HMS Tauranga

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

HMS Tauranga, Tasmania in 1902.
History
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 and type	Pearl-class cruiser
Displacement	2,575 tons
Length	278 ft (85 m) oa 256 ft (78 m) pp
Beam	41 ft (12 m)
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
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. 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 unrest in 1899, she took part in operations with HMS Porpoise and HMS Royalist. 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.

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

Memorial to Payne, First Lieutenant of H.M.S. Tauranga, in Chester Cathedral.

References

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

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