HMQS Paluma in 1889 |
|
| Career (Australia) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Paluma |
| Namesake: | Aboriginal word for "lightning" |
| Builder: | Sir W.G. Armstrong, Mitchell & Co, Newcastle-on-Tyne |
| Cost: | GB£35,000 |
| Commissioned: | 28 October 1884 |
| Decommissioned: | 1919 |
| Fate: | Scrapped in 1949 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Armstrong type B1 flat-iron gunboat |
| Displacement: | 360 tons |
| Length: | 120 ft (37 m) |
| Beam: | 26 ft (7.9 m) |
| Draught: | 9 ft 6 in (2.90 m) |
| Installed power: | 400 ihp (298 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 2 shaft horizontal direct action compound steam engines |
| Speed: | 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph) |
| Range: | 700 to 800 mi (1,100 to 1,300 km) |
| Endurance: | 75 tons of coal |
| Complement: | 55 |
| Armament: |
1 x BL 8-inch (203.2 mm) gun (replaced in 1899 by 2x BL 5-inch guns) |
HMQS Paluma was a flat-iron gunboat operated by the Queensland Maritime Defence Force and later the Royal Australian Navy (as HMAS Paluma). She entered service on 28 October 1884, was decommissioned in 1916 and then sold to the Victorian Ports and Harbours Department who operated her under the name Rip until 1949.[1]
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Following the Jervois-Scratchley reports the colonial governments of Australia restructured their defence forces. One of the many outcomes of this report was the formation of the Queensland Maritime Defence Force. To equip the new force, the colonial government purchased two gunboats and a torpedo boat.
Paluma was a sister ship of HMQS Gayundah. This class was built to a type B1 flat-iron gunboat design from builders Armstrong Mitchell and Co. They were improved, slightly larger versions of HMVS Albert which was also built in 1884 for the colony of Victoria.[1]
She was lent upon completion to the Royal Navy. Commissioned in the United Kingdom as HMS Paluma during October 1884, she arrived in Brisbane on 7 May 1885.[1]
Over the next eight years, Paluma conducted survey work on the Great Barrier Reef for the Admiralty.[1] The 1893 Brisbane flood ripped Paluma from her moorings and left her well above the high water mark in the nearby botanical gardens. As locals considered how to return her to the Brisbane River, another major flood two weeks later refloated the gunboat, and she was pulled clear without any significant damage. The depression of the 1890s saw Paluma and her sister placed in reserve, being reactivated for annual training at Easter. In 1895, she was returned to the Queensland Government.[1]
With the federation of the Australian colonies, Paluma joined the Commonwealth Naval Forces in 1901, and in 1911 was integrated into the newly formed Royal Australian Navy along with her sister ship. During World War I, Paluma was employed mainly around Sydney Harbour, before being sold in 1916 to the Victorian Ports and Harbours Department who renamed her Rip.[1]
In 1948, she was retired, having been replaced the previous year by the converted Bathurst-class corvette HMAS Whyalla. Paluma was laid up at Footscray, Victoria and was scrapped in 1950–1951.[1]