Hecate HMS

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Hecate HMS

Post by shipstamps » Sun Jul 06, 2008 4:00 pm


H.M.S. Egeria (actually HMS Hecate) visited the island in 1888 and a party from the warship discovered phosphate deposits, with the consequent annexation of the island by Great Britain. The Egeria was a sloop, having a composite-built hull; she was launched at Pembroke Dock on November 1, 1873. Displacement was 940 tons, and length 160 ft., beam 31 ft. 4 in. and draft 14 ft. 3 in. Engines developed 940 i.h.p. Her armament varied during service; at one time she had four 20-pdrs, two machine guns; and one light gun. At another period she had two 7-inch guns and two 64-pdrs. In October 1886, she was commissioned for the Surveying Service, visiting Christmas Island in this connection. She achieved a speed of only 11.3 knots. The Egeria was sold to the Vancouver Navy League in October 1911. SG46

aukepalmhof
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Re: Hecate HMS

Post by aukepalmhof » Tue Sep 25, 2018 9:28 pm

The stamp issued by Christmas Island inscribed HMS EGERIA visited the Christmas Islands in 1887, but the vessel depict on the stamp is not the HMS EGERIA but the HMS HECATE a British monitor which never visited the island.

She was built as a monitor by Dudgeon at Poplar near London for the Royal Navy.
05 September 1870 keel laid down.
30 September 1871 launched as HMS HECATE one of the Cyclop-class of four ships.
Displacement 3,540 ton, dim. 68.6 x 13.7 x 5.0m. (draught)
Powered by two inverted compound steam engines, 1,579 ihp, twin shafts, speed 12.1 knots.
Armament 2 – twin 10 inch rifled muzzle loaders guns.
Crew 156.
24 May 1877 completed.

HMS HECATE was the last ship completed of the four Cyclops-class breastwork monitors built for the Royal Navy during the 1870s.

Design and description
The Cyclops-class ships were modified versions of the Cerberus class. The ships had a length between perpendiculars of 225 feet (68.6 m), a beam of 45 feet (13.7 m), and a draught of 16 feet 3 inches (4.95 m) at deep load. They displaced 3,480 long tons (3,540 t). Their crew consisted of 156 officers and men. HYDRA had two 4-cylinder inverted compound steam engines, each driving a single propeller shaft. The engines produced a total of 1,472 indicated horsepower (1,098 kW) during the ship's sea trials which gave her a maximum speed of 11.2 knots (20.7 km/h; 12.9 mph). The ships carried 250 long tons (250 t) of coal, enough to steam 3,000 nautical miles (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).
The ships mounted four 10-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns in twin-gun turrets fore and aft of the superstructure. The guns could fire both solid shot and explosive shells. They were mounted on carriages that used hydraulic jacks to elevate and depress the guns.
The Cyclops class had a complete waterline belt of wrought iron that was 8 inches (203 mm) thick amidships and thinned to 6 inches (152 mm) at the ends. The superstructure and conning tower was fully armoured, the reason it was called a breastwork, with 8–9 inches (203–229 mm) of wrought iron. The gun turrets had 10 inches on their faces and 9 inches on the sides and rear. All of the vertical armour was backed by 9–11 inches (229–279 mm) of teak. The decks were 1.5 inches (38.1 mm) thick.

Together with her sister ships, CYCLOPS and GORGON she was placed on the non-effective list of ships in January 1902, and sold for scrap on 12 May 1903.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_HECATE_(1871)
Christmas Islands 1972 10c sg46, scott?
Attachments
HECATE monitor.jpg
hecate.jpg
Image (22).jpg

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