HMAS Encounter (l)
HMAS Encounter was a Challenger Class, Light Cruiser. After seven years' service in the Royal Navy mostly in Australian waters Encounter was commissioned into the RAN in 1912. During the next two years she was actively employed in training the growing Navy and showing the flag at ports all around the nation. On 4 October 1913 she joined with the remainder of the new Australian Fleet Unit comprising the battlecruiser Australia, light cruisers, Sydney and Melbourne, and the destroyers, Parramatta, Yarra and Warrego and took part in the Australian Fleets' entry into Port Jackson.
- Commissioned
1 July 1912 - Decommissioned
1 January 1923 - Fate
On 1 January 1923, HMAS Penguin, the depot ship at Garden Island, Sydney, paid off after 47 years of naval service. On the same day Encounter was renamed Penguin and recommissioned for service as the depot and accommodation ship. She paid off for the final time on 15 August 1929. Encounter’s hull was towed to sea and sunk off Bondi Beach, Sydney on 14 September 1932. She now lies at a depth of approximately 74 metres and is still dived regularly. The font in the Garden Island Chapel, Sydney, is made from timber recovered from HMAS Encounter.