Navy’s ironclads were primarily distributed in the eastern waters, centered on the ports of Bajamojo, Bemba Island, and Zanzibar.

At the same time, in the cities of Mombasa, Tanga, and the city of Pemba (one of East Africa’s pure military ports), forming the outer maritime defense, while the port of Mogadishu was not even part of the outskirts, its strength was not even as good as East Africa’s Ryukyu Islands colony.

This was the main reason why Alex Gough did not have high hopes for driving out the British Navy. Relying on just his three gunboats was not even enough to fill the teeth gap of the British offshore fleet.

”Give these East African monkeys a little shock, wipe them out directly!”

The commander-in-chief of the Royal Navy’s expeditionary force, Grafton, ordered.

Since the East African Navy had already detected them, there was no longer any need to cover up this expedition, so it was only logical to wipe out this insignificant small gunboat detachment.

With Grafton’s order, the Royal Navy’s ”Gray Fox,” the main turret directly adjusted its gun barrel, aiming in the direction of the East African gunboats.

Accompanied by a huge ”roar,” a giant wave was directly stirred up beside the East African gunboat.

Alex’s command ship immediately felt a jolt, as if the ears momentarily lost hearing, and the crew was tumbling all over.

”Damn it, this is real war, fight back quickly!”

But the British wouldn’t give Alex a chance. Following the first shot, the gun barrel quickly adjusted, and this time the landing point of the shell was even closer to Alex’s command ship.

The East African gunboat seemed to be at the mercy of a storm. At this moment, the British ”Giant” also joined the battlefield.

With a continuous sound of gunfire, Alex’s heart sank. The strength of the two sides was fundamentally not on the same level, and at this time, they simply were not a match for the British.

He shouted: ”Issue orders to the other two warships, we are retreating back to the home port, at this time, running for our lives is the priority, don’t make unnecessary sacrifices.”

Relying on the fortifications of Mogadishu, perhaps they could still maneuver with the British for a while, but if they continued to confront on the sea like this, it would only be a dead-end.

The British only deployed two ironclads, and the East African Mogadishu Navy had already been beaten to ”scurrying like rats,” in this storm and stress, Alex couldn’t even exert his command capability.

The Mogadishu Navy was simultaneously using circling at sea to evade the British Royal Navy’s artillery targeting, while trying as much as possible to use the main cannons to retaliate, delaying the speed of the British warships.

But in the face of such a huge gap, all these efforts were to no avail. At twelve minutes past three in the afternoon, ”Gray Fox” successfully hit the East African gunboat ”Andres” with its fifth precision targeting.

The hull of the ”Andres” was blown open with a big hole, and seawater rushed into the cabin, causing the ”Andries” to start listing.

While Alex was slightly luckier, his flagship and another ship successfully escaped the firing range, quickly heading towards Mogadishu’s home port.

But escaping could not avoid the inevitable fate. The Royal Navy quickly followed up and began shelling Mogadishu port.

Mogadishu port suffered heavy losses, with numerous ships not yet departed from the port severely damaged. The only slightly fortunate factor was that this was the old port of Mogadishu, primarily used for military purposes.

After being hit by artillery fire, the defensive system of the coastal artillery in the city of Mogadishu began to react, preventing the British army from approaching the port area for more shelling, thereby reducing losses.

After confirming that the East African warships in the port area could no longer take action, the British smoothly left and proceeded towards the southern direction of East Africa.