Lewin of Greenwich Naval History & Forum

The removal of a 10 inch rifled muzzle loading gun from Breastwork Monitor HMVS Cerberus at Port Philip.

Breastwork Monitor HMVS Cerberus pictured in the Alfred Graving Dock at Williamstown Naval Dockyard in 1900 and schematic.

The monitor HMVS Cerberus in the drydock at Williamstown, Victoria during the 1870s.

HMVS stood for Her Majesty's Victorian Ship. Prior to the Federation of Australia, there were six separate colonies in Australia (Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, and West Australia).

Five of these Colonies operated their own naval forces for protection (West Australia was the only colony that did not have its own protective navy).

This continued on until March 1, 1901 when the Australian colonies joined together into the Commonwealth of Australia.

Following this, the Commonwealth Naval Force was created that protected the entirety of Australia.

This Commonwealth Naval Force was the forerunner to the modern Royal Australian Navy.