HMAS Encounter (1902)
Portside view HMAS Encounter
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History | |
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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 |
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Fate | Scuttled off Sydney Heads, 14 September 1932 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Challenger-class cruiser |
Displacement | 5,880 long tons (5,970 t) standard |
Length |
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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 hp (9,300 kW), two shafts |
Speed | 21 knots (38.9 km/h; 24.2 mph) |
Complement |
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Armament |
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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
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.
Design and construction
Challenger class vessels had a standard displacement of 5,880 tons, a length of 376 feet 1.75 inches (114.6493 m)
She was among the first ships of the Royal Navy to receive water-tube
As completed, the ship's armament consisted of eleven BL 6-inch Mk VII naval guns, nine QF 12-pounder 12 cwt naval guns, six 3-pounder guns, three machine guns, and two 18-inch (450-mm) torpedo tubes mounted broadside.[2] By the 1920s, the 6-inch and 12-pounder guns had been reduced to three and four respectively, although a 12-pounder field gun was added to the ship's arsenal.[2] A single QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss gun replaced the six 3-pounders, while the original three machine guns were supplanted by four Maxim guns and two Lewis guns.[2]
Encounter was laid down for the RN by HM Dockyard at Devonport in Plymouth on 28 January 1901.[2] The ship was launched on 18 June 1902, when the naming ceremony was performed by Lady Sturges Jackson, wife of Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Sturges Jackson, Admiral-Superintendent of Devonport Dockyard.[4] She was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 21 November 1905, and completed on 16 December 1905.[2] The ship sailed for Australia on 31 December.[5]
Operational history
From April 1906 to June 1912, Encounter served as part of the RN
World War I
Assigned to the Pacific Station during 1914–15, Encounter was part of the force which occupied
In 1915, Encounter underwent refit in Sydney, then sailed on 21 July to transport a garrison to
In July 1916, during a visit to an unnamed island off the coast of Western Australia, two bronze cannons were discovered by Encounter officers Commander C.W. Stevens and Surgeon Lieutenant W. Roberts. The latter described:
approximately 25 paces from the water’s edge, we saw the two carronades protruding, through the sand 2/3rds of each being exposed so that they were easily lifted out. They were ... 6 feet apart and certainly had the appearance of leading marks ... a large number of the ship’s company landed and next day, shifted sand over practically the whole area for a considerable depth. The only other object found was a small portion of a brass bound chest. You can imagine the disappointment of the matelots who had visions of buried treasure
— Surgeon Commander Roberts, Letter from Surgeon Commander Roberts, 18 August 1933.[11]
Because the guns were erroneously thought to be carronades, the place was named "Carronade Island".[11][12]
On 12 January 1917, Encounter was ordered to New Zealand, where she met a convoy of Australian and New Zealand troopships.[6] The cruiser remained with the convoy until a rendezvous point in the Indian Ocean, where responsibility was handed over to ships of the East Indies Station.[6] On 6 July, Encounter assisted SS Cumberland, which had struck a mine off Gabo Island.[5] In August, the cruiser assisted in the search for the missing merchantman SS Matunga; it was not known until 1918 that she had been a victim of the German raider Wolf.[6][5] The ship visited Mopelia Island in September 1917, to search for the wreck of the German raider Seeadler.[5]
From December 1917 until April 1918, Encounter underwent refit in Sydney, and then returned to Western Australia.[6] The ship travelled between Fremantle and Sydney several times before the end of the war.[5] The cruiser's wartime activities were later recognised with the battle honour "Rabaul 1914".[13][14]
Post-war
In early 1919, Encounter was sent to Darwin to protect
Encounter
Citations
- ^ Cassells, The Capital Ships, pp. 66–7
- ^ a b c d e f g h Cassells, The Capital Ships, p. 67
- ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36797. London. 18 June 1902. p. 14.
- ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36798. London. 19 June 1902. p. 11.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Bastock, Australia's Ships of War, p. 49
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cassells, The Capital Ships, p. 68
- ^ "HARBOUR CALAMITY NAVAL PINNACE WRECKED". Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954). 6 January 1909. p. 9. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
- ^ "Review of The Log of H.M.S. Encounter, Australian Station, 1910–1912 by Herbert Wilson". Nature. 91 (2277): 393. 19 June 1913.
- ^ Jose, The Royal Australian Navy 1914–1918, p. 1.
- ^ Gardiner & Gray,Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921, p. 16
- ^ a b Green, The Carronade Island Guns and Southeast Asian gun founding
- ^ Green, The Carronade Island guns and Australia's early visitors
- ^ Royal Australian Navy, Navy Marks 109th Birthday With Historic Changes To Battle Honours
- ^ Royal Australian Navy, Royal Australian Navy Ship/Unit Battle Honours
- ^ Rosenzweig, Governors, Residents and Administrator of the Northern Territory, pp. 30–1
- ^ "Sydney's Deep Technical Dives and Navy ships | MARINE LIFE NETWORK". Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ "Sydney region shipwrecks". www.visitsydneyaustralia.com.au. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
References
- Books
- Bastock, John (1975). Australia's Ships of War. Cremorne, NSW: Angus and Robertson. OCLC 2525523.
- Cassells, Vic (2000). The Capital Ships: their battles and their badges. East Roseville, NSW: Simon & Schuster. OCLC 48761594.
- Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal (1985). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
- Jose, Arthur W. (1941) [1928]. The Royal Australian Navy 1914–1918. The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918. Vol. IX (9th ed.). Sydney, NSW: Angus and Robertson. OCLC 215763279. Archived from the originalon 4 October 2009. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
- News and journal articles
- Green, Jeremy (1982). "The Carronade Island guns and Australia's early visitors". Great Circle. 4 (1): 73–83.
- "Navy Marks 109th Birthday With Historic Changes To Battle Honours". Royal Australian Navy. 1 March 2010. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
- Other publications
- Green, Jeremey (2006). "The Carronade Island Guns and Southeast Asian gun founding" (PDF). Department of Maritime Archaeology, Western Australian Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
- Rosenzweig, Paul (1996), Governors, Residents and Administrator of the Northern Territory (PDF), Northern Territory Government, archived from the original (PDF) on 15 March 2012, retrieved 30 April 2012
- "Royal Australian Navy Ship/Unit Battle Honours" (PDF). Royal Australian Navy. 1 March 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 23 December 2012.