Nine ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Investigator. Another was planned, but renamed before being launched. The name Investigator passed on to the Royal Indian Navy and after India's Independence, to its successor the Indian Navy where the lineage of naming survey ships Investigator continues unbroken.
Fifteen ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Enterprise while another was planned:
Ten ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Hermes, after Hermes, the messenger god of Greek mythology, while another was planned:
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.
Nine ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Meteor after the meteor, a space object.
Nine ships of the Royal Navy and one of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary have been named Argus, after Argus, the hundred-eyed giant of mythology:
Seven vessels of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS Bulldog, after the bulldog, with an eighth announced:
Ten ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Aetna or HMS Etna, after the volcano Etna:
Ten ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Fury, whilst another was planned but later cancelled:
Nine ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Diana after the figure from Roman mythology, whilst another was planned but later cancelled:
Eight ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Cockatrice after the legendary creature:
Six ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Pluto, after Pluto, a God of Roman mythology:
Six ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Barracouta, after the fish Thyrsites atun. Another was renamed before being launched:
Eleven ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Firebrand.
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 Investigator was the mercantile Fram, launched in 1795, which the Royal Navy purchased in 1798 and renamed HMS Xenophon, and then in 1801 converted to a survey ship under the name HMS Investigator. In 1802, under the command of Matthew Flinders, she was the first ship to circumnavigate Australia. The Navy sold her in 1810 and she returned to mercantile service under the name Xenophon. She was probably broken up c.1872.
Seven ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Strombolo, or HMS Stromboli, after the volcano Stromboli, in Italy:
Nine vessels of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy have been named HMS Porcupine, after the porcupine, a rodent belonging to the families Erethizontidae or Hystricidae.
Nine ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Dove after the bird family Columbidae:
Many vessels have been named Comet, after the astronomical object comet.