[Sailor Steve]

July 29:

Karl Karl Groß, commanding UB-4, sinks Belgian freighter SS Princess Marie Jose, 1,954 tons, bound from Dunston to Bordeaux with a load of coal. Karl Groß's score is now 3 ships and 10,883 tons.



German East Africa: At 0030 Admiral King-Hall's makeshift task force is joined by another gunboat, HMS Pioneer. At 0200 the group stops at Lindi bay. Armed parties are transfered to Echo and Rattler. Their purpose is to finish an old job: Back on October 19th of the previous year Captain Drury-Lowe of HMS Chatham had discovered the German transport SS Präsident at Lindi, disguised as a hospital ship. Commander Raymond Fitzmaurice had disabled the ship's engines. Now Admiral King-Hall has recieved word that the German freighter's engines have been repaired and the ship has been moved into Lukuledi Creek, where she is being stocked with wood for fuel. King-Hall intendes to destroy the freighter entirely. The attacking force is lead by Commander Richard Orlando Beaconsfield Bridgeman.

At 0500 the group of ships enters the bay with the two acting minesweepers ahead and Pioneer and the tugs behind. At 0630 the water becomes too shallow for Challenger to proceed further, and Commander Bridgeman leads the smaller vessels up the river. Bridgeman takes Echo and Fly up Lukeledi Creek, sending other ships back to Challenger. He finds Präsident in good working order and 16-pound guncotton charges around the ship. Präsident's engines are destroyed, and her wireless, and sufficient holes are blown in her sides to sink the ship. At 1535 Echo and Fly exit the Lindi River and at 1735 Challenger leads the smaller ships toward home.