HMS Minerve

Last updated November 10, 2021

Three ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Minerve, a French form of Minerva, a goddess in Roman mythology:

HMS Minerve was a 38-gun fifth rate captured from the French in 1795. She was recaptured by them in 1803 and renamed Canonniere, but was recaptured by the British in 1810 and renamed HMS Confiance. She was on the navy lists until 1814.
HMS Minerve (1803) was a prison hulk, formerly a French sloop. She was captured in 1803 and broken up in 1811.
Minerve was a Minerve-class submarine of the French Navy seized by the British in 1940. She was operated by Free French crew until being wrecked in 1945.

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.

Related Research Articles

Eleven ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Cumberland, after the traditional English county of Cumberland, England:

Eight vessels of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS Minerva, after the goddess Minerva of Roman mythology.

Nine Royal Navy ships have borne the name HMS Ambuscade:

Numerous French vessels have borne the name Téméraire. Note that several British ships have had the same name, see HMS Temeraire.

Seven ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Venturer, with an eighth announced:

Minerve was a 40-gun Minerve-class frigate of the French Navy. The British captured her twice and the French recaptured her once. She therefore served under four names before being broken up in 1814:

Five ships of the French Navy have borne the name Révolutionnaire ("Revolutionary"):

Two ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Alceste, after Alcestis, a character in Greek mythology:

Fourteen ships and one shore establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Merlin, after Merlin, the wizard in Arthurian legend :

Ten ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Confiance:

There have been twelve ships of the Royal Navy that have been named HMS Flying Fish, after the Flying Fish.

HMS <i>Minerva</i> (1759) 32-gun Southampton-class warship of the Royal Navy

HMS Minerva was one of the four 32-gun Southampton-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1759 and served through the Seven Years' War, but was captured in 1778 during the American Revolutionary War and served as the French Minerve until being recaptured in 1781 and renamed HMS Recovery. She was broken up in 1784.

Four ships of the Royal Navy have either borne the name HMS Samarang or were intended to bear the name, after the port of Samarang, the site of HMS Psyche's capture of several Dutch vessels there in 1807.

Several ships of the French Navy have borne the name Embuscade:

The Minerve class was a type of 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, carrying 18-pounder long guns as their main armament. Six ships of this type were built at Toulon Dockyard, and launched between 1782 and 1794. The frigates served the French Navy briefly during the French Revolutionary Wars. The Royal Navy captured all six between 1793 and 1799 and took them into service, with all but one serving in the Napoleonic Wars, and some thereafter.

Nine ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Dart, after the River Dart in Devon:

At least seven vessels of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Firefly:

The action of 24 June 1795 was a minor naval engagement fought in the Western Basin of the Mediterranean Sea on 24 June 1795 during the French Revolutionary Wars. During 1795 the Royal Navy and French Navy Mediterranean Fleets were vying for supremacy in the region, the French operating from the fortified port of Toulon and the British from the allied Spanish base of Port Mahon on Menorca. A minor British victory at the Battle of Genoa in March had not resolved the conflict, both sides suffering damage. The British, under Admiral William Hotham, subsequently withdrew to Menorca to meet a squadron of reinforcements while the French, under Contre-amiral Pierre Martin at Toulon, suffering from ill-discipline, had also been reinforced. By June, both fleets were ready to return to the Ligurian Sea.

Several vessels have been named Recovery:

Several ships have been named Thought:

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