NAVYPEDIA

Photo

Cerberus at Williamstown  

Ships

Name	No	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comp	Fate
Cerberus (Victorian Navy, Australia)		225	Palmers, Jarrow	1.9.1867	2.12.1868	5.5.1870	hulk 1900
Magdala (RIM, 10.1892- RN, 3.1903- RIM)			Thames Iron Wks, Blackwall	6.10.1868	2.3.1870	11.1870	sold to BU 1904

Technical data

Displacement normal, t	3344
Displacement full, t
Length, m	68.6 pp
Breadth, m	13.7
Draught, m	4.67
No of shafts	2
Machinery	2 2-cyl HSE return connection rod, boilers
Power, h. p.	Cerberus: 1360 Magdala: 1436
Max speed, kts	Cerberus: 9.8 Magdala: 10.7
Fuel, t	coal 120
Endurance, nm(kts)
Armour, mm	iron; belt: 203 - 152 with 279mm wood backing, breastwork: 229 - 203, turrets: 254 - 229, deck: 38 - 25
Armament	2 x 2 - 254/15 MLR Mk I/II
Complement	155

Graphics

Project history

Low freeboard breastwork monitors intended for service as colonial coast defence ships. Designed by Reed for service at Melbourne (Cerberus) and Bombay (Magdala), they represent the beginnings of practical turret ship design in Britain, having no sail power and being fitted with fore and aft turrets with almost uninterrupted arcs of fire. Turrets were hand operated. Ships had twin screws and balanced rudders and manoeuvred well. Both ships were given a three-masted sailing rig for passage to their respective colonial ports which was removed on arrival. Cerberus had a pole mast abaft and Magdala a pole mast before the funnel. The flying deck originally overlapped the turrets but in Magdala it was cut back to the length of the superstructure.

Ship protection

The hull was protected by 203mm belt reducing to 152mm at the ends, and the turrets were raised on a central armoured breastwork 229mm at the ends and 203mm amidships. The breastwork served to keep the turrets, hatchways, vents and funnels, comparatively clear of the water, making the ships more practical in a seaway the the low freeboard contemporary ships of the US Navy. Turrets had 254mm faces and 229mm walls.

Modernizations

1892, Magdala: - 2 x 2 - 254/15; + 2 x 2 - 203/30 BL Mk VI

Naval service

Cerberus was hulked in 1900, became depot ship Platypus II in 1918 and sold to BU 23.4.1924. She was sunk at Melbourne as breakwater in July 1926, but raised in 1978 and reconstructed as memorial. Magdala was transferred to Royal Navy 31.10.1892, returned to Royal Indian Marine 19.3.1902 and sold to BU in 1904.

Many thanks to Wolfgang Stöhr for additional information on this page.