HMS Hermes

Last updated October 02, 2021

Ten ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Hermes, after Hermes, the messenger god of Greek mythology, while another was planned:

HMS Hermes (1796) was a 12-gun brig-sloop, originally the Dutch Mercurius, that HMS Sylph captured in 1796. Hermes foundered in 1797.
HMS Hermes (1798) was a 22-gun ship purchased in 1798 and sold in 1802.
HMS Hermes (1803) was a 16-gun sloop, originally the civilian Majestic launched in 1801 at Whitby. She was purchased in 1803 and sold in 1810.
HMS Hermes (1811) was a 20-gun sixth rate launched in 1811 and burned in 1814 during a highly unsuccessful attack on Fort Bowyer at Mobile Point, Alabama.
HMS Hermes was a wooden paddle packet, originally in civilian service as George IV. She was purchased in 1830 as HMS Courier (1830), renamed HMS Hermes in 1832, became a coal hulk and was renamed HMS Charger in 1835, and was broken up in 1854.
HMS Hermes (1835) was a wooden paddle sloop launched in 1835, rebuilt in 1842 and broken up in 1864.
HMS Hermes was a 74-gun third rate launched in 1816 as HMS Minotaur (1816), renamed HMS Hermes in 1866, and broken up in 1869.
HMS Hermes (1898) was a Highflyer-class cruiser launched in 1898, converted into an experimental seaplane tender in 1913 and sunk by a German U-boat in 1914.
HMS Hermes (95) was the first purpose built aircraft carrier in the world to be launched, in 1919. She was sunk in a Japanese air attack in 1942.
HMS Hermes was to have been a Centaur-class aircraft carrier, but was cancelled in 1945.
HMS Hermes (R12) was a Centaur-class aircraft carrier, originally planned as HMS Elephant, but renamed in 1945. She was launched in 1953 and served in the Falklands War. She was sold to the Indian Navy in 1986, who recommissioned her as INS Viraat until finally decommissioned in 2017
HMS Hermes is the name given to the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier Ship Control Centre Training Simulator situated in the Defence School of Marine Engineering, HMS Sultan, Gosport. It was opened by Flag Officer Sea Training Rear Admiral WJ Warrinder on 28 October 2018. The simulator was built by L3 and is a representation of the Ship Control Centre of the class and is used to train ship staff in machinery operation principles.

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The Hermes class were a series of four 20-gun ships, launched between 1811 and 1816. Two pairs of ships were produced, to slightly different designs – the first two had 20 guns and were unrated flush-decked ship-sloops, whilst the latter two were converted to 26-gun sixth-rates. The design was based on the ex-French 20-gun corvette Bonne Citoyenne, which the British had captured in 1796.

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.

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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