Six ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Trident or HMS Trydent, after the Trident, often associated with the Roman God of the Sea, Neptune:
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.
Trident is a three-pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. In Hindu mythology, it is the weapon of Shiva, known as trishula. It has been used by farmers as a decorticator to remove leaves, seeds, and buds from the stalks of plants such as flax and hemp.
Roman mythology is the body of traditional stories pertaining to ancient Rome's legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. "Roman mythology" may also refer to the modern study of these representations, and to the subject matter as represented in the literature and art of other cultures in any period.
- HMS Trydent (1695) was a 58-gun fourth-rate ship of the line, previously the French ship Trident, captured in 1695. She was sunk as a breakwater in 1702.
- HMS Trydent (1747) was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line, previously the French ship Trident, captured in 1747 at the Second battle of Cape Finisterre and sold in 1763.
- HMS Trident (1768) was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line, launched in 1768 at Portsmouth and sold in 1816.
- HMS Trident (1845) was a sloop built by Ditchburn & Mare in 1845 at Leamouth, and scrapped in 1866.
- HMS Trident (1915) was a Turkish Talisman-class destroyer under construction in Britain, but taken over while under construction by the Royal Navy in the First World War as HMS Offa. She was renamed HMS Trident before being launched in 1915. She was sold in 1921.
- HMS Trident (N52) was a T-class submarine built by Cammell Laird, Birkenhead in 1937 and sold in 1947.
In the rating system of the British Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a fourth-rate was a ship of the line with 46 to 60 guns mounted.
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through to the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside firepower to bear. Since these engagements were almost invariably won by the heaviest ships carrying the most powerful guns, the natural progression was to build sailing vessels that were the largest and most powerful of their time.
Breakwaters are structures constructed near the coasts as part of coastal management or to protect an anchorage from the effects of both weather and longshore drift.
  | 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. |