Alert Class Sloop (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Alert class was a two-ship class of 6-gun screw steel sloops built for the Royal Navy in 1894. Alert and Torch were constructed of steel to a design by William White, the Royal Navy Director of Naval Construction. They were powered by a three-cylinder vertical triple expansion steam engine developing 1,400 horsepower and driving a single screw. The class was originally designed and built with barque-rigged sails, but both ships were re-rigged as brigantines before 1900 by removing the main yards.