HMS Tauranga (1889)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Phoenix.

History
HMS Tauranga, Tasmania in 1902.
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Phoenix
Builder:	J & G Thomson, Glasgow
Launched:	28 October 1889
Renamed:	Tauranga, 1890
Fate:	sold in July 1906 for breaking up.
General characteristics
Class & type:	Pearl-class cruiser
Displacement:	2,575 tons
Length:	278 ft (85 m) oa 256 ft (78 m) pp^[1]
Beam:	41 ft (12 m)^[1]
Draught:	15 ft 6 in (4.72 m)
Installed power:	7,500 ihp (5,600 kW) on forced draught
Propulsion:	2 × 3-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines 4 × double-ended cylindrical boilers 2 screws^[1]
Speed:	19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Complement:	217
Armament:	8 × QF 4.7 inch (120 mm) guns 8 × 3-pounder guns 4 × machine guns 2 × 14-inch (356 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour:	Deck: 1–2 in (25–51 mm) Gunshields: 2 in (51 mm) Conning tower: 3 in (76 mm)

HMS Tauranga was a Pearl-class cruiser of the Royal Navy. The vessel was originally named Phoenix and built by J & G Thomson, Glasgow. She was launched on 28 October 1889.^[2] Renamed on 2 April 1890, as Tauranga as part of the Auxiliary Squadron of the Australia Station. She arrived in Sydney with the squadron on 5 September 1891. During the Samoan civil war in 1899, she took part in operations with HMS Porpoise and HMS Royalist.^[2] Spending between 1901 and 1903 in reserve at Sydney before being assigned to the New Zealand division of the Australia Station. She left the Australia Station on 14 December 1904. She was sold for £8500 in July 1906 to Thomas Ward for breaking up.^[2]

A Pearl-class cruiser from Brassey's Naval Annual, 1897

Notes

1 2 3 Winfield (2004) p.276
1 2 3 Bastock 1988, p. 103.

References

Robert Louis Stevenson, his family and Samoans, and the band of HMS Tauranga at Vailima (Samoa) (photo by Alfred John Tattersall).

Bastock, John (1988), Ships on the Australia Station, Child & Associates Publishing Pty Ltd; Frenchs Forest, Australia. ISBN 0-86777-348-0
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.

Pearl-class cruisers

Royal Navy	Pandora / Katoomba Phoenix / Tauranga Pelorus / Mildura Psyche / Ringarooma Persian / Wallaroo / Wallington / Persian Pallas Phoebe Pearl Philomel

Royal New Zealand Navy	Philomel

Preceded by: Barham class Followed by: Apollo class

List of cruisers of the Royal Navy

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