The Gunboat War was a naval conflict between Denmark–Norway and Great Britain during the Napoleonic Wars. The war's name is derived from the Danish tactic of employing small gunboats against the materially superior Royal Navy. In Scandinavia it is seen as the later stage of the English Wars, whose commencement is accounted as the First Battle of Copenhagen in 1801.
Nineteen ships and a shore establishment of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Drake after Sir Francis Drake or after the drake:
Numerous Royal Navy vessels have been named HMS Dolphin after the dolphin.
Fifteen ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Ranger
Eighteen Royal Navy ships and two schools have borne the name HMS Mercury, or HMS Mercure, after the God Mercury, of Roman mythology
Six vessels of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMSRoyal Charlotte, after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, consort of King George III.
Pomone was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, launched in 1785. The British captured her off the Île de Batz in April 1794 and incorporated her into the Royal Navy. Pomone subsequently had a relatively brief but active career in the British Navy off the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of France before suffering sufficient damage from hitting a rock to warrant being taken out of service and then broken up in 1803.
Sixteen ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Alert, while another was planned:
Twelve ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Mosquito, or the archaic HMS Musquito, after the tropical insect, the Mosquito:
Thirty-nine vessels of the Royal Navy and its predecessors have borne the name Swallow, as has one dockyard craft, one naval vessel of the British East India Company, and at least two revenue cutters, all after the bird, the Swallow:
HMS Antigua was a 14-gun sloop that served in the British Royal Navy from 1779 to 1792. In contemporary records she is sometimes referred to as "His Majesty's armed brig Antigua".
Sixteen ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Viper, or HMS Vipere, after the members of the Viperidae family:
Fourteen ships and a shore establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name Raven, after birds of the genus Corvus, particularly the common raven:
HMS Atalante was a 16-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was formerly the French Atalante, captured in 1797. She served with the British during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and was wrecked in 1807.
HMS Cruizer was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Stephen Teague of Ipswich and launched in 1797. She was the first ship of the class, but there was a gap of 5 years between her launch and the ordering of the next batch in October 1803; by 1815 a total of 105 other vessels had been ordered to her design. She had an eventful wartime career, mostly in the North Sea, English Channel and the Baltic, and captured some 15 privateers and warships, and many merchant vessels. She also participated in several actions. She was laid up in 1813 and the Commissioners of the Navy sold her for breaking in 1819.
HMS Anacreon was a French privateer launched in 1798 that the Royal Navy captured in 1799 and took into service. She had a brief career in which she took some minor prizes and engaged two enemy vessels in an inconclusive action. She was sold in December 1802.
Eleven ships of the French Navy have borne the name Renard, after the Fox or the character Reynard. The name was also popular for privateers.
Three vessels of the French Navy have borne the name Hardi, the name being the French word for "daring":
HMS Sparkler was an Acute-class gunvessel launched in 1797 as GB No.7 and renamed HMS Sparkler in August 1797. She served the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. The Navy sold her in 1802. She became a merchantman. In 1813 a French privateer captured her but the Royal Navy recaptured her shortly thereafter. She was wrecked in February 1814.
Several cutters have served His Britannic Majesty's revenue service as HM Revenue Cutter Swallow in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In wartime each cutter operated under a letter of marque, which authorized the master to engage in offensive actions against the enemy, not just defensive. These letters provide some information. Unfortunately, because the Government did not insure its vessels, sources such as Lloyd's Register, and later, the Register of Shipping, did not list the vessels while they were on government service. Also, Revenue cutters worked with the Royal Navy. A Customs House minute of 7 July 1806 notes that the Revenue cutters Swan and Hound might replace the Revenue cutters Stag and Swallow, which were then serving with Admiral Keith. Individual cutters might even for a time serve the Navy as a hired armed vessel.
