MV Liemba, formerly Graf von Goetzen, was the last vessel of the German Imperial Navy still in active service, 108 years after it was built in 1913.

 

MV Liemba, formerly Graf Goetzen or Graf von Goetzen,^[a] is a passenger and cargo ferry that runs along the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika. The Marine Services Company Limited of Tanzania^[3] sails her, with numerous stops to pick up and set down passengers, between the ports of Kigoma, Tanzania and Mpulungu, Zambia.

Graf von Goetzen was built in 1913 in Germany, and was one of three vessels the German Empire used to control Lake Tanganyika during the early part of the First World War. Her captain had her scuttled on 26 July 1916 in Katabe Bay during the German retreat from Kigoma. In 1924, a British Royal Navy salvage team raised her and in 1927 she returned to service as Liemba. Liemba is the last vessel of the German Imperial Navy still actively sailing anywhere in the world.

Liemba is believed to be the inspiration for the German gunboat Luisa in C. S. Forester's 1935 novel The African Queen, and John Huston's subsequent film version.^[2] The ship featured in the 1992 BBC Television travel series Pole to Pole. Indican Pictures^[4] and Breadbox Productions^[5] released a documentary on the ship in 2010, Liemba.