HMAS Melbourne (1912)

All you want to know about HMAS Melbourne (1912)

For other ships of the same name, see HMAS Melbourne.

Career (Australia (RAN))
HMAS Melbourne
Namesake:	City of Melbourne
Builder:	Cammell Laird & Co Ltd
Laid down:	4 April 1911
Launched:	30 May 1912
Commissioned:	18 January 1913
Motto:	"Viries Acquiret Eundo"
Fate:	Sold for scrap in 1929
General characteristics
Class and type:	Town class cruiser
Displacement:	5,400 tons
Length:	456 ft 10⅜ in (139.25 m)
Beam:	49 ft 10 in (15.2 m)
Draught:	19 ft 7 in (6.0 m)
Propulsion:	Parsons turbines, Yarrow boilers, 4 screws
Speed:	23.2 knots (43.0 km/h)
Complement:	485
Armament:	8 × BL 6-inch (152.4 mm) Mk XI 50 calibre guns 4 x QF 3-pounder guns 1 x 12-pounder gun 2 x .303-inch Maxim guns 8 x .303-inch Lewis guns 2 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes

HMAS Melbourne was a Town class light cruiser laid down by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead in England on 4 April 1911, launched on 30 May 1912 by Mrs. F. Braund, daughter of Mr. Barry Smith of Adelaide, and commissioned on 18 January 1913.

Operational History

Looking aft from top of foremast, showing four 6 inch guns

She was involved in the pursuit of the German SMS Emden in 1914, though it fell to HMAS SydneyTemplate:WP Ships HMAS instances to bring that ship to action. Melbourne served on the North America and West Indies Stations from 1914 to 1916 before joining the Grand Fleet in the North Sea, where she remained for the remainder of the war.

Melbourne was paid off to reserve and laid up inactive at Sydney between 5 August 1919 and 14 April 1920 and again from 29 September 1924 to 8 October 1925. Melbourne sailed from Sydney for the United Kingdom on 9 February 1928, arrived at Portsmouth on 12 April 1928, paid off on 23 April 1928, was sold to the Alloa Shipbuilding Company of Rosyth in Scotland in December 1928 and broken up in 1929.

References

SeaPower Centre - Australia HMAS Melbourne (I) Ship History
Gray, Randal (ed), "Conway's All The Worlds Fighting Ships, 1906-1921", (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1985), ISBN 0-85177-245-5

v • d • e Town class cruiser

Bristol class	Bristol · Glasgow · Gloucester · Liverpool · Newcastle

Weymouth class	Weymouth · Yarmouth · Dartmouth · Falmouth

Chatham class	Chatham · Dublin · Southampton · Brisbane · *Melbourne* · Sydney

Birmingham class	Birmingham · Lowestoft · Nottingham · Adelaide

Birkenhead class	Birkenhead · Chester

Followed by: Arethusa class List of cruisers of the Royal Navy List of major warship classes of the Royal Australian Navy