HMS Phoenix (1895)

Phoenix foundered alongside a coaling pier in Hong Kong after a typhoon in 1906
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Phoenix
Builder:	HM Dockyard, Devonport
Laid down:	25 July 1894
Launched:	25 April 1895
Commissioned:	April 1896[1]
Fate:	Capsized in a typhoon in 1906 Raised and sold in 1907
General characteristics
Type:	Phoenix-class sloop
Displacement:	1050 tons[2]
Length:	185 ft (56 m) pp 210 ft 6 in (64.16 m)oa[1]
Beam:	32 ft 6 in (9.91 m)[1]
Draught:	13 ft 1 in (3.99 m)[1]
Installed power:	1,400 ihp (1,000 kW)[1]
Propulsion:	Three-cylinder vertical triple-expansion steam engine Twin screws
Sail plan:	Barquentine rigged
Speed:	13 kn (24 km/h)[1]
Armament:	6 × 4-inch/25-pdr (1-ton) QF guns[1] 4 × 3-pound guns 3 × machine guns[1]
Armour:	Protective deck of 1 to 1 1⁄2 in (2.5 to 3.8 cm) steel over machinery and boilers

Phoenix at anchor in the Hai River in about 1900

HMS Phoenix was a Royal Navy Phoenix-class steel screw sloop. She was launched at Devonport in 1895, saw action in China during the Boxer Rebellion, and later served on the Pacific Station. She had the misfortune to be alongside a coaling pier in Hong Kong on 18 September 1906 when a typhoon struck the colony. She foundered and became a total loss.

Design

Phoenix was the name ship of her class of steel screw sloops mounting 10 guns. She and her sister ship, Algerine, were designed by Sir William White, the Admiralty Chief Constructor. The class was essentially a twin-screw version of the Alert-class sloop.

Construction

Phoenix was constructed of steel and given a protective deck of 1 to 1 ¹⁄₂ in (2.5 to 3.8 cm) steel armour over her machinery and boilers. She was laid down at Devonport Dockyard on 25 July 1894 and launched on 25 April 1895.^[1]

Sail plan

As built the class was rigged with a barquentine sail plan (square rigged on the foremast, but fore-and-aft rigged on main and mizzen).^[1]

Propulsion

Phoenix was provided with a three-cylinder vertical triple-expansion steam engine developing 1,400 indicated horsepower (1,000 kW) and driving twin screws. The machinery was provided by Devonport Dockyard.^[1]

Armament

Her armament consisted primarily of six 4-inch quick-firing guns weighing a ton each and firing a 25-pound (11 kg) shell. In addition she was fitted with four 3-pounder guns and three machine guns.^[1]

Royal Navy service

Phoenix was deployed to the China Station, and in early 1900 Commander R. P. Cochran was in command. She recommissioned at Hong Kong and served in Chinese waters during the Boxer Rebellion^[2] under the command of Edward Hobart Seymour.

Fate

Phoenix was alongside a coaling pier at Hong Kong on 18 September 1906 when a typhoon struck. She foundered and was declared a total loss.^[3] She was raised in 1907 and sold.^[1]

See also

Media related to Phoenix class sloop at Wikimedia Commons

References

• Winfield, Rif & Lyon, David (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC 52620555. 
• Preston, Anthony; Major, John (2007). Send a Gunboat: The Victorian Navy and Supremacy at Sea, 1854–1904 (2nd ed.). London: Conway. ISBN 978-0-85177-923-2.