H.MS. Severn was originally built as @ monitor for the Brazilian Navy and had Just been completed when before delivery could be ma Admiralty and promptly took her over. Designed solely for river work she seemed at first glance in perfect order for the upper reaches of the Amazon but definitely and decidedly all wren for the (treacherous waters and tides that wash the British Isles. Singlefuntielled, having a freeboard of not and so Severn remained at Malta until the closing days of April when the raiding escapades of the German cruiser Konigsberg off the East African coast and the losses suffered by British shipping at her hands demanded that something be.done, for was realized. that if the enemy vessel was allowed to remain afloat she could and would inflict untold damage to allied interests in this part] of the world.
Meeting with Konigsbers:
Kanigsberg had. However, miomentarily shot her bolt, having retired up the Ruff River for a makeshift ref. fand before she could re-emerge on the high seas to continue her warlike depredations, various vessels of the British African Fleet found the time opportune to blockade her and shut off her means of escape. Captain Looft, the commander of the German cruiser, was such a master tactician and strategist however, that no British warship could "come far enough up the treacherous reaches of the Rudjt to engage her in battle, which naturally necessitated an ever-constant watch at the numerous mouths of the river to prevent any chance that she might have had of Funning the, gauntlet and escaping to comparative liberty. It is not dim. cult" to visualize the tremendous cost incurred in keeping Konigsberg "pottied-up," and the figures, high a3 they were, would most probably heve been considerably augmented but for the arrival of Severn afler weeks ud weeks of trials and endurance [through the Mediterranean, Suez Canal and Red Sea—triais and hardships enough to test even the most. stout-hearted sailor who ever lived. On July 6 and i, 1918, in company with her sister monitor Mersey" and after several "dress rehearsals" in which even the minus {est of details had been planned Severn floated slowly up the Ruf, and" thanks to her draught was able to make light of the shallows, approach Konigsberg and engage her two terrible duels that spelt doom for the German vessel and thus free the blockading craft for other but none the less important duties.
Crittes Confounded whaler Rattler. more than 3% feet forward and aft, she measured 265 fect long and. feot wide and when fully loaded drew no more than 6¥% feet of water, all of which suggested not so much a ship oF sea-going craft as some squat, Moating fort or a floating steel plat: form on which to mount guns," Of 1200 tons the slonder grip that Severn had on the water always made her an ungainly creature, extremely dim cult to handle save in.a flat calm and the great difficulties experienced in moving her from place to place during liber lifetime form many a humorous. albeit dangerous episode in this volume.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.