HMAS Encounter (1902)

Portside view HMAS Encounter
History
United Kingdom
Name:	Encounter
Builder:	HM Dockyard Devonport
Laid down:	28 January 1901
Launched:	18 June 1902
Christened:	Lady Sturges Jackson
Completed:	6 December 1905
Commissioned:	21 November 1905
Fate:	Transferred to the Royal Australian Navy
Australia
Name:	Encounter
Acquired:	1912, permanently transferred 5 December 1919
Commissioned:	1 July 1912
Decommissioned:	15 August 1929
Renamed:	HMAS Penguin (May 1923)
Reclassified:	Submarine depot ship (May 1923)
Motto:	"Show the Flag"
Nickname(s):	"The Old Bus"
Honours and awards:	Battle honours: Rabaul 1914
Fate:	Scuttled off Sydney Heads, 14 September 1932
General characteristics
Class and type:	Challenger-class cruiser
Displacement:	5,880 tons standard
Length:	376 ft 1.75 in (114.65 m) overall 355 ft (108.20 m) between perpendiculars
Beam:	56 ft 2.125 in (17.12 m)
Draught:	21.25 ft (6.48 m)
Propulsion:	Keyham 4-cylinder triple expansion steam engine, 12,500 horsepower, two shafts
Speed:	21 knots (38.9 km/h; 24.2 mph)
Complement:	RN: 475 RAN: 26 officers, 269 sailors
Armament:	As completed: 11 × BL 6-inch (152 mm) guns 9 × QF 12-pounder 12 cwt (3-inch) guns 6 × QF 3-pounder (47 mm) guns 3 × machine guns 2 × 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes

HMAS Encounter was a second-class protected cruiser of the Challenger class operated by the Royal Navy (RN) and Royal Australian Navy (RAN). She was built by HM Dockyard Devonport and completed at the end of 1905.

Encounter spent the first six years of her career operating with the RN's Australia Squadron, before being transferred to the newly formed RAN. During World War I, the cruiser became the first ship of the RAN to fire in anger when she bombarded Toma Ridge. Encounter operated in the New Guinea, Fiji-Samoa, and Malaya areas until 1916, when she returned to Australian waters. The ship spent the rest of the war patrolling and escorting convoys around Australia and into the Indian Ocean. In 1919, Encounter was sent to evacuate the Administrator of the Northern Territory and his family following the Darwin Rebellion.

Encounter was paid off into reserve in 1920, but saw further use as a depot ship until being completely decommissioned in 1929. In 1932, the cruiser was scuttled off Sydney.

Challenger class vessels had a standard displacement of 5,880 tons, a length of 376 feet 1.75 inches (114.6493 m) overall and 355 feet (108 m) between perpendiculars, a beam of 56 feet 2.125 inches (17.12278 m), and a draught of 21.25 feet (6.48 m). The cruisers were propelled by a Keyham 4-cylinder triple expansion steam engine, which provided 12,500 horsepower to two propeller shafts, allowing her to reach speeds just over 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). Her economical cruising speed was 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), which allowed the ship to travel 5,436 nautical miles (10,067 km) before exhausting her 1,314 tons of coal. In British service, the ship's company stood at 450, but while operated by the RAN, this was reduced to 29 officers and 269 sailors.