HMVS Cerberus
![Allan Green[1]](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cerberus_(AWM_300036).jpg){kind=link}
Marker: recorded wreck position (Date not recorded).
Key facts
| Name | HMVS Cerberus | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Ship type | breastwork monitor, historical cultural heritage site | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | Scuttled | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | Australia | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | colonial navies of Australia, Royal Australian Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Nearest coast | Australia | Natural Earth (public domain) |
| Position | -37.9678, 145.0081 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
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 in Jarrow, UK, at Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company for the colony of Victoria, Australia, under the supervision of Charles Pasley, Cerberus was completed in 1870, and arrived in Port Phillip, the port of Melbourne on the SE coast of Australia 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 scuttled 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.
Location
- Recorded position: -37.9678, 145.0081 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- 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 HMVS Cerberus (revision 1376504271), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- HMS J7 3 km
- HMS J3 41 km
- SS Petriana 1903 · 49 km
Browse more: Oceania wrecks · wrecks off Australia