HMVS Victoria (1884)

For other ships of this name, see HMVS Victoria.

HMVS Victoria was a gunboat that served with the Victorian Naval Forces and Western Australia before being sold into private use.

Victoria at Portsmouth in 1884 before sailing to Australia
History
Victoria
Name	Victoria II
Builder	Armstrong Mitchell and Co.
Launched	1884
Decommissioned	1893
In service	1884
Homeport	Melbourne, Victoria
Fate	Scrapped 1920
General characteristics
Class and type	Armstrong type D flat-iron gunboat
Displacement	530 tons
Length	145 ft (44 m)
Beam	27 ft (8.2 m)
Propulsion	Expansion steam engines
Speed	12 knots
Armament	Originally 1 x BL 10-inch (254.0 mm) gun Replaced by 1 x BL 8-inch (203.2 mm) Mk VII gun; 1 × BL 6-inch (152.4 mm) Mk I 80-pounder gun 2 × 12 Pdr 1-inch Nordenfelt guns

Design

This class was built to a type D flat-iron gunboat design from builders Armstrong Mitchell and Co.

Operational history

As depicted in Brassey's naval annual 1888-1889

In late February 1884, Victoria was in Malta on her delivery voyage to Australia with the gunboat Albert and the torpedo boat Childers when news of General Charles Gordon's death at Khartoum reached the British Empire. The three ships were immediately offered for service in the Sudan Campaign. The offer was accepted and the smaller less seaworthy Childers was sent ahead. By the time the two larger gunboats reached their destination on 19 March at Suakin, the conflict had moved too far inland for warships to be of any assistance. The vessels all departed three days later to continue their voyage to the colony. They arrived in Melbourne on 26 June after travelling via Aden, Colombo, the Dutch East Indies and Torres Strait.

Due to the depression of the 1890s Victoria was decommissioned in 1893 and sold. She was subsequently purchased by the West Australian government in 1896. She was purchased in 1902 by the Sydney based tug company Fenwicks, who used her as a towing vessel. She was scrapped in 1920 after 18 years of service on Sydney Harbour.

See also

• List of Victorian Naval Forces ships
• Colonial navies of Australia - Victoria

Bibliography

• Warships of Australia, Ross Gillett, Illustrations Colin Graham, Rigby Limited, 1977, ISBN 0-7270-0472-7
• Frame, Tom (2004). No Pleasure Cruise: the story of the Royal Australian Navy (Google Books). Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-74114-233-4. OCLC 55980812.