HMS Torch (1894)

HMS Torch c. 1900.
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Torch
Builder	Sheerness Dockyard
Laid down	18 December 1893
Launched	28 December 1894
Commissioned	October 1895
Fate	Transferred to New Zealand government on 16 August 1917
New Zealand
Name	HMS Firebrand
Fate	Sold in July 1920
United Kingdom
Name	Rama
Fate	Wrecked on 17 November 1924 near the Chatham Islands.
General characteristics
Class and type	Alert-class sloop
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	1,400 hp (1,044 kW)[2]
Propulsion	Three-cylinder vertical triple expansion steam engine; single screw[1]
Sail plan	As built: Barque rigged After about 1900: Barquentine rigged
Complement	107[2]
Armament	6 × BL 4-inch (101.6 mm) guns 4 × 3-pound guns 3 × machine guns[1]
Armour	Protective deck of 1 in (2.5 cm) to 1.5 in (3.8 cm) steel over machinery and boilers.[1]

HMS Torch was an Alert-class sloop of the Royal Navy, built at Sheerness Dockyard and launched in 1894. She served in Australia and New Zealand and was transferred to New Zealand as a training ship in 1917, being renamed HMS Firebrand at the same time. She was sold in 1920 and converted to a refrigerated ship with the new name Rama. She ran aground in the Chatham Islands in 1924 and was abandoned.