HMS Alert

Last updated October 03, 2024

Sixteen ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Alert (or the variants Alerte and Alaart), while another was planned:

HMS Alert (1753), an 8-gun cutter in service from 1753 to 1754.
HMS Alert (1777), a 10-gun cutter launched at Dover in 1777, converted to a sloop in the same year, and captured in the Channel by the Junon in 1778;^[1] foundered December 1779 off the coast of America.^[2] French records show her serving as Alerte, a cutter of fourteen 4-pounder guns and valued as a prize at Lt 32,289.^[3]
HMS Alert (1779), a 10-gun cutter launched at Dover in 1778 and captured by the French frigate Diligente in September 1780 in the Bay of Biscay. The prize was valued at Lt52,405. In French service she was armed with six 8-pounder guns and twelve 18-pounder howitzers.^[4] Perseverance recaptured her in North American waters on 7 December 1781,^[2]^[5] after a strong resistance.^[4]
HMS Alert (1790), a 4-gun schooner purchased in 1790, wrecked in 1791,^[6] but possibly salved and broken up in 1799.^[7]
HMS Alert (1793), a 16-gun sloop launched at Rotherhithe in 1794 and captured by the French Unité in May off the coast of Ireland;^[8] wrecked later that year in the Bay of Audierne after action with HMS Flora and HMS Arethusa.^[9]
HMS Alert (1795), an 8-gun brig-sloop launched at Bombay in 1795.
HMS Alerte, a 14-gun brig-sloop launched in 1787, captured from the French in 1793, retaken by the French after being burnt to the waterline that same year and rebuilt by them, captured by HMS Captain in 1799, renamed HMS Minorca and sold in 1802.
HMS Alert (1804), previously the collier Oxford, purchased in 1804 and captured by USS Essex in 1812; remained in US service until 1829.
HMS Allart (1807) (or Alaart), a 16-gun Danish sloop captured in 1807 and retaken by the Danes in 1809.^[10] She was to be named Cassandra.
HMS Alert (1813), a Cruizer-class brig-sloop, launched in 1813 and sold in 1832.
HMS Alert (1835), an 8-gun packet-brig launched in 1835 at Rotherhithe and broken up in 1851.
HMS Alert (1848), an 8-gun brig, previously a slaver, captured in 1848 and sold 1850.
HMS Alert (1856), a wooden Cruizer-class screw sloop launched in 1856 at Pembroke Dock. She was converted for Arctic exploration in 1874, reached 82°N in the expedition of 1876, worked as a survey vessel, and was loaned to the US Navy and the Canadian Government. She was laid up in 1884 and sold.
HMS Alert (1894), an Alert-class sloop launched in 1894 at Sheerness. She was lent to the civil authority at Basra in 1918, and sold to them in 1926 for use as a pilot vessel. She was broken up in 1949.
Alert was an Algerine-class minesweeper, renamed HMS Acute in 1941 before being launched in 1942.
HMS Alert (K647), a Bay-class frigate launched in 1945, originally Dundrum Bay and Loch Scamadale. She was sold in 1971.

In addition, the Royal Navy used several hired armed vessels with the name Alert, including several cutters Alert and a lugger Alert.

Citations

↑ Hepper (1994), p.52.
1 2 Roche (2005)
↑ Demerliac (1996), p.87, #572.
1 2 Demerliac (1996), p.90, #600.
↑ "No. 12290". The London Gazette . 23 April 1782. p. 2.
↑ Hepper (1994), p.74.
↑ Winfield (2008), p.355.
↑ Hepper (1994), p.76.
↑ Fonds Marine, p.84.
↑ Hepper (1994), p.130.

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Eleven ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Weazel or HMS Weazle, archaic spellings of weasel, while another was planned:

HMS Antigua has been the name of four ships of the Royal Navy, named after the Caribbean island of Antigua:

Eight ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Espiegle

Sardine was a corvette of the French Navy, launched in 1771. The Royal Navy captured her at the Siege of Toulon but the French retook her when the Anglo-Spanish force retreated. The Royal Navy captured her again in 1796. She then served as HMS Sardine until the Royal Navy sold her in 1806.

Seventeen ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Dispatch, or the variant HMS Despatch:

At least four vessels of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Belette.

Six ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Sandwich, either after the English seaside town of Sandwich, or one of the holders of the title Earl of Sandwich, particularly Vice-Admiral Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, or First Lord of the Admiralty John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. A seventh ship was planned, but never completed:

HMS Swift has been the name of numerous ships of the Royal Navy:

Gracieuse was a 32-gun Charmante-class frigate of the French Navy. Renamed to Unité in 1793, she took part in the French Revolutionary Wars. The Royal Navy captured her in 1796 off Île d'Yeu and brought her into British service as HMS Unite. She was sold in 1802

There have been twelve ships of the Royal Navy that have been named HMS Flying Fish, after the Flying Fish.

HMS Saint Lucia was a brig-sloop, the former French Navy schooner Enfant Prodigue, which the British captured in 1803 and took into service with the Royal Navy. Under the British flag she captured three small French privateers and several prizes in the Leeward Islands before two French privateers recaptured her in 1807.

The French brig Alerte was launched in April 1787. The Royal Navy captured her at Toulon in August 1793, and renamed her HMS Vigilante. The British set her on fire when they evacuated Toulon in December of that year. After the French rebuilt her as Alerte, she served at the Battle of Aboukir Bay. The British recaptured her in June 1799 and took her into service as HMS Minorca. Minorca was sold in 1802.

Three vessels of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Coureur, or HMS Coureuse, after the French for "runner" :

Two vessels of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Fleche, after the French for "arrow":

The French corvette Naïade was launched at Brest in 1793 as a brig-corvette for the French Navy. The Royal Navy captured her in 1805 and took her into service as HMS Melville. She was sold for breaking up in 1808.

References

Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
Demerliac, Alain (1996) La Marine De Louis XVI: Nomenclature Des Navires Français De 1774 À 1792. (Nice: Éditions OMEGA). ISBN 2-906381-23-3
Fonds Marine. Campagnes (opérations; divisions et stations navales; missions diverses). Inventaire de la sous-série Marine BB4. Tome premier : BB4 1 à 209 (1790-1804)
Hepper, David J. (1994) British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859. (Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot). ISBN 0-948864-30-3
Roche, Jean-Michel (2005) Dictionnaire des Bâtiments de la Flotte de Guerre Française de Colbert à nos Jours. (Group Retozel-Maury Millau).
Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.

This article includes a list of ships with the same or similar names. If an internal link for a specific ship led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended ship article, if one exists.

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[1] Hepper (1994), p.52.

[Roche_2005-2] 1 2 Roche (2005)

[3] Demerliac (1996), p.87, #572.

[Demerliac-4] 1 2 Demerliac (1996), p.90, #600.

[5] "No. 12290". The London Gazette . 23 April 1782. p. 2.

[6] Hepper (1994), p.74.

[7] Winfield (2008), p.355.

[8] Hepper (1994), p.76.

[9] Fonds Marine, p.84.

[10] Hepper (1994), p.130.

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