 |
|
HMVS
Cerberus helped to protect Melbourne from attack by
the Russians during the Crimean War. She now rests as
a breakwater near Cheltenham in Victoria.
|
By
ABPH Kade Rogers
In the twilight years of the 19th century, Britain and Russia
prepared to face each other in battle as the threat of a second
Crimean war became very real.
Forces across half of Europe mobilised as bloody fighting
broke out between Turkey and Russia.
Casualties rose into the tens of thousands.
An insidious plot to crush Britain was being manifested, and
a shadow of fear was cast over the entire Empire.
From the Majestic City of London, to the farthest Colonial
outpost, no stone would remain unturned.
Plans were being devised to attack the flourishing city of
Melbourne, a soft target in those days. Russian firepower
would cut her supply off from the sea, acquire her gold bullion
stores and burn the city to the ground.
The fast moving Russian flotilla would then escape to the
neutral Western coastal ports in the USA, avoiding the British
fleet.
However, had this devious scheme been realised, the Russian
invaders would have met their match. Guarding the door to
this “soft target” was a fierce, battleready watchdog.
Heading a powerful 16-ship Victorian fleet, His Majesty’s
Victorian Ship Cerberus lay in wait.
This ship, complemented by a fearless colonial crew of the
toughest men in the Empire was, at the time, the most powerful
ship for coastal defence in the world.
Each of Cerberus’ four 10-inch muzzle loading guns resting
in twinmounted turrets, which could make a complete revolution
in a blistering 39 seconds, was capable of firing a nontargeted
round every 1.5 minutes.
Powered by steam, not sail, this fire-breathing monster carved
through the ocean at 12.4 knots and was covered in a thick
hide of heavy armour.
Had the Russians succeeded in their plans, there would be
no escape.
The seemingly imminent conflict was narrowly averted when
Russia withdrew their forces in Europe.
Was it the decisive action and mobilisation of the ever-ready
British forces in Europe that made them think twice?
Or was it the prospect of facing the wild, untamed, furious
southern warriors at the gateway to the colony of Victoria,
which quelled their plan?
HMVS Cerberus, headed the vanguard of a naval technological
revolution and never fired a shot in anger.
She now rests as a breakwater in Halfmoon Bay, near Cheltenham
in Victoria.
