HMAS Encounter was a second-class protected cruiser of the operated by the Royal Navy (RN) and Royal Australian Navy (RAN). She was built by HM Dockyard Devonport and completed at the end of 1905.

Encounter spent the first six years of her career operating with the RN's Australia Squadron, before being transferred to the newly formed RAN. During World War I, the cruiser became the first ship of the RAN to fire in anger when she bombarded Toma Ridge. Encounter operated in the New Guinea, Fiji-Samoa, and Malaya areas until 1916, when she returned to Australian waters. The ship spent the rest of the war patrolling and escorting convoys around Australia and into the Indian Ocean. In 1919, Encounter was sent to evacuate the Administrator of the Northern Territory and his family following the Darwin Rebellion.

Encounter was paid off into reserve in 1920, but saw further use as a depot ship until being completely decommissioned in 1929. In 1932, the cruiser was scuttled off Sydney.

Design and construction

Challenger class vessels had a standard displacement of 5,880 tons, a length of overall and between perpendiculars, a beam of , and a draught of . The cruisers were propelled by a Keyham 4-cylinder triple expansion steam engine, which provided 12,500 horsepower to two propeller shafts, allowing her to reach speeds just over .

As completed, the ship's armament consisted of eleven BL 6-inch Mk VII naval guns, nine QF 12-pounder 12 cwt naval guns, six 3-pounder guns, three machine guns, and two 18-inch (450-mm) torpedo tubes mounted broadside. By the 1920s, the 6-inch and 12-pounder guns had been reduced to three and four respectively, although a 12-pounder field gun was added to the ship's arsenal. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 21 November 1905, and completed on 16 December 1905.

Operational history

From April 1906 to June 1912, Encounter served as part of the RN Australia Squadron. In 1909, 15 of her crew drowned when a naval longboat was run over by the small coastal steamer Dunmore in Sydney Harbour. Herbert Wilson, a petty officer aboard Encounter, published his personal log covering 1910–1912, including an account of the British expeditions to Vavaʻu for the total solar eclipse of 28 April 1911. On 1 July 1912, the ship was commissioned into the RAN on loan, for use until was completed.

World War I

Assigned to the Pacific Station during 1914–15, Encounter was part of the force which occupied German New Guinea.

In 1915, Encounter underwent refit in Sydney, then sailed on 21 July to transport a garrison to Fanning Island.

Because the guns were erroneously thought to be carronades, the place was named "Carronade Island".

On 12 January 1917, Encounter was ordered to New Zealand, where she met a convoy of Australian and New Zealand troopships.

Post-war

In early 1919, Encounter was sent to Darwin to protect Administrator John Gilruth, following the Darwin Rebellion. Gilruth and his family boarded her on 20 February 1919 and were taken to Melbourne. The ship was permanently transferred to the RAN

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HMAS Encounter.jpg|Portside view HMAS Encounter

Protected cruiser HMS Encounter - IWM Q 75381.jpg|Encounter

A cat on HMAS Encounter.jpg|Encounters ship's cat sitting in the muzzle of a 6-inch gun

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Citations

References

;Books

;News and journal articles

;Other publications