HMVS CERBERUS

Adding to yesterday's post on Cerberus, I thought I would add more about this ship and why she is my favourite pre-Dreadnought warship:

1- Launched in 1868, Cerberus is the only remaining Monitor (the first generation of modern battleships) left in the world.

2- Preceding HMS Devastation by almost three years, Cerberus was the first British warship to dispense completely with sail power and to incorporate the shallow draft.

3- Cerberus was the first, and is the only remaining example, of a Monitor having a central superstructure.

4- The design for Cerberus was the first in the world to incorporate the combination of a central superstructure with fore and aft gun turrets.

5- Cerberus is the only substantially intact surviving warship of any of Australia's pre-Federation colonial navies.

6- Cerberus was the flagship and most powerful warship of the Victorian Navy. In addition she was the most powerful warship of any of the Australian Colonial Navies and was the first armoured warship built for Australia.

The CERBERUS wreck off Melbourne

You can read more about HMVS CERBERUS at these websites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMVS_Cerberus
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~maav/hmvscerberus.htm
http://www.cerberus.com.au/myths.html
http://www.gunplot.net/colonialnavy/savecerberus.html