HMS Katoomba

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Pandora and HMAS Katoomba.

HMS Katoomba
HMS Katoomba Hobart 1903 AWM 300003.jpeg HMS Katoomba in Hobart, Tasmania in 1903.
Career (United Kingdom)
Name:	Pandora
Namesake:	Pandora Katoomba, New South Wales
Builder:	Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick, Tyne and Wear
Laid down:	15 August 1888
Launched:	27 August 1889
Completed:	1 December 1890
Renamed:	Katoomba
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 10 July 1906
General characteristics
Class & type:	Pearl-class cruiser
Displacement:	2,575 tons
Length:	278 ft (84.7 m) (oa) 265 ft (80.8 m) (pp)
Beam:	41 ft (12 m)
Draught:	15 ft 6 in (4.7 m)
Installed power:	7,500 shp (5,600 kW) 4 × boilers
Propulsion:	2 × screws; 2 × 3-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines
Speed:	19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Complement:	210
Armament:	8 × QF 4.7 inch (120 mm) guns 8 × 3-pounder guns 4 × 14-inch (356 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour:	Deck: 1–2 inches (25–51 mm) Gun shields: 2 in Conning tower: 3 inches (76 mm)

HMS Katoomba was a Pearl-class cruiser built for the Royal Navy, originally named HMS Pandora, built by Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick, Tyne and Wear and launched on 27 August 1889. Renamed on 2 April 1890, as Katoomba as the flagship of the Auxiliary Squadron of the Australia Station. She arrived in Sydney with the squadron on 5 September 1891. She was damaged in a collision with the tug Yatala in Port Adelaide on 29 December 1891. She left the Australia Station on 16 January 1906. She was sold for £8500 on 10 July 1906 and broken up at Morecambe.

A Pearl-class cruiser from Brassey's Naval Annual, 1897

References

• Bastock, John (1988). Ships on the Australia Station. Frenchs Forest, Australia: Child & Associates. ISBN 0-86777-348-0. 
• Brook, Peter (1999). Warships for Export: Armstrong Warships 1867 – 1927. Gravesend, Kent, UK: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-89-4. 
• Winfield, Rif; Lyon, David (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC 52620555.