British Army during the Victorian Era dependency, the Sudan. There were some bloody battles near the Red Sea port of Suakin as the British tried to redeem earlier Egyptian defeats. General Charles George Gordon was originally sent to superintend a withdrawal but chose instead to defend Khartoum against the Mahdi Muhammad Ahmed. After a prolonged siege, the Egyptian defenders of Khartoum were overwhelmed and Gordon was killed. A British relief expedition by camel across the deserts of northern Sudan arrived two days too late. Several years later, having rebuilt an Egyptian army (including British and many Sudanese troops) and constructed railways and fleets of Nile steamboats
HMS Khartoum (F45) and the sloop in search for "Torricelli" near Perim Island. After interception, "Khartoum" and these warships took part in a surface engagement with the submarine, during which "Torricelli" was sunk and "Shoreham" damaged. However, during the battle, "Khartoum" was hit by return fire which damaged the after torpedo tube mounting. Some five and a half hours later, at 11.50am (local time), a torpedo's compressed air chamber exploded, propelling the warhead through the deck house of number 3 4.7-inch mount. and causing a serious uncontrollable fire from a ruptured oil tank there. This resulted in an explosion of the ship's artillery