page_title: Coastal defence ship
section_title: India
hierarchical_section_title: Coastal defence ship / Operators / India
caption_attribution_description: AWM caption&#160;: Photograph showing stern view of Victorian colonial breastwork monitor HMVS Cerberus at Williamstown, Victoria. She is in her original configuration with two pole masts and extensions to the flying deck.
context_page_description: Coastal defence ships were warships built for the purpose of coastal defence, mostly during the period from 1860 to 1920. They were small, often cruiser-sized warships that sacrificed speed and range for armour and armament. They were usually attractive to nations that either could not afford full-sized battleships or could be satisfied by specially designed shallow-draft vessels capable of littoral operations close to their own shores. The Nordic countries and Thailand found them particularly appropriate for their island-dotted coastal waters. Some vessels had limited blue-water capabilities; others operated in rivers.
  The coastal defence ships differed from earlier monitors by having a higher freeboard and usually possessing both higher speed and a secondary armament; some examples also mounted casemated guns. They varied in size from around 1,500 tons to 8,000 tons.
  Their construction and appearance was often that of miniaturized pre-dreadnought battleships.
context_section_description: Cerberus class (1870)
  Magdala
  Abyssinia (half-sister to Cerberus & Magdala)
caption: HMVS Cerberus at Williamstown in 1871
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