HMVS Cerberus

- 37.96736145.007869Koordinaten: 37 ° 58 '2 " S, 145 ° 0' 28" E

  • 4 steam boilers
  • 2 standing 2 -cyl dual expansion steam engines of Maudsley & Co.
  • 1,370 shp

HMVS Cerberus was a British monitor named after him Cerberus - class, was launched in 1868. His task was the coastal defense of the Australian colony of Victoria, in particular the capital, Melbourne. The ship was named after the mythical three-headed hellhound Cerberus, who guards the gate to the underworld.

Planning and construction

The Cerberus was as a warship for their time very advanced, almost revolutionary. As a first major British warship it was only steam-powered and refrained from masts and rigging, which enabled her to place their heavy armament in two armored, swiveling twin towers. This was a big step forward and pointed the way for later steam-powered battleship with a similar setup. However, put that fact is also a certain obstacle, since it had a limited range under steam - the former machinery were not particularly efficient. In accordance with the former use doctrines to their use as coastal defense ship was therefore only logical, since they had to, as such, never stray far from their base. Also the lack of seaworthiness did not fall thereby in weight.

The plans were designed by Edward James Reed, the chief engineer of the Royal Navy. Getting the total of seven ships were built, which took over the coastal defenses in British overseas colonies (eg India ). Cerberus was built by the shipyard Palmer Shipbuilding & Iron Co. on Tyne, England, on 2 December 1868 was launched, and the equipment was completed in September 1870.

The two screws were driven by two vertical two-cylinder double - expansion steam engines, which came from the company Maudsley and Company. The cylinder had 4 " ( 1.1 m ) diameter, 27 feet (8.2 m) stroke and were of four steam boilers with 30 lb / m² (207 kPa) operating pressure.

For their long journey around the globe to their destination the Cerberus at Chatham dock was provided with a temporary upper deck and raised side walls to improve the freeboard and thus the seaworthiness. In addition, three poles were erected, bearing the required for the long trip sailing. Under Lieutenant Panter, who was in command of the ship the next seven years, the Cerberus traveled via the Suez Canal to the Indian Ocean, while she made regular stops made for carbon acquisition - for example, in Gibraltar, Malta, Aden and Galle in Ceylon. Due to the short range under steam, the trip was difficult, the bunkers of the ship preconceived only 240 tons of coal, which was just enough for ten days traveling at six knots average speed, then the bunker had to be refilled. Due to its flat hull with only little draft on the high seas ability was significantly restricted, and the ship rolled violently in the heavy seas. But she reached Melbourne safely on April 9, 1871.

Office hours

The Cerberus was the flagship of the Navy of the colony of Victoria, patrolling the bay from Melbourne, Port Phillip Bay, for many years. 1901, after the Australian colonies joined together into a federal state, it was integrated into the armed forces of the Commonwealth and later founded in 1911 the Royal Australian Navy. At this time, however, she was already in poor condition, her boiler had been taken in 1906 and its main armament in 1908 by board. By 1921, she served as a floating ammunition depot, then was renamed HMAS Platypus II and has been used for some time as a warehouse for supplies of Australian submarines of the J- class. Your name, HMAS Cerberus, was used for a new naval base in Flinders south of Melbourne.

With the dissolution of the submarine unit and the Platypus II was ex Cerberus to the scrap value of 409 pounds to the ship breakers Melbourne Salvage Co. Pty.. Ltd.. sold. On 14 May 1924 she was towed for scrapping the Williamstown Dockyard. Some of the armor plates were removed before the rest of the fuselage was in 1926 sold to the local authorities to serve as a breakwater. On September 2, 1926, she was sunk in the three -meter-deep waters of Half Moon Bay off Black Rock, Victoria, near Melbourne, where she still is today. Meanwhile, the hull is heavily rusted and in deplorable condition.

In 1993, broke into a heavy storm bearing parts of the body collapses, causing the wreck collapsed. This is what formed an initiative to save one of the last existing monitors. The organization " Friends of the Cerberus " ( Friends of the Cerberus ) operates a stabilization plan, which include a total of about 6.5 million Australian dollars is required. In addition to donations, the organization hopes to the provision of funds by the Australian Federal Government and the state of Victoria.

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