HMAS Psyche

Psyche was a third-class protected cruiser of the nine-ship Pelorus- or P-class. She had a displacement of 2,135 tons, was long overall and long between perpendiculars, had a beam of , and a draught of . Psyche was capable of reaching , although she normally operated at the more economical speedo of . The ship's company initially stood at 220, but this was later reduced to 188; 12 officers, and 176 sailors. Psyche was laid down for the Royal Navy at HM Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth on 15 November 1897. She was launched on 19 July 1898 by Miss E. Carr, sister of the dockyard's admiral superintendent. The cruiser was completed on 28 April 1899, and was placed in reserve until her commissioning on 2 May 1899. ==Operational history==

Psyche was commissioned on 2 May 1899 by Captain Francis Raymond Pelly, for service on the North America and West Indies Station, based at the Royal Naval Dockyard in the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda. Commander Edmund Moore C. Cooper-Key replaced Pelly in command in June 1901. She was at Bermuda in March 1902, visited Colón, Panama in early May, and Havana in late May 1902; and was in Nicaragua in July 1902, when the government captured revolutionists from an attempted coup. The following month she left Bermuda homeward bound, returning to Devonport on 20 August, to pay off on 5 September when she was placed in the D division of the dockyard reserve. In December 1903, she was transferred to the Royal Navy's Australian Squadron, where she served until October 1913, when the Australia Station was handed to the control of the fledgling RAN. In 1914, Psyche formed part of the escort for the New Zealand Force which occupied German Samoa (now Samoa). Psyche also escorted troop ships heading from New Zealand to the Middle East. For Psyche, 10- to 12-day patrols along the Burmese coast were the norm, interspersed with crew training duties. All seven were found guilty of disobeying orders, and were punished with prison sentences between 12 and 14 months, plus dismissal from the RAN. During April, further patrols of the Bay of Bengal were made, before Psyche sailed to Hong Kong for inspection and refit. Psyche was reactivated on 20 November 1917 for service along Australia's north-east coast, but after uneventful patrols, she was decommissioned for the final time on 26 March 1918. ==Fate==

The ship was sold to the Moreland Metal Company on 21 July 1922, who used her as a timber lighter. The wreck was used by RAN clearance divers for training between 1950 and 1973, and was later broken up during an underwater demolitions exercise. The remains sit below sea level, around off Roy Wood Reserve. A memorial to the ship was unveiled at Roy Wood Reserve on 27 June 2015. ==Citations==