Victorian navy torpedo boats operated in Port Phillip Bay as part of the defence for the port of Melbourne.
Gordon was shipped to Melbourne as deck cargo on the SS Angerton, arriving in Melbourne on 11 February 1886, and was named in honour of General Charles George Gordon who had been killed at Khartoum, Sudan, in January 1885. Gordon initially had a crew of seven, but this was increased to 11 in 1897. It carried 2 sets of dropping gear for 14-inch torpedoes and a three-barrelled Nordenfeldt machine gun mounted forward. Gordon successfully completed its sea trials in April 1886, its 150hp Bayliss & Co steam engine enabling it to attain a speed of 14 knots.
Based at the Williamstown Naval Depot, Melbourne, Gordon and the other Victorian Navy torpedo boats Lonsdale, Nepean, Childers and Countess of Hopetoun operated in Port Phillip Bay. J. H. Straczek claimed that the five torpedo boats and other Victorian Navy ships made Melbourne, ‘the most heavily defended city in Australia and possibly the Empire.’ The torpedo boats conducted regular exercises within Port Phillip Bay. During the annual Easter exercise period they routinely operated in the vicinity of Swan Island where day and night attacks were practised against the sail-powered, 120-gun battleship HMVS Nelson, which masqueraded as an enemy raider. The use of Gordon in bad weather was restricted due to its modest dimensions and tonnage.
On 10 July 1886, while exercising with Childers, Gordon was struck by a practice torpedo, holing it below the water line. To prevent the vessel from sinking, it was beached to effect repairs and re-floated on the next high tide.
In 1901 Gordon became part of the Commonwealth Naval Forces and continued to operate from Williamstown Naval Depot as part of the defensive forces within Port Phillip Bay. It remained active as a torpedo boat, under the command of Chief Gunner John Blair, but was also used for target-towing, patrol, training and transport duties. On 10 July 1911 Gordon became part of the Royal Australian Navy, as a non-commissioned tender (support vessel) by which time it was restricted to basic training, transport and target-towing duties.
On 14 November 1914 Gordon was accidently rammed and sunk by a picket boat near Williamstown Dockyard without loss of life. The vessel was salvaged but found to be beyond economical repair and scrapped.
