HMAS Melbourne (1912)
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HMAS ''Melbourne'' was a Town class light cruiser operated by the
Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...
(RAN). The ship was laid down by
Cammell Laird Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...
at
Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...
in England in 1911, launched in 1912 and commissioned in 1913. At the start of World War I, ''Melbourne'' was involved in attempts to locate the German
East Asia Squadron The German East Asia Squadron () was an Imperial German Navy cruiser squadron which operated mainly in the Pacific Ocean between the mid-1890s until 1914, when it was destroyed at the Battle of the Falkland Islands. It was based at Germany's Ji ...
, and participated in the capture of German colonies in the Pacific, before being assigned to the North America and West Indies Stations. In 1916, the cruiser joined the
Grand Fleet The Grand Fleet was the main battlefleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War. It was established in August 1914 and disbanded in April 1919. Its main base was Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. History Formed in August 1914 from th ...
in the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...
, where she remained for the remainder of the war. ''Melbourne'' spent late 1919 and early 1920 in reserve, then was flagship of the Royal Australian Navy from 1920 until 1928, except for a second period in reserve during 1924 and 1925. HMAS ''Melbourne''
paid off Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship i ...
in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1928, and was scrapped in 1929.


Design and construction

''Melbourne'' was a Town class
light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to thi ...
.Cassells, ''The Capital Ships'', p. 78 The ship had a standard displacement of 5,400 tons, was long overall and long
between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the ster ...
, had a beam of , a maximum draught of , and a mean draught of . The propulsion machinery consisted of Yarrow boilers feeding Parsons steam turbines, which supplied 25,000 shaft horsepower to the ship's four propellers. Although only designed to reach , ''Melbourne'' was capable of sailing at . The ship's company consisted of 485: 31 officers, and 484 sailors.Cassells, ''The Capital Ships'', p. 79 The cruiser's main armament consisted of eight BL Mk XI* 50 calibre guns. This was supplemented by a single QF 3-inch anti-aircraft gun, two .303-inch
Maxim gun The Maxim gun is a Recoil operation, recoil-operated machine gun invented in 1884 by Hiram Maxim, Hiram Stevens Maxim. It was the first automatic firearm, fully automatic machine gun in the world. The Maxim gun has been called "the weapon most ...
s, and two 21-inch (533 mm)
torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...
s (with seven torpedoes carried).Cassells, ''The Capital Ships'', pp. 78–9 A single QF 12-pounder 8 cwt gun
field gun A field gun is a field artillery piece. Originally the term referred to smaller guns that could accompany a field army on the march, that when in combat could be moved about the battlefield in response to changing circumstances (field artillery ...
, four
QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss The QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss or in French use Canon Hotchkiss à tir rapide de 47 mm were a family of long-lived light naval guns introduced in 1886 to defend against new, small and fast vessels such as torpedo boats and later submarines. T ...
saluting guns were also carried. Armour plating consisted of side belts thick amidships, tapering to thick at the bow and stern, along with protective decking over the engineering and magazine spaces, and an armoured
conning tower A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armoured, from which an officer in charge can conn (nautical), conn (conduct or control) the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for t ...
.Bastock, ''Australia's Ships of War'', p. 38 The ship was laid down by
Cammell Laird Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...
at
Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...
in England on 4 April 1911. She was launched on 30 May 1912 by Mrs. F. F. Braund, daughter of Australian philanthropist
Robert Barr Smith Robert Barr Smith (4 February 1824 – 20 November 1915) was an Australian businessman and philanthropist in Adelaide, South Australia. He was a partner in Elder Smith and Company from 1863 (now Elders Limited). Early life and education Smith w ...
. Construction was completed on 18 January 1913, the same day ''Melbourne'' was commissioned into the RAN. She was the first cruiser launched for the RAN, and the first completed.Bastock, ''Australia's Ships of War'', p. 44 The ship cost 405,000 pounds to build.


Operational history

On completion, ''Melbourne'' sailed from Portsmouth for Australia, arriving in Fremantle on 10 March 1913. Until August 1914, the cruiser was primarily involved in training cruises and port visits around Australia. During August and September, the cruiser operated with other Australian warships in the Pacific as a counter to the German
East Asia Squadron The German East Asia Squadron () was an Imperial German Navy cruiser squadron which operated mainly in the Pacific Ocean between the mid-1890s until 1914, when it was destroyed at the Battle of the Falkland Islands. It was based at Germany's Ji ...
, and was involved in the capture of several German colonies. ''Melbourne'' returned to Sydney on 20 September, and on 1 November joined the escort of the convoy transporting the
Australian and New Zealand Army Corps The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was originally a First World War army corps of the British Empire under the command of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. It was formed in Egypt in December 1914, and operated during the ...
to Egypt. The cruiser left the convoy while in the Indian Ocean, and headed for Gibraltar, where she was then instructed to head for the
Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...
in search of the German cruiser SMS ''Karlsruhe''. By the time she reached the Azores on 12 December, ''Melbourne'' had been reassigned to Bermuda as part of the
North America and West Indies Station The North America and West Indies Station was a formation or command of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy stationed in North American waters from 1745 to 1956, with main bases at the Imperial fortresses of Bermuda and Halifax, Nova Scotia. The ...
. While on the Station, the cruiser patrolled the western Atlantic from Canada to Brazil. In August 1916, she sailed for Devonport in England, where she spent a month before joining the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron of the
British Grand Fleet The Grand Fleet was the main battlefleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War. It was established in August 1914 and disbanded in April 1919. Its main base was Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. History Formed in August 1914 from the F ...
, stationed at
Scapa Flow Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and Hoy. Its sheltered waters have played an impor ...
. From January until June 1917, ''Melbourne'' was docked at Birkenhead for major repairs to her propulsion system. The cruiser was fitted with an aeroplane platform in November 1917.Bastock, ''Australia's Ships of War'', p. 42 On 1 June 1918, ''Melbourne'' launched her aircraft after sighting German aircraft over Heligoland Bight, but the pilot lost his target in the clouds. At the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet, ''Melbourne'' was assigned to escort . The cruiser remained with the Grand Fleet until 30 November 1918: during the entire war, ''Melbourne'' was not involved in any sea battles. Initially, the cruiser was not awarded any
battle honour A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or Military operation, operation on its flags ("colours"), uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible. In ...
s, but a reorganisation of the RAN honours system published in 2010 retroactively awarded the honours "Rabaul 1914" and "North Sea 1916–18" to the ship. ''Melbourne'' stayed in Portsmouth until 7 March 1919, then sailed for Sydney via Suez, Singapore, and Darwin. The ship was paid off into reserve on 5 August 1919 until 14 April 1920, when she was recommissioned. In 1922, the ship rescued personnel from the sailing vessel ''Helen B. Sterling'', which had been disabled in the Tasman Sea by a gale. Also in 1922, the ship was assigned as Flagship of the Australian Squadron. She was returned to reserve on 29 September 1924; most of the four years in service had been spent in Australian waters, with cruises to New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. The cruiser was recommissioned on 8 October 1925, and left Sydney for England on 23 November. During 1926, the ship was assigned to the
Mediterranean Fleet The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between ...
on exchange, with the British cruiser sent to operate with the RAN. ''Melbourne'' returned in August 1926, and resumed duties as Flagship.


Fate

On 9 February 1928, ''Melbourne'' commenced her last voyage to England, where she arrived on 12 April. ''Melbourne'' was decommissioned for the final time on 23 April, with her ship's company assigned to the new heavy cruiser . The ship was sold to the Alloa Shipbreaking Company on 8 December for 25,000 pounds. The cruiser was transported to Birkenhead, and was broken up over the course of 1929.


Citations


References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Melbourne Town-class cruisers (1910) of the Royal Australian Navy Ships built on the River Mersey 1912 ships World War I cruisers of Australia