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Twelve ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Thetis, named after the sea-nymph in Greek mythology:
Nineteen ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Lion or HMS Lyon, after the lion, an animal traditionally associated with courage, and also used in several heraldric motifs representing England, Scotland and the British Monarchy. Another ship was planned but never completed:
Ten ships of the Royal Navy have carried the name HMS Spitfire, while an eleventh was planned but renamed before entering service. All are named after the euphemistic translation of Cacafuego, a Spanish treasure galleon captured by Sir Francis Drake.
Thirteen ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Shark after the shark:
HMS Trepassey, often spelled "Trepassy", was a 14-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, formerly the American privateer Wildcat, launched and captured in 1779. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1779. USS Alliance captured Trepassey in 1781. She became the American merchant vessel Defence. In 1782 HMS Jason captured Defense, which the Royal Navy took back into service under her earlier name. The Navy sold her in 1784.
Eleven ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Hawk after the bird of prey, the hawk:
HMS Chippawa, or Chippeway, was the mercantile schooner Chippawa, built and launched in 1810. The British brought her into service as HM Schooner Chippawa, sometimes recorded as Chippeway.
Nine ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Racehorse:
Sixteen ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Viper, or HMS Vipere, after the members of the Viperidae family:
Three ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Alban. Another was planned but never completed:
HMS Halifax was a schooner built for merchant service at Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1765 that the British Royal Navy purchased in 1768 for coastal patrol in North America in the years just prior to the American Revolution. She is one of the best documented schooners from early North America.
Seventeen ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Dispatch, or the variant HMS Despatch:
HMS Emulous was a Royal Navy 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop, built by William Row at Newcastle and launched in 1806. She survived an inconclusive but bloody battle with a French frigate during the Napoleonic Wars and captured a number of prizes, including two privateers, on the Halifax station during the War of 1812 before she was wrecked in 1812.
HMS Swift has been the name of numerous ships of the Royal Navy:
HMS Mandarin was a Dutch gun-brig of 178 tons burthen (bm) and 12 guns that the British had captured at Amboyna in February 1810. She served as part of a four-vessel flotilla that captured Banda Neira. She was wrecked in November 1810.
HMS Surprise was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, which served throughout the American Revolutionary War and was broken up in 1783.
Three vessels of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Coureur, or HMS Coureuse, after the French for "runner" :
HMS Claudia was an Adonis-class schooner of the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic War. She was built at Bermuda using Bermudan cedar and completed in 1806. She was commissioned under Lieutenant Anthony Bliss William Lord in March 1806.
Four ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Grenada, after the island of Grenada:
HMS Pert was the French privateer Bonaparte, a ship built in the United States that HMS Cyane captured in November 1804. The Royal Navy took Bonaparte into service as HMS Pert. Pert was wrecked off the coast of what is now Venezuela in October 1807.
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.
- Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1649-1860. Seaforth.
- Hepper, David J. (2023). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1649-1860. Seaforth. ISBN 9781399031028.
- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.
