Mimi, Toutou, Fifi, & and a gentleman who liked to wear skirts

Geoffrey Spicer-Simson in skirt (left)

Truth being stranger than fiction (part1).

From Wiki:-

The Battle for Lake Tanganyika was a series of naval engagements that took place between elements of the Royal Navy and the Kaiserliche Marine between December 1915 and February 1916, during the First World War. The intention was to secure control of the strategically important Lake Tanganyika, which had been dominated by German naval units since the beginning of the war. The British forces, consisting of two motor boats named HMS Mimi and HMS Toutou under the command of the eccentric Lieutenant-Commander Geoffrey Spicer-Simson, were transported to South Africa and from there by railway, river and by being dragged through the African jungle to the lake.

In two short engagements the small motor boats attacked and defeated two of their German opponents. In the first action, on 26 December 1915 the Kingani was damaged and captured, becoming HMS Fifi. In the second, the small flotilla overwhelmed and sank the Hewig von Wissman.

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