HMS Wallaroo

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Persian.
HMS Wallaroo on the Brisbane River
History
United Kingdom
Name
  • HMS Persian (1890)
  • HMS Wallaroo (1890–1906, 1920)
  • HMS Wallington (1919–1920)
BuilderArmstrong, Mitchell, Elswick
Laid down15 August 1888
Launched5 February 1890
Completed27 January 1891
FateSold for scrap, February 1920
General characteristics
Class and typePearl-class cruiser
Displacement2,575 tons
Length
  • 278 ft (84.7 m) (oa)
  • 265 ft (80.8 m) (pp)[1]
Beam41 ft (12 m)[1]
Draught15 ft 6 in (4.7 m)
Installed power
Propulsion2 × screws; 2 × 3-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines[1]
Speed19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Complement210
Armament
Armour

HMS Wallaroo was a Pearl-class cruiser built for the Royal Navy, originally named HMS Persian, built by Armstrong, Mitchell, Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne and launched on 5 February 1890.[2]

Renamed on 2 April 1890, as Wallaroo as part of the Auxiliary Squadron of the Australia Station. She arrived in Sydney with the squadron on 5 September 1891.[2] She was placed into reserve upon arrival until 9 May 1894. She was sent to serve in China during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. On 6 January 1904 while sailing off Montague Island, one of her boilers exploded killing four and wounding three. She left the Australia Station on 11 January 1906.[2]

She was attached to HMS Indus as a training ship for mechanics at Devonport.[2] She became a guard ship at Chatham in November 1914.[3] She was then stationed off Brightlingsea, Essex, as the base ship for the boom and net-protected Swin Anchorage, returning to Chatham in 1916. Her captains between late 1914 and 1916 included Commanders Calderon, Ingham, and West, with Rear-Admiral Charles Napier as overall commander of the Brightlingsea naval base also named "Wallaroo". The ship was often overflown by raiding Zeppelins and once fired on one. She was renamed HMS Wallington in March 1919.[4] She was sold in 1920, as Wallaroo to G. Sharpe for breaking up.[2]

A Pearl-class cruiser from Brassey's Naval Annual, 1897
  1. ^ a b c Winfield, p. 276
  2. ^ a b c d e Bastock 1988, pp. 103–104.
  3. ^ Osborne, Mike (2017). If the Kaiser Comes – Defence Against A German Invasion of Britain in the First World War. England: Fonthill Media Limited. p. 96. ISBN 9781781555750.
  4. ^ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921, p. 14