HMS Cerberus (1868)

Cerberus at Williamstown in 1871
History
Victoria, Australia
Name:	HMVS/HMAS Cerberus
Ordered:	1 July 1867
Builder:	Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow
Laid down:	1 September 1867
Launched:	2 December 1868
Completed:	August 1870
Renamed:	HMAS Platypus II (1 April 1921)
Fate:	Sunk as breakwater, 2 September 1926
General characteristics
Class and type:	Cerberus-class breastwork monitor
Displacement:	3,340 long tons (3,390 t)
Length:	225 ft (68.6 m)
Beam:	45 ft 1 in (13.7 m)
Draught:	15 ft 6 in (4.7 m)
Installed power:	1,369 ihp (1,021 kW)
Propulsion:	2 × shafts, 2 × Maudslay Son & Field steam engines
Speed:	9.75 knots (18.06 km/h; 11.22 mph) maximum 6 knots (11 km/h; 6.9 mph) economical
Complement:	12 officers, 84 sailors 40 additional in wartime
Armament:	2 × twin 10-inch rifled muzzle loading guns 2 × single 12-pdr bronze howitzers 4 × 4-barrel 1-inch Nordenfelt guns (1883) 2 × single Nordenfelt 6-pdr QF Guns (1890) 2 × single Maxim-Nordenfelt 14-pdr QF Guns (1897)
Armour:	Belt: 6 to 8 inches (150 to 200 mm), backed by 9 to 11 inches (230 to 280 mm) of teak Breastwork: 8 to 9 inches (200 to 230 mm) Turrets: 9-to-10-inch (230 to 250 mm) Deck: 1 to 1.25 inches (25 to 32 mm)

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 for the colony of Victoria under the supervision of Charles Pasley,Cerberus was completed in 1870, and arrived in Port Phillip 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, Cerberus' 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.

In 1924, the monitor was sold for scrap, and was sunk 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.

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. The ship was designed by Edward James Reed, Chief Constructor to the Royal Navy.Cerberus had one sister ship, HMS Magdala, and an additional five ships of similar design (HMS Abyssinia and the four Cyclops class monitors) were constructed for coastal defence around the British Empire. These seven vessels were unofficially referred to as the 'Monster class'.

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