Launched in 1868 Cerberus is the only remaining monitor class warship left in the world. Cerberus not only has its hull but also its gun turrets and its guns. Cerberus was the first of the modern battleships. Preceding HMS Devastation by almost three years, Cerberus was the first British warship to dispense completely with sail power and to incorporate the shallow draft. Cerberus was the first, and is the only remaining example, of a Monitor having a central superstructure. The design for the Cerberus was the first in the world to incorporate the combination of a central superstructure with fore and aft gun turrets. Cerberus is the only substantially intact surviving warship of any of Australia's pre-Federation colonial navies. Cerberus is the oldest as well as the only surviving inaugural warship, to have served in the Royal Australian Navy. Cerberus represented Cutting Edge Technology from the 1860's. Cerberus was the flagship and most powerful warship of the Victorian Navy. In addition it was the most powerful warship of any of the Australian Colonial Navies. Cerberus incorporated the latest developments in metallurgy, steam power, gun turrets and the use of low freeboard. Cerberus was the first armoured warship built for Australia. It now serves proudly as an artificial reef and breakwater.