HMVS Cerberus
Coordinates: 37 ° 58 ′ 2.5 ″ S , 145 ° 0 ′ 28.3 ″ E
.svg){kind=small}
|
|
|---|---|
.jpg)
|
|
| Construction data | |
| Builder: | Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company , Jarrow |
| Ordered: | July 1, 1867 |
| Laid on the keel: | September 1, 1867 |
| Launch: | December 2, 1868 |
| Commissioning: | May 1869 |
| Fate: | Sunk as a breakwater in Melbourne Bay on September 2, 1926 |
| Technical specifications | |
| Displacement : | Construction: 3340 t |
| Length: | 69 m (225 ft) |
| Width: | 13.7 m (45 ft) |
| Draft : | 5 m (16.5 ft) |
| Drive: |
|
| Speed: | 12.4 knots |
| Range: | 1400 nm at 6 knots |
| Crew: | 96, including 12 officers. 40 additional sailors in wartime |
| Armament: | 4 × 10 "(254 mm) rifled muzzle-loading cannons, fired 400 lb (181 kg) grenades 4 × Vierling Nordenfelt machine guns (1883) 2 × Nordenfelt six-pounder rapid-fire cannons (1890) 2 × QF 14 pounder Maxim-Nordenfelt naval gun |
| Armor (inch): |
Metal on oak (9 "-11"): 8 "-9" breastworks 6 "-8" side armor 9 "-10" towers Metal on teak (10 "): 1" -1.5 "deck armor |
HMVS Cerberus was a British monitor of the Cerberus class , named after him , that was launched in 1868. His task was the coastal defense of the Australian colony Victoria , especially the capital Melbourne . The ship was named after the mythical three-headed hellhound Kerberos , who guards the gate to the underworld. The prefix HMVS stands for “Her Majesty's Victorian Ship”, whereby the “Victorian” refers to the former colony of Victoria.
Planning and construction
As a warship, the Cerberus was very progressive, downright revolutionary for her time. As the first major British warship, she was exclusively steam-powered and dispensed with masts and rigging, which enabled her to accommodate her heavy armament in two armored, pivoting twin towers. This was a big step forward and pointed the way to the later steam-powered ship of the line with a similar layout. However, this fact also posed a certain obstacle, as it had only a limited range under steam - the machines of the time were not particularly efficient. In accordance with the operational doctrine of the time, its use as a coastal armored ship was therefore only logical, as it never had to go far from its base as such. The inadequate seaworthiness was also negligible.
The plans were drawn up by Edward James Reed , the Royal Navy's chief designer . A total of seven ships of their type were built, which took over the coastal defense in British overseas colonies (e.g. India ). The Cerberus was built by the Palmer Shipbuilding & Iron Co. on Tyne , England , on December 2, 1868, she was launched, and the equipment was completed in September 1870.
The two screws were driven by two vertical two-cylinder double expansion steam engines made by Maudsley and Company. The cylinders were 4 "(1.1 m) diameter, 27 feet (8.2 m) stroke, and were operated by four steam boilers at 30 lb / m² (207 kPa) pressure.
For her long voyage around the globe to her destination, the Cerberus in Chatham Dock was provided with a temporary upper deck and raised side walls to improve the freeboard and thus the seaworthiness. In addition, three masts were erected to carry the sails required for the long journey. Under Lieutenant Panter, who was to remain in command of the ship for the next seven years, the Cerberus traveled over the Suez Canal to the Indian Ocean , making regular stops to take over coal - for example in Gibraltar , Malta , Aden and Galle on Ceylon . The voyage was difficult due to the short range under steam, the ship's bunkers only held 240 tons of coal, which was just enough for ten day trips at an average speed of six knots, after which the bunkers had to be refilled. Due to her shallow hull with only a shallow draft, the ocean ability was significantly restricted, and the ship rolled violently in the heavy seas. But it reached Melbourne safely on April 9, 1871.
period of service
The Cerberus became the flagship of the Victoria Colony Navy and patrolled Melbourne's Port Phillip Bay for many years. In 1901, after the Australian colonies merged into a state, it was integrated into the armed forces of the Commonwealth and later into the Royal Australian Navy, founded in 1911 . At that time, however, she was already in poor condition, her boilers had been taken off board in 1906 and her main armament in 1908. It served as a floating ammunition store until 1921, when it was renamed HMAS Platypus II and was used for some time as a store for supplies for Australian J-class submarines . Her name, HMAS Cerberus , was used for a new naval base in Flinders, south of Melbourne.
With the dissolution of the submarine unit, the Platypus II ex Cerberus was also sold to the scrapping company Melbourne Salvage Co. Pty. Ltd. sold. On May 14, 1924, she was towed to Williamstown Dockyard for scrapping. Some of the armor plates were removed before the rest of the hull was sold to local authorities in 1926 to be used as a breakwater. On September 2, 1926, it was sunk in the three-meter-deep water of Half Moon Bay off Black Rock, Victoria, near Melbourne, where it is still located today. The hull is now badly rusted and in a deplorable condition.
In 1993, structural parts of the hull collapsed in a severe storm, causing the wreck to collapse. An initiative was then formed to save one of the last existing monitors. The organization "Friends of the Cerberus" (Friends of Cerberus) operates a stabilization plan, which include a total of about 6.5 million Australian dollars is needed. In addition to donations, the organization is also hoping for funds from the Australian federal government and the state of Victoria.
The sister ship Magdala and other similar ships
_William_Frederick_Mitchell.jpg)
The sister ship Magdala was built by Thames Ironworks & Shipbuilding Co. until November 1870 for the Her Majesty's Indian Navy (from 1892 Royal Indian Navy ). Three masts were also temporarily erected on the Magdala to bring the ship to India under sail. Two ships were deemed necessary to defend Bombay . For cost reasons, however, only a cheaper and smaller version of the first two monitors was ordered from J. & W. Dudgeon in London. The ship, which was already completed as Abyssinia in October 1870 , was unlike the two larger half-sisters for the transfer, and it reached Bombay under its own power.
The Royal Navy received another five similar ships between 1872 and 1877.
see → main article Monitor (ship type)
literature
- John Bastock: Australia's Ships of War. Angus and Robertson, Sydney 1975, ISBN 0-207-12927-4 .
- Roger Chesneau, Eugene M. Kolesnik (Ed.): Warships of the world 1860 to 1905. Volume 1: Great Britain and Germany. Bernard & Graefe, Koblenz 1983, ISBN 3-7637-5402-4 .
- Robert Gardiner (Ed.): Conway's all the World's Fighting Ships. 1860-1905. Conway Maritime Press, London 1979, ISBN 0-85177-133-5 .
- Oscar Parkes: British Battleships. "Warrior" 1860 to "Vanguard" 1950. A History of Design, Construction and Armament. New and revised edition. Cooper, London 1990, ISBN 0-85052-604-3 .