HMS Vidette

Last updated December 28, 2021

Three vessels of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Vidette:

HMS Barracouta (1782) was a 14-gun sloop, previously a cutter. She was purchased in 1782 and sold in 1792. She became the privateer cutter Thought, which the French captured in 1793. She became a French privateer and sailed under various names until captured as Vedette in 1800. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Vidette, but sold her in 1802, never having commissioned her.
HMT Vidette (1917) was a Grimsby trawler of 240 GRT, named Ulverston, launched in 1905, and hired between 1916 and 1919. She was armed with one 12-pounder gun and served as a minesweeper. She was named Vidette II in February 1917. The Navy hired her again in February 1943 as a fuel carrier and renamed her Outpost in March. It returned her to her owners in 1945.
HMS Vidette (D48) was an Admiralty V-class destroyer. Built at the end of the First World War, she served in the final months of that conflict, and saw extensive service in the inter war years and in World War II. She was an effective convoy escort and U-boat killer, being credited with the destruction of five U-boats during the Battle of the Atlantic.

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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The Royal Navy purchased HMS Barracouta on the stocks in 1782. After she had served for almost ten years patrolling against smugglers, the Navy sold her in 1792. She became the privateer Thought, which had a successful cruize, capturing several prizes including a French privateer, but then was herself captured in September 1793. She served the French Navy under the names Pensée, Montagne, Pensée, and Vedette, until the British recaptured her in 1800 and renamed her HMS Vidette. The Royal Navy sold her in 1802.

Several ships have been named Thought:

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