HMAS Pioneer - Operational History

Operational History

Pioneer spent the majority of 1900 in British waters, before sailing to the Mediterranean Station on 15 November. The ship remained in the Mediterranean until returning to Chatham on 20 November 1904. 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.

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. 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.

At the start of World War I, Pioneer sailed from Victoria to Western Australia, where she served as a patrol vessel. 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. 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. 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. However, as the Australian warship took up position, she suffered a major engine malfunction, and HMAS Sydney joined the convoy instead.

In late December, the cruiser was assigned to the blockade of German East Africa, and sailed for Zanzibar on 9 January 1915. On arrival, Pioneer was ordered to help contain the German cruiser SMS Königsberg in the Rufiji River and prevent German supply ships from arriving. 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. 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. 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. On 30 July, the cruiser fired 100 4-inch shells during the bombardment of Dar-es-Salaam.