HMVS Cerberus

For other RAN ships and facilities using these names, see HMAS Cerberus and HMAS Platypus.

At Williamstown in 1871
History
Victoria, Australia
Ordered	1 July 1867
Builder	Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow
Laid down	1 September 1867
Launched	2 December 1868
Completed	May 1869
Commissioned	12 September 1870
Renamed	1 April 1921
Fate	Sunk as breakwater on 2 September 1926
General characteristics
Class and type	Cerberus class monitor
Displacement	3,340 tons
Length	225 ft (69 m)
Beam	45 ft (14 m)
Draught	16.5 ft (5.0 m)
Propulsion	2 × Maudslay Son & Field engines 1,370 ihp
Speed	12.4 knots (23 km/h) (highest recorded on 13 April 1900)
Complement	96, including 12 officers. 40 additional in time of war
Armament	4 × 10 inch (254 mm) rifled muzzle loading guns firing 400 lb (181 kg) shells 2 x 12 pdr bronze howitzers 4 × 4 barrel 1-inch Nordenfelt guns (1883) 2 x Nordenfelt 6 pdr QF Guns (1890) 2 x Maxim-Nordenfelt 14 pdr QF Guns (1897)
Armour	With Oak Backing (9–11 inches (23–28 cm)): 8–9 inches (20–23 cm) for breastworks 6–8 inches (15–20 cm) on the sides 9–10 inches (23–25 cm) on the turrets With Teak Backing (10 inches (25 cm)): 1–1.5 inches (2.5–3.8 cm) on deck

HMVS Cerberus (Her Majesty's Victorian Ship) is a breastwork monitor, a type of turreted warship designed in the 1860s by Edward Reed. Launched in 1868 to defend the Australian colony of Victoria, Cerberus was named after the three-headed mythical dog which guarded the entrance to Hades. Following Federation, the ship was absorbed into the Commonwealth Naval Force, which later became the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

In 1921, the ship was renamed HMAS Platypus II, and was tasked as a tender ship for the RAN's flotilla of six J class submarines. The ship was sold for scrap in 1924, then sold again in 1926 for use as a breakwater in Half Moon Bay, Black Rock, Victoria.

Cerberus is one very few surviving examples of a monitor warship in the world, but is currently deteriorating; the remains of the ship are visible from the local beach or pier. There is an ongoing campaign to save the vessel led by 'Friends of the Cerberus'.

Design and construction

Cerberus was a steam-powered ironclad of revolutionary design, mounting four guns in two large turrets to the fore and aft of her superstructure. This was a drastic break with the traditional design of wooden warships. In effect Cerberus was the blueprint for the design of most of the worlds Pre-Dreadnought Battleships C. 1870-1906. She was the first major British warship to be powered entirely by steam, i.e. lacking sails.

Designed by Sir Edward Reed, the Chief Constructor for the Royal Navy, she was the first of seven similar vessels. The ship was built by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company shipyard on the River Tyne, England and launched on 2 December 1868 and completed in May 1869.

Her twin screws were driven by two horizontal twin cylinder double-acting simple steam engines made by Maudslay Son & Field. They had 43-inch (110 cm) bore, 27-inch (69 cm) stroke, and were provided with 30 psi (210 kPa) steam produced by five coal fired boilers with 13 furnaces.

Preparations at Chatham Dockyard for the journey to Australia included fitting a temporary raised deck and sides to increase the freeboard, and installing three masts and sails. Under Lieutenant Panter (who commanded her for the next seven years), the ship travelled via the Suez Canal, with frequent stops to refuel wherever possible - for instance Gibraltar, Malta, Aden and Galle. It was a difficult journey, as the bunker capacity for 240 tons of coal meant she could only travel at around 6 knots (11 km/h) with ten days between refueling stops. Her flat bottom and shallow draught (designed for operating in shallow water) meant that she rolled badly in the rough weather that she encountered. She arrived at Melbourne on 9 April 1871.

Operational history

HMVS (Her Majesty's Victorian Ship) Cerberus was the most powerful unit in the Victorian Navy and patrolled the waters of Port Philip for many years. In 1901, after the federation of the Australian colonies, she was incorporated into the Commonwealth naval forces, which became the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in 1911. Cerberus is, easily, the oldest surviving ship to have served in the RAN.

Detail of the front gun turret of HMVS Cerberus with its 10-inch (25 cm) main guns.

By this time, she was already in poor condition. Her boilers had been condemned in 1906 and her main armament condemned in 1908. Her initial service in the RAN was as an explosives store ship, until 1921 when she was renamed HMAS Platypus II and used as a depot ship for Australia's fleet of six J class submarines.

With the disbanding of the submarine squadron, Cerberus was sold for scrap on 23 April 1924 to the Melbourne Salvage Co Pty. Ltd for £409. On 14 May 1924 she was towed to Williamstown Dockyard for dismantling. Attempts at removing the armour were not economically worthwhile, so the ship was sold in 1926 to the municipal authorities at Sandringham for use as a breakwater. She was sunk on 2 September in 3 metres of water at Half Moon Bay in Black Rock, Victoria where she still remains. She is now badly corroded and in very poor shape but capable of being stabilised and perhaps one day restored.

The name HMAS Cerberus is now used for the naval depot at Flinders, south of Melbourne.

Restoration campaign

The remains of Cerberus in 2007.

On 27 December 1993, during a large storm, the ship suffered a major collapse. Various plans have been put forward to save her on account of her unique historical significance.

Currently Friends of the Cerberus is pursuing a stabilisation plan. Funding is being sought from the Victorian State Government and the Australian Government. Movement of the ship to a land-based site is being explored

See also

Media related to HMVS Cerberus at Wikimedia Commons

References

• British Battleships, Oscar Parkes, Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 1990. ISBN 0-85052-604-3
• Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905, Conway Maritime Press, 1979. ISBN 0-85177-133-5
• Australia's Ships of War, John Bastock, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1975. ISBN 0-207-12927-4

External links

• Friends of the Cerberus
• Ship specifications