Nine ships and one shore establishment of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Wasp, with one other government vessel using the name:
HCS Bombay, later HMS Bombay and HMS Ceylon, was a teak-built fifth rate, 38-gun wooden warship built in the Bombay Dockyard for the Honourable East India Company (HEIC) and launched in 1793. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1805 and renamed her HMS Bombay. She served with the Royal Navy under that name until 1 July 1808, when she became HMS Ceylon. She was sold at Malta in 1857 and broken up in 1861.
HMS Volage was a Laurel-class sixth-rate post-ship of the Royal Navy. She served during the Napoleonic War, capturing four privateers and participating in the Battle of Lissa (1811). She was sold in 1818. Her new owners renamed her Rochester and she served in a commercial capacity for another 12 years, first sailing between England and India, and then making two voyages to the South Seas as a whaler. She was last listed in Lloyd's List in 1831.
HMS Albemarle was a 28-gun sixth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had been built as the French merchantman Ménagère, which the French Navy purchased in 1779. A British squadron captured her in September and she was commissioned into service with the Royal Navy. Amongst her commanders in her short career was Captain Horatio Nelson, who would later win several famous victories over the French. The Navy sold her in 1784. She subsequently became a merchant vessel again. In 1791 she transported convicts to Port Jackson as part of the third fleet. She then sailed to India where she picked up a cargo on behalf of the British East India Company. As she was returning to England a French privateer captured her.
Seven ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Strombolo, or HMS Stromboli, after the volcano Stromboli, in Italy:
HMS Orpheus was a 32–gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1780, and served for more than a quarter of a century, before she was wrecked in 1807.
Ceres was an East Indiaman launched in 1787. She made three trips to China for the British East India Company (EIC). After the outbreak of war with France in 1793, the Admiralty, desirous of quickly building up the Royal Navy, purchased a number of commercial vessels, including nine East Indiamen, to meet the need for small two-decker fourth rates to serve as convoy escorts. The Admiralty purchased Ceres in 1795 and renamed her HMS Grampus. In 1797 the Admiralty converted her to a storeship. That year her crew participated in the Spithead and Nore mutinies. Grampus grounded in January 1799 and was destroyed.
Royal Charlotte was launched in 1789 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She made two trips to China for the EIC and on the second of these, after the outbreak of war with France in 1793, assisted at the British capture of Pondicherry. Then, the Admiralty, desirous of quickly building up the Royal Navy, purchased a number of commercial vessels, including nine East Indiamen, to meet the need for small two-decker fourth rates to serve as convoy escorts. The Admiralty purchased Royal Charlotte in 1795 and renamed her HMS Malabar. She made a trip to the West Indies where she was the lead ship of a small squadron that captured some Dutch colonies. She foundered in 1796 while escorting a convoy in the North Atlantic.
HCS Aurora, the Honourable East India Company's Ship Aurora, was a sloop-of-war launched at Bombay for the Bombay Marine, the naval arm of the British East India Company (EIC), to protect the trade in the Indian Ocean from pirates. The French captured her in late September 1810, only to have the British recapture her in early December. She returned to the service of the Bombay Marine, assisting the British Government and the Royal Navy in various campaigns in the East Indies and the Persian Gulf. She was still listed on the rolls of the Bombay Marine on 1 January 1828.
HMS Ceres was an 18-gun sloop launched in 1777 for the British Royal Navy that the French captured in December 1778 off Saint Lucia. The French Navy took her into service as Cérès. The British recaptured her in 1782 and renamed her HMS Raven, only to have the French recapture her again early in 1783. The French returned her name to Cérès, and she then served in the French Navy until sold at Brest in 1791.
John May built Mars at the naval dockyard at Amsterdam in 1769 as a fifth rate for the Dutch Navy. The British Royal Navy captured her on 3 February 1781 at Saint Eustatia. The Navy took her into service as HMS Mars, but sold her on 25 March 1784. Richard Bush purchased Mars, retained her name, and had her fitted as an East Indiaman. Adams repaired her and took her measurements in 1786. She sailed to China in April 1786 for the British East India Company (EIC) and was wrecked in December 1787 shortly after her return to Britain.
HMS Trincomalee was a sloop of Dutch or French origin that the British Royal Navy took into service in 1799. She was destroyed in action in 1799 with the loss of all but two of her crew.
Adèle was a French privateer brig commissioned in 1800 that the British Royal Navy captured later that year. The British East India Company's government in India purchased her in 1801 for service as an armed brig in the Bay of Bengal and along the Coromandel Coast. In 1804 she sailed to Britain where the Admiralty purchased her for use as a fire ship, and named her HMS Firebrand. She was wrecked in 1804.
Carron was launched at Bombay Dockyard in July 1792. She was a country ship that made several voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) before the Royal Navy purchased her in 1804 to use as a fifth-rate frigate, and renamed Duncan. In 1807 the Navy renamed her Dover. She was wrecked off Madras on 2 May 1811.
HMS Weymouth was laid down as the East Indiaman Earl of Mansfield. The British Royal Navy purchased her on the stocks to use as a 56-gun fourth rate. She was launched in 1795 but never was commissioned in the Royal Navy. She was transferred in February 1796 to the Transportation Board as a transport. Lieutenant Robert Passmore took command in June 1796. Commander Charles Ryder succeeded Passmore in July 1798, and Commander Ambrose Crofton replaced Ryder in August 1799.
Several vessels have been named William Pitt for William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (1708–1778), a.k.a. William Pitt the Elder, British prime minister (1766–1768) or William Pitt the Younger (1759–1806), son of the above and British prime minister.
HMS North Star was a ship launched in 1810 and spent much of her naval career on the Jamaica Station. The Navy sold her in 1817 and she became the merchantman Columbo. Columbo sailed between Britain and India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC) until she was damaged in 1822 while returning from Ceylon. She was condemned at Point de Galle and sold there for breaking up.
HMS Cato was a 50-gun Grampus-class fourth rate ship of the Royal Navy. One of a class of ships constructed for service in the American Revolutionary War, Cato was commissioned in 1782. She became the flagship of Sir Hyde Parker, and sailed with him to the East Indies Station later in the year. After stopping at Rio De Janeiro on 12 December, the ship sailed for the Cape of Good Hope and was never seen again. Theories on her disappearance include her being shipwrecked in locations such as the Malabar Coast and the Maldives, and the crew being murdered by natives. Sir John Knox Laughton argues that it is more likely that Cato caught fire and blew up at sea.
HM galley Alarm, of eight guns, was the mercantile Mountfield that the Royal Navy purchased on 4 June 1777. She may have been a galley, or have been converted to one after purchase. Her commander scuttled in July 1778 to avoid her capture.
Grenville was launched at Deptford in 1764 as an East Indiaman. She made four voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) before her owners sold her in 1777 to the Royal Navy, which renamed her HMS Tortoise and employed her as a transport. She foundered in 1779.
Great Britain 
