Eight ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Siren, Syren or Sirene, [Note 1] after the Sirens of Greek mythology:
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by the English kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years War against the Kingdom of France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is known as the Senior Service.
In Greek mythology, the Sirens were dangerous creatures, who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and singing voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. Roman poets placed them on some small islands called Sirenum scopuli. In some later, rationalized traditions, the literal geography of the "flowery" island of Anthemoessa, or Anthemusa, is fixed: sometimes on Cape Pelorum and at others in the islands known as the Sirenuse, near Paestum, or in Capreae. All such locations were surrounded by cliffs and rocks.
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks. These stories concern the origin and the nature of the world, the lives and activities of deities, heroes, and mythological creatures, and the origins and significance of the ancient Greeks' own cult and ritual practices. Modern scholars study the myths in an attempt to shed light on the religious and political institutions of ancient Greece and its civilization, and to gain understanding of the nature of myth-making itself.
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- HMS Siren (1745) was a 24-gun post ship of the 1741 Establishment launched in 1745 and sold in 1764.
- HMS Siren (1773) was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth rate launched in 1773 and wrecked in 1777.
- HMS Syren (1779) was a 24-gun Porcupine-class post ship launched in 1779 and wrecked in 1781.
- HMS Syren (1782) was a 32-gun Amazon-class fifth rate launched in 1782, on harbour service from 1805 and broken up in 1822.
- HMS Sirene (1794) was previously the French Serin, a brig-aviso, launched in 1788 at Bayonne. HMS Intrepid and HMS Chichester captured her in 1794. She left Jamaica in late July 1796 and was lost without a trace, probably in August 1796.
- HMS Siren was to have been a 32-gun Narcissus-class fifth rate, ordered in 1805 and cancelled in 1806.
- HMS Siren was previously USS Syren (1803). She was captured in 1814 and used as a hospital hulk. She was on the Navy list until 1815.
- HMS Siren (1841) was a 16-gun Helena-class brig-sloop, launched in 1841 and broken up by 1868.
- HMS Siren was previously HMS Opossum (1856), an Albacore-class gunboat launched in 1856. She was renamed HMS Siren in 1895, and was sold in 1896.
- HMS Syren (1901) was a Myrmidon-class destroyer launched in 1900 and sold in 1920.
HMS Siren was a sixth-rate post ship of the British Royal Navy, in commission between 1745 and 1763, seeing action during the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War.
Post ship was a designation used in the Royal Navy during the second half of the 18th century and the Napoleonic Wars to describe a ship of the sixth rate that was smaller than a frigate, but by virtue of being a rated ship, had to have as its captain a post captain rather than a lieutenant or commander. Thus ships with 20 to 26 guns were post ships, though this situation changed after 1817.
HMS Siren was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Siren was first commissioned in August 1775 under the command of Captain Tobias Furneaux, her only commanding officer.
