HMS Boomerang

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flag
Sharpshooter class
HMS Boomerang in Sydney
HMS Boomerang in Sydney
Overview
Type Torpedo gunboat
units 13
Shipyard

Armstrong, Mitchell & Co ,
Elswick (Tyne and Wear) , BauNr. 545

Keel laying 23 August 1888
Launch July 24, 1889
Namesake the traditional Australian throwing boomerang
Commissioning March 24, 1891
Whereabouts sold for demolition in July 1905
Technical specifications
displacement

735  tn.l.

length

overall: 73.7 m (242 ft )
pp: 70.1 m (230 ft)

width

8.2 m (27 ft)

Draft

2.6 m (8.5 ft)

crew

91 men

drive

4 locomotive boilers
2 triple expansion machines from Belliss & Morcom ,
3600 PSi, 2 shafts

speed

19 kn

Armament

2 × 4.7-inch (120-mm) rapid fire guns
4 × 3-pounder (47-mm)
Hotchkiss guns
5 × 356-mm (14-inch) torpedo
tube bow tube, 2 × 2 side by side on deck; 3 reserve torpedoes

Coal supply

100 tn.l., maximum 160 tn.l.

The HMS Boomerang was a torpedo gunboat of the Royal Navy . In 1888 she was commissioned from Armstrong in Elswick , now part of Newcastle upon Tyne , as a boat of the Sharpshooter class and was launched on July 24, 1889 as HMS  Whiting . On April 2, 1890, it was renamed Boomerang .
On September 5, 1891, she arrived in Sydney with the Australian Auxiliary Squadron, which still included five Pearl- class cruisers and her sister boat HMS  Karrakatta ex Wizard .
After the Karrakatta returned to Europe in 1903, the Boomerang also left Australia Station on August 22, 1904 with the cruiser Ringarooma . With her sister boat she was sold for demolition on July 11, 1905.

Building history

The HMS Katoomba the Pearl class

With the Imperial Defense Act of 1887, the formation of an Australian Auxiliary Squadron was decided, which should eventually receive five cruisers and two torpedo cannon boats. The Armstrong company received the majority of the orders and was supposed to build three cruisers and the two torpedo cannon boats. The units were to be built according to plans by the Royal Navy's chief designer, Sir William White . The cruisers were built according to the plans for the Pearl class , of which a total of nine ships were built. The torpedo cannon boats were other boats of the Sharpshooter class, the first class of this type built in large numbers, of which thirteen boats were ultimately built. However, the buildings commissioned before the Australian boats had all been given to state shipyards.
The boats of the Sharpshooter class displaced 735  tn.l and were supposed to reach a speed of 21.5 knots (kn) with artificial pull . All boats in the class received four locomotive boilers for steam generation and two triple expansion machines, which were supplied by Bellis & Morcom for eleven boats . The machines should have a combined output of 2500 HP and even 4500 HP with artificial traction. However, the latter led to a heavy load on the boiler, so that this operation was hardly used in the ships and boats used in the colonies, as there was usually a lack of repair options, and the output of all ships was limited to up to 3700 HP, so that when the maximum speed was only 20 kn. The normally carried coal supply of 100 t gave the boats a range of 2500 nautical miles at a cruising speed of 10 kn.

The deck torpedo tubes of the Boomerang

The armament of the boats consisted of two 120-mm guns , which are also on the Pearl was installed -Kreuzern, four 3-Pfünder- (47-mm) - Hotchkissgeschützen and five 356-mm (14-inch) - torpedo tubes . There were three torpedoes on board for reloading the tubes. There was a bow tube and two sets of twins side by side on deck.
On August 23, 1888 Armstrong received the order for the two boats of the Australian Auxiliary Squadron. The type boat of the class under construction in Devonport had not yet been launched at this point in time. The Boomerang was launched as Whiting on July 24, 1889 as the first of the two Armstrong boats, the second followed on August 27; since March, the shipyard had two more boats under construction, which were intended for use in Bombay and were completed in 1891. At least the later Karrakatta had low chimneys at the beginning, but all boats were delivered with the high chimneys typical of the class. Since the Australian colonies had contributed to the cost, all Auxiliary Squadron units were renamed and given Australian names in 1890 before the march to Australia. The final acceptance runs of the two boats for Australia took place on November 5, 1890, after the boats had been renamed on April 2.

Mission history

The station flagship Orlando 1888–1897

In August 1891 the new Australian squadron with Katoomba as its flagship met the armored cruiser HMS Orlando , 5600 tn.l. at Thursday Island , which had been the flagship of Australia Station since 1888 and remained until the end of 1897. So far she was the only modern combat ship at the station that also had an older corvette, three sloops, two of which only performed surveying tasks, three gunboats and the schooner HMS Dart . With the station flagship, the squadron ran along the east coast of Australia until September 5, 1891 to Sydney and visited several Australian ports on the way. A three-year service on the ships of the squadron was planned for the crews of the Auxiliary Squadron, while on the "normal" station ships it usually lasted only two years on a station abroad. Of the seven ships in the Auxiliary Squadron, two cruisers and one gunboat should generally be in reserve, for which Boomerang was initially intended.

The Gayundah

The Boomerang had been in Brisbane since mid-August 1892 . She was waiting for the flagship of Australia Station to be available to the commanding admiral when visiting the government authorities of the Queensland colony , since the Orlando Brisbane could not call at. The torpedo cannon boat used the stay for artillery and torpedo exercises. The flagship arrived at the beginning of September and had made a round trip to New Zealand and Noumea . The gunboat Gayundah of the Queensland Navy, built near Armstrong in 1884, was also present to receive the station's admiral, and the Boomerang flied its flag during the admiral's stay in Brisbane . After the visit, the Boomerang continued their exercise program. Finally the boat was overtaken in the dry dock of South Brisbane. Only in November did the Boomerang return to Sydney to be present when the command of the station command changed. She used the trip for a top speed test and achieved 16.5 kn with 2500 hp. However, she also got caught in a storm and ran into the protective Trial Bay , where prisoners built a new harbor.
In December 1892 the Boomerang also visited Newcastle and at the end of April 1893 went again to Brisbane. In June, the Boomerang made a voyage along the Queensland coast to Thursday Island, calling at as many different ports as possible on the outward and return voyages before returning to Brisbane in early July. It wasn't until mid-November that the Boomerang returned to Sydney after seven months of absence. She came in with the cruiser Tauranga , which came directly from the New Hebrides . The Boomerang had also been used there before. She had used her weapons when she and the French cruiser Scorff destroyed native settlements on the islands of Pentecost and Aurore . The villages belonged to tribes that had "slaughtered" whites and their native garrisons. Some of the islanders have also been captured, punished or sentenced to prison and taken away as prisoners. Noumea served as a base for the warships that guarded the New Hebrides. The Joint Naval Commission met monthly in Noumea, which was alternately chaired by a French or a British officer. Nevertheless, the French feared that the British might annex the islands. In fact, the joint administration from 1906 until independence in 1980 was Vanuatu . The use of the Boomerang here remained the only military use of the boat during its service life.

After another three-month training trip, the Boomerang arrived back in Sydney at the end of March. She had visited Hobart , Launceston , George Town and Melbourne , among others . The latter left her on the 28th and returned to her port of operations on the 30th. After her arrival she was ordered to go to Rose Bay for torpedo training , although her mission and that of her crew were to end shortly. The gunboat was replaced by the sister boat Karrakutta from the reserve. Your crew should return to England on the great cruiser HMS Crescent , which should arrive in Sydney in May with exchange crews. Both torpedo cannon boats were routinely repaired in dry dock in June / July 1894. The karrakutta was then to go to Brisbane to serve as a tender for the station's flagship.

In mid-December 1899, the Boomerang made its first test drive with a view to reactivation. In April 1900 it was put back into service after a long period in reserve. After the usual test drives, including a maximum speed test in which 20 kn should have been reached, she ran the Ringdove south to Jervis Bay in June for exercises, where she met the cruiser Wallaroo and the torpedo cruiser Porpoise , which then went to Noumea and Noumea, respectively. New Zealand left while the Boomerang was due to return to Sydney. During the exercises, the Boomerang lost its steam pinasse in a storm.

HMS Royal Arthur , flagship Australia Station 1897–1904

The gunboat then visited Brisbane , where she was to meet the station flagship HMS Royal Arthur , which, however, came from New Zealand directly to Sydney. The gunboat ran upstream to Garden Reach and then met the flagship on August 31 in Sydney. In mid-October, she began a journey to Adelaide as a companion for the flagship and cruiser Ringarooma . The cruiser and the Boomerang , however, were already released in Melbourne and arrived back in Sydney at the end of October, while the flagship alone continued the planned voyage. In the spring of 1901, the Boomerang went to Jervis Bay for exercises and ran to Brisbane in May with the sister boat Karrakatta . Both then accompanied the yacht Ophir to Sydney with the British heir to the throne .

In August 1904 the Boomerang left Australia with the old cruiser HMS Ringarooma (ex Psyche ). The tensions with Russia over the Russo-Japanese War and the march of the Baltic fleet to East Asia meant that the two Australian stationaries on their home march were initially held back as control ships in Gibraltar at the beginning of November to control access to the Mediterranean.

Fate of the Karrakatta and the other sister ships

The sister boat Karrakatta was usually on duty when the Boomerang was out of service. On March 11, 1900, she was commissioned for her final period of service at the Australian Station. In her last year of service, the Karrakatta was still very active in the station area. Mostly together with the flagship Royal Arthur and various cruisers, she visited New Zealand, attended celebrations in Sydney, visited Melbourne and made a long journey along the Queensland coast first with the flagship and two cruisers, then with the Mildura , with the torpedo cannon boat having far more ports and could call at rivers than the other ships. She also met with the Queensland Navy's gayundah , and the crews of the two gunboats competed against each other.

HMS Mutine , the replacement of the Karrakatta

Most recently the Karrakatta was overhauled again in Sydney and prepared for the journey home. At the same time the torpedo cruiser Archer was supposed to leave the station, but the Archer was supposed to go south around Australia and then return home via South Africa. The Karrakatta should take the north route of the shorter stages and leave the station area through Torresstrasse . On December 4, 1903, the Karrakatta left the station and returned to Great Britain. On the way she met her detachment, of the China Station offset sloop HMS Mutine . The Karrakatta was only sold for demolition in July 1905 together with the sister ship Boomerang .
The two Plassy and Assaye supplied by Armstrong to the Indian Navy a year later had already been sold in May 1904.

Six of the torpedo cannon boats in the class served as test boats for new boiler designs from 1895/96. So were Sharpshooter four Belleville boiler , Sheldrake what type Babcock , Seagull what type Niclausse , Spanker which type du Temple, Salamander what type Mumford and Speedwell four Thornycroft boilers . Overtaken as torpedo carriers by the destroyers, Sharpshooter , Gleaner , Salamander and Sheldrake were retired from 1904 to 1907. The Gossamer was converted into a minesweeper as the first boat in 1908, as were the other existing boats in the class the following year.

Use in World War

The Gossamer , Seagull , Skipjack , Spanker , Speedwell as well as the Circe , Jason , Leda , Niger and Speedy of the somewhat larger alarm class (810 tn) served as mine sweepers in the world war. Of them went Speedy , Niger (1914), Jason (1917) and on September 30, 1918 Seagull after collision with the steamer Currib on the Clyde lost.

The Sharpshooter- class torpedo gunboats

Surname Shipyard Launch in service fate
HMS  Sharpshooter Devonport Dockyard ,
Plymouth
11/30/1888 08.1889 1904 Northampton stationary school boat , sold for demolition in 1922
HMS Spanker Devonport Dockyard 02/22/1889 10.1890 1909 minesweeper, sold for demolition in 1920
HMS Speedwell Devonport Dockyard 03/15/1889 07.1890 1909 minesweeper, sold for demolition in 1920
HMS Sheldrake Chatham Dockyard ,
Chatham
03/30/1889 03.1890 Sold for demolition July 9, 1907
HMS Skipjack Chatham Dockyard 04/30/1889 07.1891 1909 minesweeper, sold for demolition in 1920
HMS Seagull Chatham Dockyard 05/31/1889 01.1891 1909 Minesweeper, sunk on September 30, 1918 after a collision on the Clyde
HMS Salamander Chatham Dockyard 05/31/1889 07.1891 Sold for demolition May 15, 1906
HMS Boomerang
ex Whiting
Armstrong Mitchell ,
Elswick
07/24/1889 November 5, 1890 Australia Station, sold for demolition in 1905
HMS Karakatta
ex Wizard
Armstrong Mitchell 08/27/1889 November 5, 1890 Australia Station, sold for demolition in 1905
HMS Plassey Armstrong Mitchell 07/05/1890 07/08/1891 Royal Indian Marine, sold for demolition in 1904
HMS assays Armstrong Mitchell 02/11/1891 March 24, 1891 Royal Indian Marine, sold for demolition in 1904
HMS Gossamer Sheerness Dockyard 01/09/1890 09.1891 1908 minesweeper, sold for demolition in 1920
HMS Gleaner Sheerness Dockyard 01/09/1890 12.1891 Sold for demolition April 4, 1905

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Brook: Warships for Export, Armstrong Warships 1867-1927. P. 164f.
  2. AUSTRALIA'S FIRST FLEET In: The Sydney Morning Herald. September 5, 1891.
  3. ^ The New Australian Fleet. In: Australian Town and Country Journal. August 15, 1891.
  4. ^ [1] Queensland Times November 12, 1892
  5. [2] Sydney Morning Herald November 15, 1892
  6. [3] Queensland Times, July 4, 1893
  7. THE FRENCH WARSHIP SCORFF
  8. [4] Sydney Morning Herald November 17, 1893
  9. ^ [5] Mercury, April 3, 1894
  10. [6] Evening News December 14, 1899
  11. [7] Sydney Morning Herald April 24, 1900
  12. [8] Sydney Morning Herald May 12, 1900
  13. [9] Sydney Morning Herald, June 22, 1900
  14. [10] Sydney Morning Herald, November 3, 1904
  15. ^ Departure of Warships Sydney Morning Herald December 7, 1903

literature

  • John Bastock: Ships on the Australia Station. Child & Associates Publishing, Frenchs Forest, Australia 1988, ISBN 0-86777-348-0 .
  • Peter Brooke: Warships for Export: Armstrong Warships 1867-1927. World Ship Society, Gravesend 1999, ISBN 0-905617-89-4 .
  • Roger Chesneau, Eugène M. Koleśnik, NJM Campbell: Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Md. 1979, ISBN 0-85177-133-5 .

Web links

Commons : Sharpshooter class  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files