Canals of Mars

Some lovely 2mm VSF stuff here, including some Aeronef battles to control a Martian vital canal junction. 

Warsips also ply warily along said canals, including the venerable HMVS CERBERUS which has been 'painted in Games Workshop Fortress Gray, washed with black ink and dry brushed with white for the hull; and, GW Dheneb Stone, washed with brown ink, for the deck.'

Lots of lovely LI modelling action there too.  Check it all out at:
http://onemoregamingproject.blogspot.com/search/label/2mm

The Defence of Melbourne

Real documentation for the defensive plans for the colony of Melbourne (against those dastardly Russians most likely!), including the layered use of shore batteries, coastal forts, minefields and the local flotilla (including the HMVS Cerberus).

http://www.awm.gov.au/journal/j35/kitson.asp

Note too the potential use of scouting dirigibles!

Tis a week to be Published!

Hot on the heels of the release Aeronef over the Aegean, I received my copy of Ragnarok 56 today. And a cracking read it is BTW!

In there in the Melting Pot section (for miniatures reviews) was a review I did of Brigade Model's HMVS Cerberus which I put together last year and frankly forgotten about! So my first modest written contibution to SFSFW has been published (I have had a picture in there before)- open the Gin!

BTW - one of the two surviving Guns from Cerberus lies less than a km from my new house!

Cerberus in 1/1200

Inspired by my research into the real ship, I broke out my long neglected 1/1200 scale Cerberus by Brigade Models, and a lovely casting it is too.


The model comes in 5 separate parts: hull, 2 main turrets, breastwork superstructure and mast. All part were very crisply cast with no flash at all. All fit together nicely with no filler required. One particularly good feature is that the breastwork structure fits over the turrets, which in tun have a peg and hole fitting. This means that they the turrets can be painted and fitted without gluing, so they can rotate freely.


I painted the model prior to assembly, undercoating in white. I went for a traditional RN paint scheme, and as accurate to the real ship as possible. The hull was therefore black, the armour, superstructrue and deck fittings white, gun muzzles dark grey, mast and funnel ocre and the deck a faded wood colour. Finally, I added a RN White Ensign to the masthead (again by Brigade) and fitted her to a base in the style of Mssr Ogrefencer (name and flag yet to be fitted). A smallish wake befits a vessel of 10kts max speed - no big bow waves for Cerberus! Then again, nobody should ever rush a lady...

This model represents Cerberus as she appeared in the late 1880s, after her mast reconfiguration (in 1878) and the addition of the torpedo spars and nets (in 1887). I must admit that as a result of my research this became more of a modelling project than a wargaming one, but the overall effect is quite realistic I think and I'm looking forward to her first tabletop battle.

Ironic then that my first Aquanef fleet unit is a surface unit! There are also 4 Russian units about half done and I just found some Navwar 1/1200 ACW ships (again courtesy of Mssr Ogrefencer, thank you Sir!) which will be joining us soon...

HMVS CERBERUS

I just picked up a lovely monograph on this wonderful piece of colonial naval history:

'HMVS Cerberus: Battleship to Breakwater.'

Built at the cost of 125,000 pounds (of which the British Government donated 100,000 pounds). She was laid down in 1867, completed in 1870 and delivered (after a perilous journey) the following year. She was ordered to protect Melbourne, one of the Empire's richest colonies at the time due to the gold rush, from the Russian threat. Not an inconsequential threat it turns out, as Russia was allied to the United States during the civil war and the Russian Pacific Fleet commander had sealed orders to bombard Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart should hostilities break out between the US and Great Britain.

The monitor was the first British armoured ship to fully dispense with sail and be powered purely by steam. She was also first vessel with a central superstructure with gun turrets at the ends, and the first design to have breastwork protection and low freeboard. She had two sister ships, Abyssinia and Magdala, built for service in India though they were completed later.

Gunnery drills on the uppder-deck: 2 quad barrelled Nordenfeldts and a QF 4pdr

HMS Devastation (1871), built 3 years after Cerberus, incorporated many lessons learnt from Cerberus can rightly claim credit as being the first ocean going modern battleship. (Whereas Cerberus was specifically designed for Harbour defence)

"Indeed Devastation itself was an enlarged version of the coast defence Breastwork Monitor Cerberus, whose construction marked the beginning of practical turret ship design" Birth of the Battleship, John Beeler, US Naval Institute Press, 2001

"Between the harbour defence ship and the sea-going battleship was a matter of degree - the Devastation was to develop out of Cerberus in due course." British Battleships, Oscar Parkes, Seeley Service & Co., London, 1957

She was a powerful warship equipped with two twin 10 inch gun turrets (muzzle loading, rifled Armstrong guns), 4 quad barreled Nordenfeldt machine guns and 2 six pounder guns (added in 1892/93). Armour plate ranged from 6 inches on the sides to 10 inches on the turrets. She was not initially provided with any protection against torpedoes, but outriggers and nets were later fitted for this purpose.


The local press commented upon her arrival that "Victorians can sleep peacefully upon their pillows, with the consciousness that Cerberus is in every way fit to fight their battles and to fight them in modern style".

Cerberus enjoyed a period of 53 years service in which she never fired a shot in anger. Ironic then that her guns caused such general collateral damage to windows that public protest effectively negated the conduct of firing practices close to shore!



A free 1/250 scale card model of Cerberus as she appeared in the 1890s (with mast modification and torpedo booms fitted) is available here:

http://www.cerberus.com.au/store/model_paper.html

In the meantime, I'm working on my lovely 1/1200 scale Cerberus from Brigade Models: pics soon!

HMVS CERBERUS rescue efforts

You may recall a previous post about the HMVS CERBERUS, possibly the world's first real battleship whose rusting hulk lies off the coast of Victoria today.
http://pauljamesog.blogspot.com/2007/01/hmvs-cerberus.html

For years the wreck has been slowly collapsing under its own weight.
But great news: Efforts are now underway to save the wreck - Huzzah!


On 25 July 2008, Heritage Minister the Hon. Peter Garrett announced $500,000 in Federal funding for the National Trust of Australia as a first step towards stabilising the HMVS Cerberus shipwreck.

The Minister announced the funding during a visit to the wreck, which sits as a breakwater a few hundred metres off the beach at Melbourne's Half Moon Bay, Black Rock.

Work on this project began in 2004 with a Heritage Victoria grant to move 18-tonne guns. The next phase involves building an overhead jacking frame and an underwater supporting platform. This funding will help the National Trust to advance this project.

For further information about HMVS Cerberus visit: www.nattrust.com.au/trust_register/search_the_register/hmvs_cerberus or www.cerberus.com.au

The CERBERUS wreck off Melbourne