HMVS Childers - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

HMVS Childers was a torpedo boat

Torpedo boat

A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...

of the Victorian Naval Forces, Commonwealth Naval Forces and the Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

Construction and acquisition

Childers, a first-class torpedo boat, was constructed for the colony of Victoria by Thornycroft

John I. Thornycroft & Company

John I. Thornycroft & Company Limited, usually known simply as Thornycroft was a British shipbuilding firm started by John Isaac Thornycroft in the 19th century.-History:...

of Chiswick

Chiswick

Chiswick is a large suburb of west London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It is located on a meander of the River Thames, west of Charing Cross and is one of 35 major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, with...

, England at a cost of £10,500. She was laid down in 1883, and completed by the start of 1884.

Operational history

HMVS Childers sailed from Portsmouth on 3 February 1884. Later that month, she was in Malta on her delivery voyage to Victoria with HMVS Albert

HMVS Albert

HMVS Albert was a gunboat of the Victorian Naval Forces which was requisitioned for service with the Royal Australian Navy during World War I.-Operational history:HMVS Albert was built by Armstrong, Mitchell and Co. of Elswick, United Kingdom...

and HMVS Victoria

HMVS Victoria

HMVS Victoria is the name of two ships serving in the Victorian Naval Forces, the colonial navy of the colony of Victoria, Australia, which is also the ships' namesake:, a sloop-of-war launched in 1855, a gunboat launched in 1884-See also:...

when news of General Gordon's

Charles George Gordon

Major-General Charles George Gordon, CB , known as "Chinese" Gordon, Gordon Pasha, and Gordon of Khartoum, was a British army officer and administrator....

death at Khartoum arrived. The colony of Victoria immediately offered the three ships for service in the Sudan. The offer was accepted, and Childers was sent ahead, arriving on 19 March at Suakin. By this time, the conflict had moved too far inland for warships to be of any assistance, and the vessels departed three days later. They arrived in Melbourne on 26 June after travelling via Aden, Colombo, the Dutch East Indies and Torres Strait.

Childers joined the Commonwealth Naval Forces with federation in 1901 and the Royal Australian Navy when it was formed in 1911. During World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

she served in Victorian waters and as a tender to HMAS Cerberus

HMVS Cerberus

HMVS Cerberus is a breastwork monitor that served in the Victoria Naval Forces, the Commonwealth Naval Forces , and the Royal Australian Navy between 1871 and 1924....

Decommissioning and fate

Childers was sold to J.J. Savage & Co. of South Yarra on 5 April 1918 for £20. Childers was eventually hulked on Swan Island in Port Phillip

Port Phillip

Port Phillip Port Phillip Port Phillip (also commonly referred to as Port Phillip Bay or (locally) just The Bay, is a large bay in southern Victoria, Australia; it is the location of Melbourne. Geographically, the bay covers and the shore stretches roughly . Although it is extremely shallow for...