[1][2] Nepean was one of several torpedo boats ordered by the government of Victoria in 1882 to protect the colony from a possible Russian or French attack, and was built by John I. Thornycroft & Company, Chiswick.

[5][4] Due to ‘Russian scare’ of 1882,[6] the government finalised the purchase of Nepean.

[3] Following completion in the United Kingdom on 7 July 1884 Nepean arrived in Melbourne as deck cargo on the SS Port Darwin.

In 1911, she briefly became a unit of the Royal Australian Navy before being stripped of all her useful fittings at Williamstown in 1912 and being beached ashore on Swan Island.

This article about a specific Australian naval ship or boat is a stub.