HMS Caroline was a Satellite-class composite screw sloop of the Royal Navy, built at Sheerness Dockyard, fitted with Maudslay, Sons and Field machinery and launched on 25 November 1882.

With her sister ships Heroine and Hyacinth, Caroline was sent to the China Station[3] and recommissioned at Hong Kong on 18 February 1890.

[4] On 7 January 1896 Caroline left Hong Kong in company with Grafton and Mercury for a return to Portsmouth via Singapore, Aden, Suez, Malta, Gibraltar and Plymouth.

Once shore hospital facilities had been built in 1902, Caroline was refitted as overflow accommodation for 60 boys.

In 1904 both hulks left Harwich for Shotley, Suffolk, and as the school expanded ashore, a series of old ships inherited the name Ganges, with Caroline receiving the name in April 1908.