HMS Wallaroo (1890)

HMS Wallaroo c. 1902.
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Persian (1890) HMS Wallaroo (1890–1906, 1920) HMS Wallington (1919–1920)
Builder:	Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick, Tyne and Wear
Laid down:	15 August 1888
Launched:	5 February 1890
Completed:	27 January 1891
Fate:	Sold for scrap, February 1920
General characteristics
Class & type:	Pearl-class cruiser
Displacement:	2,575 tons
Length:	278 ft (84.7 m) (oa) 265 ft (80.8 m) (pp)[1]
Beam:	41 ft (12 m)[1]
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[1]
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 Wallaroo was a Pearl-class cruiser built for the Royal Navy, originally named HMS Persian, built by Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick, Tyne and Wear and launched on 5 February 1890.^[2]

Renamed on 2 April 1890, as Wallaroo as part of the Auxiliary Squadron of the Australia Station. She arrived in Sydney with the squadron on 5 September 1891.^[2] She was placed into reserve upon arrival until 9 May 1894. She was sent to serve in China during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. On 7 January 1904 while sailing off Montague Island, one of her boilers exploded killing four and wounding three. She left the Australia Station on 11 January 1906.^[2]

She was attached to HMS Indus as a training ship for mechanics at Devonport.^[2] She became a guard ship at Chatham in November 1914 and was renamed HMS Wallington in March 1919.^[3] She was sold in 1920, as Wallaroo to G. Sharpe for breaking up.^[2]

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

Notes

1. Winfield, p. 276
2. Bastock 1988, pp. 103–104.
3. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906–1921, p. 14

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.
• Gardiner, Robert, ed. Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 1906-1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985. ISBN 0-87021-907-3.
• 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.