HMAS Pioneer 1931
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Marker: recorded wreck position (Interwar).
Key facts
| Name | HMAS Pioneer | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1931 | English Wikipedia lead text (year following a loss verb, parsed) |
| Era | Interwar | derived from year |
| Ship type | light cruiser | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | Scuttled | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | Australia, United Kingdom | Wikidata P137 operator → P17 country |
| Operator | Royal Australian Navy, Royal Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Sea / ocean | Tasman Sea | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Australia | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 5 km from land |
| Position | -33.8642, 151.3310 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
HMAS Pioneer (formerly HMS Pioneer) was a Pelorus-class protected cruiser built for the Royal Navy at the end of the 19th century. She was transferred to the fledgling Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in 1912. During World War I, the cruiser captured two German merchant ships, and was involved in the East African Campaign, including the blockade of the cruiser SMS Königsberg and a bombardment of Dar-es-Salaam. She returned to Australia in late 1916 and was decommissioned. Pioneer was used as an accommodation ship for the following six years, then was stripped down and sold off by 1926. The cruiser was scuttled outside Sydney Heads in 1931.
Diving & visiting
The location of the wreck was lost until March 2014, when it was rediscovered by wreck-hunters analysing data taken from the research vessel Southern Surveyor. Pioneer's wreck sits 67 metres (219 ft 10 in) below sea level, at 33°51.850′S 151°19.844′E, approximately 4 kilometres (2.2 nmi; 2.5 mi) east of Vaucluse. The wreck lies with the bow towards the south-east, and is intact in places, with structures rising up to 5 metres (16 ft 5 in) from the sea floor.
Location
- Recorded position: -33.8642, 151.3310 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: Tasman Sea
- Nearest coast: Australia
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article HMAS Pioneer (revision 1375010172), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Wreck”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- Dunbar 1857 · 4 km
- M24 Japanese Midget Submarine wreck site 22 km
- SS Ayrfield 24 km
- Maitland 38 km
- HMAS Australia 1924 · 40 km
- HMAS Parramatta Shipwreck and Memorials 1934 · 43 km
Browse more: Oceania wrecks · wrecks off Australia · Tasman Sea · Interwar