Gun-boat Victoria

The steam sloop Victoria</i<>> was the first ship of the Victorian naval fleet. The ship was ordered in response to the threat of Russian invasion at the time of the Crimean War which pitted Russia against Britain. Victoria arrived in Melbourne in May 1856. It served in New Zealand in 1860, during the Maori Wars. The Alfred Graving Dock in Williamstown, completed in 1874, was used to maintain and repair all ships of the Victorian Naval Forces.