HMS Centurion

Last updated September 04, 2023

Eight ships and a shore establishment of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Centurion, after the centurions of ancient Rome. A ninth ship was planned but never built.

Ships

HMS Centurion (1650) was a 34-gun ship launched in 1650 and wrecked in 1689.
HMS Centurion (1691) was a 48-gun fourth-rate launched in 1691 and broken up in 1728.
HMS Centurion (1732) was a 60-gun fourth-rate launched in 1732 and broken up 1769 after George Anson's voyage around the world
HMS Centurion (1774) was a 50-gun fourth-rate launched in 1774. She was reduced to harbour service in 1809, sank at her moorings in 1824, and was raised and broken up in 1825.
HMS Centurion was a 74-gun third-rate launched in 1812 as HMS Clarence. She was renamed HMS Centurion in 1826 and was broken up in 1828.
HMS Centurion (1844) was an 80-gun third-rate launched in 1844. She was converted to screw propulsion in 1855, and sold in 1870.
HMS Centurion (1892) was a Centurion-class battleship launched in 1892 and sold in 1910.
HMS Centurion (1911) was a King George V-class battleship launched in 1911. She was converted to a target ship in 1926, rated as an escort ship in 1940, and was sunk off Arromanches as a breakwater in 1944.
HMS Centurion was to have been a 9,000 ton cruiser, planned in 1945, but cancelled in 1946.

Shore establishment

HMS Centurion (shore establishment) was the central drafting depot established at Haslemere in 1956, commissioned in 1957 and named in 1964. The base moved to Gosport, becoming a drafting depot and a pay and accounting centre, in 1970. It was paid off in 1994, becoming Centurion building, a tender to HMS Sultan, mainly responsible for personnel and Human Resources functions.

Battle honours

Ships named Centurion have earned the following battle honours:

Armada, 1588
Cadiz, 1596
Dover, 1652
Portland, 1653
Gabbard, 1653
Scheveningen, 1653
Santa Cruz, 1657
Lowestoft, 1665
Four Days' Battle, 1666
Orfordness, 1666
Barfleur, 1692
Velez Malaga, 1704
Marbella, 1705
Nuestra Senora de Covadonga, 1743
Finisterre, 1747
Louisbourg, 1758
Quebec, 1759
Havana, 1762
St. Lucia, 1778
China, 1900
Jutland, 1916
Normandy, 1944

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

Several ships and one submarine of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Dreadnought in the expectation that they would "dread nought", i.e. "fear nothing". The 1906 ship, which revolutionized battleship design, became one of the Royal Navy's most famous vessels; battleships built after her were referred to as 'dreadnoughts', and earlier battleships became known as pre-dreadnoughts.

Several ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Resolution. However, the first English warship to bear the name Resolution was actually the first rate Prince Royal, which was renamed Resolution in 1650 following the inauguration of the Commonwealth, and continued to bear that name until 1660, when the name Prince Royal was restored. The name Resolution was bestowed on the first of the vessels listed below:

Eleven ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Vanguard, meaning the forefront of an action or movement:

Sixteen ships and two shore establishments of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Fox, after the fox.

Eight ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Royal Oak, after the Royal Oak in which Charles II hid himself during his flight from the country in the English Civil War:

Eight ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name Renown, whilst three others have borne the name at various stages in their construction:

Ten ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Triumph. Another was planned, but renamed before being launched:

Five ships and one shore establishment of the Royal Navy have been named HMS President, after the office of president meaning "one who presides over an assembly". In the case of the first two British ships, the name may have applied to the Lord President of the Privy Council.

Nineteen ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Lion or HMS Lyon, after the lion, an animal traditionally associated with courage, and also used in several heraldric motifs representing England, Scotland and the British Monarchy. Another ship was planned but never completed:

Twelve ships and a shore establishment of the Royal Navy have been named Lizard after The Lizard, a peninsula in Cornwall.

Several vessels of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Nonsuch, presumably named after Nonsuch Palace:

Eighteen ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Eagle, after the eagle.

Twelve ships and two shore establishments of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Defiance. Others have borne the name whilst serving as depot ships and tenders to the establishments:

Nine ships of the Royal Navy have been named Mary Rose. The first is thought to have been named after Mary Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII of England, and the rose, the symbol of the Tudor dynasty. Later Mary Roses are named after the first.

Nineteen ships and a shore establishment of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Drake after Sir Francis Drake or after the drake:

Fourteen ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Roebuck after a small deer native to the British Isles:

Eight ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Bonaventure, and another was planned:

The Vanguard-class ships of the line were a class of two-deck 80-gun second rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir William Symonds, of which nine were completed as sailing ships of the line, although another two of these were completed as steam warships.

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HMS Centurion

Contents

Ships

Shore establishment

Battle honours

Related Research Articles