HMS Phoenix (1895)

HMS Phoenix at anchor in the Hai River in about 1900
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 22°18′N 114°12′E / 22.3°N 114.2°E / 22.3; 114.2 Raised and sold in 1907
General characteristics
Type	Phoenix-class sloop
Displacement	1,050 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

HMS Phoenix was a Royal Navy Phoenix-class steel screw sloop, launched at Devonport in 1895. She 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.

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.

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]

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]

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]

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]

Phoenix was deployed to the China Station. She served in Chinese waters during the Boxer Rebellion^[2] under the command of Edward Hobart Seymour.

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]

• Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (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, Antony; 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.

• Media related to HMS Phoenix (1895) at Wikimedia Commons