Alert-class sloop
.jpg?lang=en) HMS Torch
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Alert class sloops |
| Builders | Sheerness Royal Dockyard |
| Operators |  Royal Navy |
| Built | 1894 |
| In commission | 1894–1926 |
| Completed | 2 |
| Lost | 0 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Screw Steel Sloop |
| Displacement | 960 tons |
| Length | 180 ft (55 m) |
| Beam | 32 ft (9.8 m) |
| Draught | 12 ft (3.7 m) |
| Installed power | 1400 horsepower[1] |
| Propulsion | Sails and steam |
| Sail plan | Barque Rigged |
| Complement | 107[1] |
| Armament | list error: mixed text and list (help)
|
The Alert class was a two-ship class of 6-gun[2] screw steel sloops [2] built for the Royal Navy in 1894.
Design
Alert and Torch were constructed of steel and powered by both barque-rigged sails and a steam engine developing 1,400 horsepower. They were armed with four 4-inch and four 3-pounder guns, and three machine guns.[1]
Operational Lives
Screw sloops of Alert's type had been obsolete for many years, but they remained ideal for patroling Britain's far flung maritime empire. Torch seems to have spent her life on the Australian Station; she recommissioned at Sydney on 29 November 1913, and in August 1914 became part of the New Zealand Division of the Eastern Fleet. On 16 August 1917 she was transferred to the New Zealand Government as the Training Ship Firebrand.[3] Alert served on the North America and West Indies Station, including a period in late 1902 and early 1903 when, under Commodore Montgomerie in HMS Charybdis, she enforced a blockade of the Venezuelan coast. During this period she captured the Venezuelan Zumbador. She was laid up for a time at Bermuda, but after 1910 was emplyed on the East Indies Station in the Persian Gulf, employed in the suppression of gun-running. She was sold to the civil authority at Basra in 1926 for use as a pilot vessel. She was broken up in 1949. [2][1]
Ships
| Name | Ship Builder | Launched | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|
| HMS Alert | Sheerness Royal Dockyard | 28 December 1894 | Lent to the civil authority at Basra in 1906, and sold to them in 1926 for use as a pilot vessel. She was broken up in 1949[2][4] |
| HMS Torch | Sheerness Royal Dockyard | 28 December 1894 | Transferred to New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy on 16 August 1917 as Training Ship Firebrand[3] Renamed Rama. Ran aground on 17 November 1924 and abandonned[5][2] |
References
- ^ a b c d e "HMS Alert at Naval Database website". Retrieved 2008-09-01.
- ^ a b c d e "Naval cruisers at battleships-cruisers.co.uk". Retrieved 2008-08-30.
- ^ a b "HMS Torch at Naval Database website". Retrieved 2008-09-01.
- ^ "Frank Waterfield's HMS Alert pages". Retrieved 2008-09-01.
- ^ "Australian war memorial website". Retrieved 2008-09-04.