HMVS Cerberus

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HMVS Cerberus (Her Majesty's Victorian Ship) is a breastwork monitor that served in the Victoria Naval Forces, the Commonwealth Naval Forces (CNF), and the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) between 1871 and 1924.

Built in Jarrow, UK, at Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company for the colony of Victoria, Australia, under the supervision of Charles Pasley,<ref>Template:Cite Australasia</ref> Cerberus was completed in 1870, and arrived in Port Phillip, the port of Melbourne on the SE coast of Australia in 1871, where she spent the rest of her career. The monitor was absorbed into the CNF following Federation in 1901, and was renamed HMAS Cerberus when the navy became the RAN in 1911. By World War I, CerberusTemplate:' weapons and boilers were inoperable; the ship served as a guardship and munitions store, while carrying the personnel of the fledgling Royal Australian Naval College on her paybooks. In 1921, the ship was renamed HMAS Platypus II, and tasked as a submarine tender for the RAN's six J-class submarines.

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In 1924, the monitor was sold for scrap, and was scuttled as a breakwater off Half Moon Bay. The wreck became a popular site for scuba diving and picnics over the years, but there was a structural collapse in 1993. There have been several campaigns to preserve the ship (one of which is ongoing), as she is one of the last monitors, the only surviving ship of the Australian colonial navies, and one of only two surviving ships in the world with Coles turrets.<ref name=Gould279.80>Gould, Archaeology and the social history of ships, pp. 279–80</ref><ref name=King71/>

DesignEdit

File:Transverse and longitudinal sections of the turret ship Cerberus - Illustrated Australian News (1871).jpg

Transverse and longitudinal sections, 1871 engraving

Named for Cerberus, the three-headed guard dog of Hades from Greek mythology, Cerberus was the first of the breastwork monitors, which differed from previous ironclad warships by the fitting of a central superstructure containing rotating turrets.<ref name=Gould277>Gould, Archaeology and the social history of ships, p. 277</ref><ref name=Paine33/> The ship was designed by Edward James Reed, Chief Constructor to the Royal Navy.<ref name=GillettWOA113/> Cerberus had one sister ship, Template:HMS, and an additional five ships of similar design (Template:HMS and the four Cyclops class monitors) were constructed for coastal defence around the British Empire.<ref name=Paine33>Paine, Warships of the World to 1900, p. 33</ref><ref name=Gould279>Gould, Archaeology and the social history of ships, p. 279</ref> These seven vessels were unofficially referred to as the 'Monster class'.<ref name=GillettWOA22/>

The monitor was Template:Convert long, Template:Convert wide, and with a draught of Template:Convert.<ref name=GillettWOA113/> Cerberus had a freeboard of Template:Convert, while her breastwork extended Template:Convert above the deck, and was Template:Convert long.<ref>Bastock, Australia's Ships of War, pp. 23-4</ref> She had a standard ship's company of 12 officers and 84 sailors, with an additional 40 to man the ship in wartime.<ref name=Stevensopp16/> Cerberus had a maximum speed of Template:Convert, with an economical speed of Template:Convert.<ref name=GillettWOA113/>

Her twin screws were driven by two horizontal twin-cylinder, double-acting, simple steam engines<ref>Ballard, The Black Battlefleet, pp. 218, 248</ref> made by Maudslay Son & Field.<ref name=GillettWOA113/> They had Template:Convert bore, Template:Convert stroke, and were provided with Template:Convert<ref>Ballard, The Black Battlefleet, p. 248</ref> steam produced by five coal-fired boilers with 13 furnaces.Template:Citation needed The steam engines generated Template:Convert on trials and drove two propellers with a diameter of Template:Convert<ref>Ballard, The Black Battlefleet, pp. 248–49</ref> Cerberus was the first British warship to be solely steam-powered.<ref name=Paine33/> The monitor had a bunkerage of 240 tons of coal; this would last just under five days at maximum speed (50 tons consumed per day), and ten days at economical speed (24 tons per day).<ref name=GillettWOA113/> The monitor was not suited to ocean travel.<ref name=Heritage/>

File:HMVS Cerberus turret.jpg

Detail of the front gun turret of HMVS Cerberus with its Template:Convert main guns

The main armament was four 10-inch guns, mounted in two turrets.<ref name=Paine33/> The four guns weighed Template:Convert each, were muzzle-loaded, had to be withdrawn completely inside the turret to be reloaded, and could fire a Template:Convert shell up to Template:Convert once every three minutes.<ref name=Stevensopp16>Stevens, The Royal Australian Navy, p. 16</ref> The turrets were mounted fore and aft; each had a crew of 33, had a 270° field of fire, and had to be hand-cranked into position.<ref name=Paine33/> The turrets were of a design created by Cowper Phipps Coles.<ref name=Gould280.1>Gould, Archaeology and the social history of ships, pp. 280-81</ref>

The ship had armour plating ranging from Template:Convert in thickness for the waterline armoured belt on her hull, which was backed by Template:Convert of teak.<ref name=C21/> The citadel armour protecting the breastwork ranged in thickness from Template:Convert, and gun turrets had Template:Convert faces and Template:Convert sides.<ref name=C21/> Cerberus was protected by an armoured deck that was Template:Convert thick.<ref name=C21>Gardiner, Chesneau, & Kolesnik, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships p. 21</ref><ref name=Gould278.9>Gould, Archaeology and the social history of ships, pp. 278-79</ref> For added protection, Cerberus could take water into ballast tanks, decreasing her already low freeboard until only the turrets and breastwork were visible.<ref name=Stevensopp16/><ref name=Paine34>Paine, Warships of the World to 1900, p. 34</ref>

Cerberus and ships of her type were described by Admiral George Alexander Ballard as being like "full-armoured knights riding on donkeys, easy to avoid but bad to close with."<ref>Ballard, The Black Battlefleet, p. 219</ref> Robert Gardiner, Roger Chesneau, and Eugene M. Kolesnik, the editors of Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905, pointed out that "[Cerberus represents] the beginnings of practical turret ship design in Britain, having no sail power and being fitted with fore and aft turrets with almost uninterrupted arcs of fire."<ref name=C21/> When she entered service, the monitor was considered superior to any other warship operating in the Australasian region.<ref name=Stevensopp16/> The design of Cerberus was upscaled by Sir Edward Reed for Template:HMS in 1871, the first Royal Navy turreted ironclad battleship without sails, and so had a lasting influence on battleship design until the dreadnoughts appeared in the early 1900s.

ConstructionEdit

In 1866, the Victorian government ordered a ship to supplement the shore-based fortifications of Port Philip Bay, and to defend the colony in the event of a Russian attack.<ref name=Stevensopp16/><ref name=Heritage/> Cerberus was ordered on the understanding that if she operated in any role other than the defence of Victoria, she would revert to Admiralty control.<ref name=GillettWOA22>Gillett, Warships of Australia, p. 22</ref>

The monitor was constructed by Palmers Shipbuilding at their Jarrow-on-Tyne shipyard.<ref name=Stevensopp16/> She was laid down on 1 August 1867, launched on 2 December 1868, and completed in August 1870.<ref name=GillettWOA113>Gillett, Warships of Australia, p. 113</ref> Cerberus cost £117,556 to build, with the British Admiralty meeting 80% of the cost.<ref name=Stevensopp16/>

Operational historyEdit

File:William Henry Panter - Illustrated Australian News (1871).jpg

Captain William Henry Panter (1841–1915), first commander of Cerberus (1870–1877)

On completion, Cerberus was registered as a merchant vessel for the voyage to Australia.<ref name=GillettWOA23>Gillett, Warships of Australia, p. 23</ref> For the journey, the sides of the hull were built up to the height of the breastwork and along the length of the ship, to improve seakeeping.<ref name=Bastock24>Bastock, Australia's Ships of War, p. 24</ref> She first attempted to sail from Chatham for Melbourne on 29 October 1870, but returned within days because of gale conditions, which made the ship uncontrollable.<ref name=GillettWOA23/> After returning to British waters, Cerberus was fitted with temporary masts so she could be rigged as a three-masted barque; this was to provide redundancy to the steam engines, and maximise her range before recoaling was required.<ref name=Bastock24/> Cerberus departed for a second time on 7 November, and despite similar conditions, was able to persevere.<ref name=GillettWOA23/> The ship travelled via the Suez Canal (during which she flew the flag of Victoria instead of the Red Ensign so reduced transit rates for warships could be claimed),<ref name=Bastock24/> with frequent stops to refuel wherever possible because of her ten-day bunker capacity.Template:Citation needed Her flat bottom and shallow draught meant that the monitor could roll up to 40° from the centreline in bad weather.<ref name=GillettWOA23/> Her ship's company nearly mutinied on several occasions.<ref name=GillettWOA23/>

The monitor reached Melbourne on the morning of 9 April 1871.<ref name=GillettWOA113/> Following her arrival, she was designated flagship of the Victorian Navy.<ref name=Quarstein234/> At the time of her arrival, public opinion of the ship was low, and she quickly attracted the nickname of 'Floating Gasometer'.<ref name=GillettWOA23/>

On 5 March 1881, five men from Cerberus were killed when their boat was destroyed by a mine during exercises.<ref name=Stevensopp16/><ref>A Torpedo Calamity, in The Argus</ref><ref>The Torpedo Calamity, in The Argus</ref> These were the only personnel from the ship to be killed during her operational history.<ref name=Stevensopp16/> Following the flooding of the New Australasian Gold Mine at Creswick, Victoria in December 1882, two divers from Cerberus were sent to help find miners trapped in air pockets deep in the mine.<ref>Penney, The Creswick mining disaster of 1882, p. 194</ref> They arrived on 14 December, two days after the flooding, but could not assist because incorrectly fitting dive suits had been sent with them, and only Template:Convert of air hose was available, despite the miners being at least Template:Convert from the mine's entrance.<ref>Penney, The Creswick mining disaster of 1882, pp. 194-6</ref>

File:Victorian Navy (AWM 300032).jpg

Artist's impression of Cerberus and the training ship HMVS Nelson

The ship was fitted with torpedo netting and spars in 1887.<ref>Gillett, Warships of Australia, p. 106</ref> At some point in the 1890s, Cerberus was retasked as a storeship.<ref name=GillettWOA23/> In May 1900, one of the ship's company began to show the symptoms of the bubonic plague.<ref name=LawsStewart>Laws & Stewart, It doesn't end there, p. 296</ref> Consequently, all of CerberusTemplate:' personnel were quarantined at Point Nepean.<ref name=LawsStewart/>

Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, Cerberus, like all other colonial naval ships, was transferred to the Commonwealth Naval Forces.<ref name=Paine34/> This organisation was renamed the Royal Australian Navy in 1911, at which point, Cerberus was given the prefix HMAS.<ref name=GillettWOA113/> By 1909, Cerberus could not generate enough steam to propel herself.<ref>Gillett, Warships of Australia, p. 38</ref> She was used as a guard ship and munitions storeship during World War I.<ref name=Stevensopp16/> When the Royal Australian Naval College was founded in 1913, its personnel were initially listed on the paybooks of Cerberus, as the college was not a commissioned establishment.<ref>Stevens, The Royal Australian Navy, pp. 23-4</ref> By 1914, the monitor's main guns were inoperable, and she was reliant on her light weapons for defence.<ref name=GillettANZ55>Gillett, Australian and New Zealand Warships, 1914-1945, p. 55</ref>

Following the transfer of six J class submarines to the RAN, Cerberus was renamed HMAS Platypus II on 1 April 1921 (taking her name from the submarine tender Template:HMAS) and reclassified as a secondary submarine tender.<ref name=Paine34/><ref name=GillettANZ55/> For this role, she was towed to Geelong.<ref name=Bastock25>Bastock, Australia's Ships of War, p. 25</ref> Between this date and the monitor's departure from service in 1924, Template:HMAS took the name Cerberus and was attached to the training base at Western Port Bay;<ref>Gillett, Warships of Australia, p. 111</ref> the base in turn took the name in 1921.

Decommissioning and fateEdit

Cerberus was sold to the Melbourne Salvage Company for £409 on 23 April 1924, with the buyer to break her up for scrap.<ref name=GillettWOA113/><ref name=Stevensopp16/><ref name=GillettANZ55/> The warship was towed from Corio Bay to Williamstown Naval Dockyard on 14 May for disassembly.<ref name=Bastock25/> After the salvage company removed what they could, she was then sold on to the Sandringham council for £150.<ref name=Heritage>Heritage Division, Australia's National Heritage, p. 21</ref> The monitor was scuttled on 26 September 1926 at Half Moon Bay to serve as a breakwater for the Black Rock Yacht Club.<ref name=Paine34/><ref name=Quarstein234>Quarstein, A history of ironclads, p. 234</ref> During her life, Cerberus never left Port Philip Bay, and never fired in anger.<ref name=Stevensopp16/><ref name=Mitchell24>Mitchell, Urban Geology and Geomorphology of the City and Suburbs of Melbourne, p. 24</ref>

The wreck sits in approximately Template:Convert of water, less than Template:Convert from shore.<ref name=King71/> Over time, the breakwater became a popular site for scuba diving.<ref name=Dousset>Dousset, Rotor in the Green, p. 48</ref>Template:Unreliable source? The ship was penetrable from many openings along both sides, and featured two submerged deck levels with heavy silting.Template:Citation needed With care and lights, it was possible to travel from stem to stern without leaving the ship.Template:Citation needed The interior of the ship has also seen use as a training course for assault swimmers.<ref name=Dousset/> Her exposed decks were regularly used for picnics.<ref name=King71/>

During the 1970s, the Cerberus Preservation Trust was formed to study the feasibility of raising and restoring Cerberus.<ref>Gillett, Warships of Australia, p. 114</ref> However, by 1983, the Trust had made little apparent progress.<ref>Gillett, Warships of Australia, opp. p. 33</ref>

In 1993, there was a major structural collapse after rusting deck supports and stanchions gave way, leaving only the deck beams to support the deck, turrets, and superstructure.<ref name=King71/> Cerberus began to subside at Template:Convert per year.<ref name=Garrett>Garrett, Funding Boost helps protect HMVS Cerberus [press release]</ref> Following this, a Template:Convert exclusion zone was placed around the wreck.<ref name=King71/>

File:Cerberus 2007.JPG

The remains of Cerberus in 2007

In 2001, the Friends of the Cerberus organisation was formed, with the goal of preserving Cerberus.Template:Citation needed After campaigning by Friends of the Cerberus for funding to remove the four 18-ton guns from the monitor to reduce the load placed on the monitor's deck, the Victorian government provided an A$80,000 grant that was project managed by Heritage Victoria in October 2004.<ref name=King71/><ref>Delahunty, $80,000 Heritage Grant To Protect Historic Wreck [press release]</ref> After being coated with preservative and receiving an electrolysis treatment, the guns were placed on the seabed next to the wreck.<ref name=King71/>

From late 2005, Friends of the Cerberus began to campaign for A$5.5 million in funding to stabilise the wreck site, first by installing additional supports for the deck and turrets (the latter weighing 200 tons each), then raising the ship off the seabed and placing her in an underwater cradle.<ref name=King71/><ref name=StaniforthNash>Staniforth & Nash, Maritime Archaeology, p. 146</ref> To help attract funds from the Federal and Victorian governments, the wreck was nominated by Friends of the Cerberus and the National Trust for heritage listing, which was achieved on 14 December 2005; Cerberus was also listed on the Victorian Heritage Register and is included on the local Heritage Overlay.<ref name=King71>King, Race Against Time for Iron Breastwork Monitor, p. 71</ref><ref name=Heritage/><ref name=VHD>Heritage Victoria, HMVS Cerberus</ref> In July 2008, an application by Friends of the Cerberus for a grant of A$500,000 of federal funding was successful, with the National Trust of Victoria holding the funds on behalf of Friends of the Cerberus.<ref name=Garrett/><ref name="Victorian News">HMVS Cerberus, Black Rock, in Victorian News</ref> The money was originally intended for the construction of a jacking frame and support cradle, but in late 2010, it was instead earmarked for structural preservation work on the monitor's gun turrets.<ref name=Garrett/><ref name=FriendsProtest>Friends of the Cerberus, Protest Abandoning Bracing of HMVS Cerberus</ref> By April 2012, the target of the funding had changed again, with plans to spend the grant on corrosion control of the wreck, along with "interpretive devices" on the nearby shore.<ref name=FriendsProtest/><ref>Northover, Cerberus protection group gets sinking feeling</ref>