HMVS Lonsdale was a second-class 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...

 constructed for the Victorian Naval Forces and later operated by the 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...

. She was sunk on mud flats on Swan Island in Port Phillip Bay in 1912 after being stripped of equipment and machinery.

Design and construction

Lonsdale was one of several torpedo boats ordered by the government of Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

 in 1882 to protect the colony from a possible Russian or French attack, and was built by John I. Thornycroft & Company

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:...

.

The torpedo boat was 67 feet (20.4 m) long, with a draught of 3.25 foot (0.9906 m), and a displacement of 12.5 tons. She was designed with a low freeboard

Freeboard

Freeboard may refer to:* Freeboard , the height of a ship's deck above the water level.* Freeboard , a six-wheeled skateboard designed to act like a snowboard....

, to minimise her profile. The boat had a maximum speed of 17 knots (9.3 m/s), which she would use to close rapidly with enemy vessels before attacking. Lonsdale was initially armed with two 14-inch torpedoes carried in bow recesses, and a spar torpedo

Spar torpedo

A spar torpedo is a weapon consisting of a bomb placed at the end of a long pole, or spar, and attached to a boat. The weapon is used by running the end of the spar into the enemy ship. Spar torpedoes were often equipped with a barbed spear at the end, so it would stick to wooden hulls...

, but in 1888, she was modified to carry the two 14-inch torpedoes in locally-developed 'dropping gear'; a davit

Davit

A davit is a structure, usually made of steel, which is used to lower things over an edge of a long drop off such as lowering a maintenance trapeze down a building or launching a lifeboat over the side of a ship....

-like device for lowering the torpedoes into the water for launching. She was also armed with 2 Hotchkiss machine guns.

Fate

She was sunk on mud flats 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...

 in 1912 after being stripped of equipment and machinery.

In 1983, the remains of a torpedo boat likely to be Lonsdale were uncovered in reclaimed land in Queenscliff, Victoria

Queenscliff, Victoria

Queenscliff is a small town on the Bellarine Peninsula in southern Victoria, Australia, south of Swan Bay at the entrance to Port Phillip. It is the administrative centre for the Borough of Queenscliffe...

, on the grounds of the Queenscliff Maritime Museum. As of 2010, only the boat's conning tower is exposed.