HMS Sappho

Last updated October 30, 2021

Five ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Sappho, after the Ancient Greek lyric poet Sappho. Two more were planned but one was cancelled and one received a different name before launching:

HMS Sappho (1806) was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop launched in 1806 and broken up in 1830.
HMS Sappho (1837) was a 16-gun brig-sloop launched in 1837 that foundered in 1858.
HMS Sappho was to have been a wood screw sloop. She was laid down in 1861 but was cancelled in 1863.
HMS Sappho was to have been a wood screw sloop, but she was renamed HMS Eclipse in 1867 before being launched.
HMS Sappho (1873) was a composite screw sloop launched in 1873 and sold in 1887.
HMS Sappho (1891) was an Apollo-class second class cruiser launched in 1891 and sold in 1921.
HMS Sappho (1935) was built in 1935 and destroyed by a German torpedo on 29 September, 1940.

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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Six ships and one shore establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Raleigh, after Sir Walter Raleigh:

Nine ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Rainbow, after the rainbow, a common meteorological phenomenon:

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Six ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Albatross, after the seabird, the albatross. A seventh was planned but never completed:

Seven ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Bittern, after the bird, the bittern:

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Nine ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Ariel, possibly after the archangel Ariel in Judeo-Christian mysticism, but certainly influenced by Shakespeare's "airy spirit" of the same name:

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Eight ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Satellite:

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

Five ships and a shore establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Goshawk, after the bird of prey, the goshawk. A sixth ship was renamed before being launched:

Six ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Griffon, an alternative spelling of the legendary creature, the Griffin. Another ship was planned, but later cancelled and reordered from a different dockyard:

Nine ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Zephyr after Zephyrus, the Greek god of the west wind:

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