HMVS Countess of Hopetoun

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HMAS Countess of Hopetoun in 1914
HMAS Countess of Hopetoun in 1914
Career (Victoria and Australia) RN ensign Flag of Victoia
Name: HMVS Countess of Hopetoun
Namesake: The Countess of Hopetoun, wife of the then Governor of Victoria
Builder: Yarrow & Co.
Laid down: 1890
Completed: 1891
Decommissioned: 1924
Fate: Scrapped in 1925
General characteristics
Displacement: 75 tons
Length: 130 ft (40 m)
Beam: 13.5 ft (4.1 m)
Draught: 7.333 ft (2.235 m)
Propulsion: Expansion steam engines
Speed: 24 knots (44 km/h) (later 20–21 knots (37–39 km/h; 23–24 mph))
Armament: 2 x 1 inch (later 3 x 3-pounder) guns
3 x 14 inch torpedo tubes (1 bow, 1 rotating twin mount amidships)
4 sets of dropping gear

HMVS Countess of Hopetoun was a Torpedo Gunboat of the Victorian Naval Forces, Commonwealth Naval Forces and the Royal Australian Navy. It was named after Hersey, Countess of Hopetoun and later Marchioness of Linlithgow, the wife of the 7th Earl of Hopetoun, the then Governor of Victoria and later the first Governor-General of Australia.

Operational history

Built by Yarrow and Co. on the River Thames, HMVS Countess of Hopetoun was the last vessel constructed for the Victorian Naval Forces. She arrived at Williamstown, Victoria via the Cape of Good Hope after 154 days under sail.

The vessel joined the Commonwealth Naval Forces with federation in 1901 and the Royal Australian Navy when it was formed in 1911. During World War I she served in Victorian waters and as a tender to HMAS Cerberus. She attended the arrival of His Royal Highness Edward, The Prince of Wales in Port Phillip on 28 May 1920. The Prince arrived abord the battlecruiser HMS Renown and was received by no less than 31 warships.

The Countess of Hopetoun was sold to Edward Hill of North Melbourne in April 1924 and scrapped the following year.

It was later wrecked near Swan Island in Port Phillip.[1]

See also

References

Bibliography

  • Warships of Australia, Ross Gillett, Illustrations Colin Graham, Rigby Limited, 1977, ISBN 0-7270-0472-7