HMS Boomerang (1889)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Whiting.

HMS Boomerang was an Sharpshooter-class torpedo gunboat of the Royal Navy, originally named HMS Whiting, built by Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick, Tyne and Wear and launched on 24 July 1889. Renamed Boomerang on 2 April 1890, she formed part of the Auxiliary Squadron of the Australia Station.

Boomerang anchored at Sydney in c. 1891–1905.
History
United Kingdom
Name	Whiting
Builder	Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick, Tyne and Wear
Yard number	545
Laid down	17 August 1888
Launched	24 July 1889
Completed	14 February 1891
Renamed	HMS Boomerang – 2 April 1890
Fate	Sold 11 July 1905 at Portsmouth, Hampshire.
General characteristics
Type	Torpedo gunboat
Displacement	735 tons
Length	242 ft (74 m)
Beam	27 ft (8.2 m)
Draught	8 ft 6 in (2.59 m)
Installed power	3,600 ihp (2,700 kW)
Propulsion	Twin triple-expansion steam engines Locomotive boilers Twin screws (later re-boilered with water-tube boilers)
Speed	19 kn (35 km/h)
Complement	91
Armament	Five 14-inch (360 mm) torpedo tubes (3 reloads) Two QF 4.7-inch (12 cm) guns Four 3-pounder guns

Service details

Boomerang arrived in Sydney with the squadron on 5 September 1891. Lieutenant and commander Edward Matthew Hale was appointed in command on 15 February 1900.

She left the Australia Station on 22 August 1904. She was sold for £1,900 in July 1905 at Portsmouth.

References

• Bastock, John (1988), Ships on the Australia Station, Child & Associates Publishing Pty Ltd; Frenchs Forest, Australia. ISBN 0-86777-348-0
• Brown, Les (2023). Royal Navy Torpedo Vessels. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-3990-2285-9.
• Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (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.