HMAS Pioneer

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HMAS Pioneer (formerly HMS Pioneer) was a Template:Sclass protected cruiser built for the Royal Navy at the end of the 19th century. She was transferred to the fledgling Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in 1912. During World War I, the cruiser captured two German merchant ships, and was involved in the East African Campaign, including the blockade of the cruiser Template:Ship and a bombardment of Dar-es-Salaam. She returned to Australia in late 1916 and was decommissioned. Pioneer was used as an accommodation ship for the following six years, then was stripped down and sold off by 1926. The cruiser was scuttled outside Sydney Heads in 1931.

Design and construction

Pioneer was a third-class protected cruiser of the nine-ship Pelorus or P class.<ref name=Cassells111>Cassells, The Capital Ships, p. 111</ref> These ships had a displacement of 2,200 tons, were Template:Convert long overall and Template:Convert long between perpendiculars, had a beam of Template:Convert, and a draught of Template:Convert.<ref name=Cassells111/> Propulsion was supplied by inverted three-cylinder triple expansion steam engines, providing Template:Convert to two propeller shafts.<ref name=Cassells112>Cassells, The Capital Ships, p. 112</ref> Although designed to reach speeds of Template:Convert, Pioneer was only capable of Template:Convert.<ref name=Cassells111/>

The cruiser was armed with eight single QF Template:Convert guns, eight single QF 3-pounder guns, two field guns, three Maxim machine guns, and two Template:Convert torpedo tubes sited above the waterline.<ref name=Cassells112/> The ship's company initially stood at 225, but this was later reduced to 188; 12 officers, and 176 sailors.<ref name=Cassells112/>

Pioneer was laid down for the Royal Navy at HM Dockyard, Chatham, Kent on 16 December 1897.<ref name=Cassells112/> She was launched 28 June 1899 by Miss Andoe, daughter of the dockyard's admiral superintendent.<ref name=Cassells112/> Pioneer underwent steaming trials on 2 September making 17.6 knots during six runs over the measured mile off Maplin Sands.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The cruiser was completed on 23 January 1900, and was placed in reserve until her commissioning on 10 July 1900.<ref name=Cassells112/>

Operational history

Pioneer spent the majority of 1900 in British waters, before sailing for the Mediterranean Fleet under the command of Commander Hugh Evan-Thomas on 15 November.<ref name=Cassells112/> Commander George Hope was appointed in command on 5 July 1902,<ref>Template:Cite newspaper The Times</ref> taking up the command later that month after a visit by the ship to Brindisi.<ref>Template:Cite newspaper The Times</ref> In late December 1902 she was in Greek waters when she visited Astakos in the Ionian Sea with HMS Irresistible and HMS Bulwark.<ref>Template:Cite newspaper The Times</ref> Early the following year she took part in a three-weeks cruise with other ships of her squadron in the Greek islands around Corfu.<ref>Template:Cite newspaper The Times</ref> While there, Pioner collided with the cruiser HMS Orwell on 30 January 1903, during night exercises near Corfu. OrwellTemplate:'s bow was cut off in the collision with the loss of 15 of her crew.<ref name="nmm">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The ship remained in the Mediterranean until returning to Chatham on 20 November 1904.<ref name=Cassells112/> Pioneer was decommissioned until 5 September 1905, when she was reactivated for service as a drill ship with the Australian Squadron of the Royal Navy.<ref name=Cassells112/>

On 29 November 1912, Pioneer was decommissioned and gifted to the Australian government, who commissioned the ship as part of the Royal Australian Navy on 1 March 1913.<ref name=Cassells112/> Initially used as a tender for the naval base at Garden Island, New South Wales, Pioneer was refitted during the second half of 1913, and on 1 January 1914, was reassigned for reservist training.<ref name=Cassells112/>

At the start of World War I, Pioneer sailed from Victoria to Western Australia, where she served as a patrol vessel.<ref name=Cassells112/> On 16 August, she captured the German merchant ship Neumunster, which was taken by the Australian government as a prize of war and renamed Cooee.<ref name=Cassells112/> Ten days later, the cruiser captured a second German ship, the Norddeutscher Lloyd liner Thuringen, which was presented to the government of India for use as a troop transport.<ref name=Cassells112/> On 1 November, Pioneer joined the escort of the convoy transporting the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps to Egypt as a replacement for the Japanese cruiser Nisshin, and with orders to check on the Cocos Islands during the voyage.<ref name=Cassells112/> However, as the Australian warship took up position, she suffered a major engine malfunction, and Template:HMAS joined the convoy instead.<ref name=Cassells112/>

File:HMAS Pioneer Simonstown 1915 P01585.007.jpeg

Pioneer undergoing refit in Simon's Town, South Africa during late 1915

In late December, the cruiser was assigned to the blockade of German East Africa, and sailed for Zanzibar on 9 January 1915.<ref name=Cassells112/> On arrival, Pioneer was ordered to help contain the German cruiser Template:Ship in the Rufiji River and prevent German supply ships from arriving.<ref name=Cassells112/> Königsberg was scuttled on 12 July following shelling by two monitors, although Pioneer remained in the region until 31 August, when she sailed to Simon's Town in South Africa for a six-week refit.<ref>Cassells, The Capital Ships, pp. 112–3</ref> Pioneer returned to uneventful patrols of German East Africa on 22 October, and continued until early February 1916, when the Admiralty instructed the ship to return to Australia.<ref name=Cassells113>Cassells, The Capital Ships, p. 113</ref> However, before she could leave, demands by General Jan Smuts for more Admiralty involvement in the East African Campaign saw Pioneer return to patrols on 24 February.<ref name=Cassells113/> On 30 July, the cruiser fired 100 4-inch shells during the bombardment of Dar-es-Salaam.<ref name=Cassells113/>

Decommissioning and fate

Pioneer was ordered to return to Australia on 8 August 1916, and was paid off on 7 November 1916.<ref name=Cassells113/> Despite being "obsolete and decrepit" she saw more actual combat than any other Australian ship of World War I.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Pioneer returned to Garden Island and was used as an accommodation vessel until 1922.<ref name=Cassells113/> She was handed to Cockatoo Island Dockyard for stripping in May 1923, was passed to the control of the Commonwealth Shipping Board in 1924, who then sold the hulk to H. P. Stacey of Sydney, in 1926.<ref name=Cassells113/> The ship was scuttled off Sydney Heads on 18 February 1931.<ref name=Cassells113/>

Wreck

The location of the wreck was lost until March 2014, when it was rediscovered by wreck-hunters analysing data taken from the research vessel Southern Surveyor.<ref name=wrecksinfo>Template:Cite web</ref> PioneerTemplate:'s wreck sits Template:Convert below sea level, at Template:Coord, approximately Template:Convert east of Vaucluse.<ref name=wrecksinfo/> The wreck lies with the bow towards the south-east, and is intact in places, with structures rising up to Template:Convert from the sea floor.<ref name=wrecksinfo/>

Honours and awards

Following a reorganisation of the RAN battle honours system, completed in March 2010, Pioneer was retroactively awarded the honour "German East Africa 1915–16" in recognition of her wartime service.<ref name=newhonours>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=honourslist>Template:Cite web</ref>