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{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=HMS Torch (1894).jpg
|Ship caption=''Torch''
}}
{{Infobox ship class overview
|Name=''Alert''-class sloops
|Builders=[[Sheerness]] [[Dockyard|Royal Dockyard]]
|Operators={{navy|United Kingdom}}
|Class before=
|Class after=
|Subclasses=
|Cost=
|Built range=1894
|In service range=
|In commission range=1894–1926
|Total ships building=
|Total ships planned=
|Total ships completed=2
|Total ships cancelled=
|Total ships active=
|Total ships laid up=
|Total ships lost=0
|Total ships retired=
|Total ships preserved=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class=
|Ship type=Screw steel [[sloop-of-war|sloop]]
|Ship displacement=960 tons
|Ship length={{convert|180|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|32|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught={{convert|12|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship depth=
|Ship sail plan=*''As built'':
*[[Barque]] rigged
*''After about 1900'':
*[[Barquentine]] rigged
|Ship decks=
|Ship power={{convert|1400|hp|0|abbr=on}}<ref name=PB_Alert/>
|Ship propulsion=*Three-cylinder vertical triple-expansion steam engine
*Single screw<ref name=RW/>
|Ship range=
|Ship endurance=
|Ship complement=107<ref name=PB_Alert/>
|Ship armament=*6 × [[BL 4 inch naval gun Mk I – VI|BL {{convert|4|in|mm|adj=on|sigfig=4}} guns]]
*4 × [[QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss|3-pounder (47-mm) guns]]
*3 × [[machine gun]]s<ref name=RW/>
|Ship armour=Protective deck of {{convert|1|in|cm|abbr=on}} to {{convert|1.5|in|cm|abbr=on}} steel over machinery and boilers.<ref name=RW/>
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
[[File:HMS Torch (1894) AWM A02550.jpeg|thumb|right|''Torch'' rigged as a [[barquentine]] circa 1900]]

The '''''Alert'' class''' was a two-ship [[ship class|class]] of 6-gun<ref name=BC/> screw steel [[sloop-of-war|sloop]]s<ref name=BC>{{Cite web|url=http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/cruisers.htm|title=Naval cruisers at battleships-cruisers.co.uk|accessdate=30 August 2008}}</ref> built for the [[Royal Navy]] in 1894.

==Design==
''Alert'' and ''Torch'' were constructed of steel to a design by [[William Henry White|William White]], the [[Royal Navy]] [[Director of Naval Construction]].<ref name=RW/> They were powered by a three-cylinder vertical triple-expansion steam engine developing {{convert|1,400|hp}} and driving a single screw.<ref name=RW>{{Cite book|title=''The Sail and Steam Navy List, 1815-1889'' |last=Winfield |first=Rif |author2=Lyon, David |year=2003 |publisher=Chatham Publishing |isbn=978-1-86176-032-6}}</ref>

===Sail plan===
The class was originally designed and built with [[barque]]-rigged sails, but both ships were re-rigged as [[barquentine]]s before 1900 by removing the main yards.

===Armament===
Both ships of the class were armed with six 4-inch and four 3-pounder guns, and three [[machine gun]]s.<ref name=PB_Alert/>

==Ships==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left"
!Name||Ship Builder|||Launched|||Fate
|-
|{{HMS|Alert|1894|2}}||[[Sheerness]] [[Dockyard|Royal Dockyard]]|||28 December 1894|||Lent to the civil authority at [[Basra]] in 1918, and sold to them in 1926 for use as a [[pilot vessel]]. She was broken up in 1949<ref name=BC/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://fwaterfield.tripod.com/hmsalert/alert.html|title=Frank Waterfield's HMS Alert pages|accessdate=1 September 2008}}</ref>
|-
|{{HMS|Torch|1894|2}}||Sheerness Royal Dockyard|||28 December 1894|||Transferred to [[New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy]] on 16 August 1917 as Training Ship ''Firebrand''.<ref name=PB_Torch/> Renamed ''Rama''. Ran aground on 17 November 1924 and abandoned<ref name=BC/><ref name=AWM>{{Cite web|url=http://cas.awm.gov.au/photograph/A02550|title=Australian war memorial website|accessdate=4 September 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716154341/http://cas.awm.gov.au/photograph/A02550|archive-date=16 July 2011|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
|}

==Operational lives==
Screw sloops of ''Alert's'' type had been obsolete for many years, but they remained ideal for patrolling [[British Empire|Britain's far flung maritime empire]].

===HMS ''Alert''===
''Alert'' served on the [[North America and West Indies Station]], including a period in late 1902 and early 1903 when, under Commodore [[Robert Archibald James Montgomerie|Montgomerie]] in [[HMS Charybdis (1893)|HMS ''Charybdis'']], she enforced a [[Big Stick Ideology#Venezuelan Affair .281902.29 and the Roosevelt Corollary|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 served 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.<ref name=PB_Alert>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/18-1900/A/00176.html|title=HMS Alert at Naval Database website|accessdate=1 September 2008}}</ref><ref name=BC/>

===HMS ''Torch''===
{{main|HMS Torch (1894)}}
''Torch'' joined the [[Australian Station]] in February 1897, serving in New Zealand waters in 1898 and 1899.<ref name=AWM/> After a refit, she recommissioned at [[Sydney]] on 29 November 1913, and in August 1914 became part of the [[New Zealand Naval Forces|New Zealand Division]] of the [[Pacific Station|Eastern Fleet]]. On 16 August 1917 she was transferred to the New Zealand Government as the Training Ship ''Firebrand''.<ref name=PB_Torch>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/18-1900/T/04716.html|title=HMS Torch at Naval Database website|accessdate=1 September 2008}}</ref> She was sold, renamed ''Rama'' and fitted out as a [[refrigerated]] ship for the [[Chatham Islands]] fishing trade. While approaching the [[Chatham Islands]] on 17 November 1924 she struck an uncharted rock, and was beached and abandoned.<ref name=AWM/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}

{{Alert class sloop}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alert Class Sloop}}
[[Category:Sloop classes]]
[[Category:Alert-class sloops| ]]
[[Category:Victorian-era sloops of the United Kingdom| Alert]]

Alert-class sloop - Revision history

imported>Robby: link to Commons is now defined on Wikidata