Encyclopedia

HMS Castor (1915) HMS Castor was one of a class of four light cruisers (sister ships were HMS Cambrian, HMS Canterbury, and HMS Constance). Design of this class was based on the earlier cruisers HMS Champion and HMS Calliope, which, in turn, were based on the HMS Caroline class, using the same hull as the Carolines but with two funnels and maximum armor thickness of 4" as opposed to 3" in the Carolines.
HMS Centaur (R06) HMS Centaur (R06) was the first of the four Centaur-class light fleet carriers of the Royal Navy. She was the only ship of her class to retain the original configuration with a straight axial flight deck rather than the angled flight decks of her three sister ships.
HMS Centurion (1732) HMS Centurion was a 60-gun ship of the line, 4th rate, of the Royal Navy, built in 1732 and was the third British naval vessel to carry the name. She served in the Home Fleet and took part in the expedition to Lisbon by Sir John Norris.
HMS Clyde (P257) HMS Clyde (P257) is the ninth ship in the Royal Navy to bear the name. She was launched on 14 June 2006 in Portsmouth Naval Base by VT Group shipbuilders in Portsmouth, England and is the fourth vessel of the River class and the first of a lengthened variety with a displacement of 1,850 tonnes and a 30mm Oerlikon KCB gun.
HMS Cobra (1899) HMS Cobra, named after the cobra snake, was a steam turbine powered destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was built speculatively by Armstrong Whitworth, launched on 28 June 1899, and purchased by the Navy on 8 May 1900 for ÂŁ70,000.
HMS Comedy HMS Comedy is a UK-based collaborative team of writers and performers with credits on TV, radio, and the stage, and are most notable for the personnel involved. Geoff Aymer is a West End performer ("Big Life", Apollo Theatre) and film actor ("Rag Tag", 2006), James Harris and Marc Blakewill are TV and radio comedy writers, Alex Woodhall is a West End performer ("Snoopy", New Players Theatre) and TV comedy actor ("Star Stories", C4), Simon Ounsworth is a TV and radio writer ("Revolver", BBC), Emma Thornett is a TV comedy actress ("Extras", BBC) and West End performer ("Blood Brothers", Lyric Theatre), and Samantha Sanns and Bea Holland are a successful touring double-act ("Ladies Monthly", Phil McIntyre).
HMS Confiance The largest warship ever constructed on Lake Champlain, HMS Confiance was a 36 gun frigate and built in answer to the American commander Thomas Macdonough's ambitious shipbuilding program, itself designed to thwart British advances into Vermont and New York during the War of 1812. Captain George Downie's flagship at the Battle of Plattsburg, on September 11, 1814, Confiance was forced to strike after a two-hour battle with Macdonough's Saratoga, during which she sustained at least 105 hits by round shot.
HMS Conqueror (1801) HMS Conqueror a 74-gun 3rd rate ship of the line which fought at Trafalgar under the command of Captain Israel Pellew, brother of Sir Edward Pellew. Pellew's captain of marines took the surrender of the overall commander of the French-Spanish fleet, Admiral Villeneuve's sword, aboard the French ship Bucentaure (80).
HMS Conway (school ship) HMS Conway was a naval training school or "school ship", founded in 1859 and housed for most of its life aboard a 19th-century wooden battleship. The ship was originally stationed on the Mersey near Liverpool, then moved to the Menai Strait during World War II.
HMS Corunna (D97) HMS Corunna (D97) was a later or 1943 Battle-class fleet destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was named in honour of the Battle of Corunna, which took place during the Peninsular War in 1809 between British and French forces.
HMS Cossack (F03) HMS Cossack (L03/F03/G03) was a Tribal-class destroyer which became famous for the boarding of the German supply ship Altmark in Norwegian waters, and the associated rescue of sailors originally captured by the Admiral Graf Spee.
HMS Coventry (D118) HMS Coventry (D118) was a Type 42 (Sheffield Class) destroyer of the Royal Navy laid down by Cammell Laird and Company, Limited, at Birkenhead on 29 January 1973, launched on 21 June 1974 and commissioned on 20 October 1978.
HMS Coventry (F98) HMS Coventry (F98) was a Type 22 frigate of the Royal Navy. She was originally intended to be named Boadicea but was named Coventry in honour of the previous Coventry (D118), a Type 42 destroyer sunk in the Falklands War.
HMS Culloden (1776) HMS Culloden was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford and launch on 18 May 1776. She was the fourth warship to be named after the Battle of Culloden, which took place in Scotland in 1746 and saw the defeat of the Jacobite Rising.
HMS Cumberland (57) HMS Cumberland, the fifteenth ship of that name was a County class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy that saw action during the Second World War. At 31 years she holds the record for the longest-commissioned ship in the Royal Navy, after HMS Victory.
HMS Curacoa (D41) HMS Curacoa was a World War I light cruiser of the "C" class, named after the island in the Caribbean Sea more usually spelled Curaçao. She became one of the major accidental losses of the Royal Navy during World War II.
HMS Danae (I44) HMS Danae, during World War II known as ORP Conrad, was the lead ship of the Danae class cruisers (also known as the D class), serving with the Royal Navy between the world wars and with the Polish Navy during World War II.
HMS Dartmouth HMS Dartmouth was a small frigate or fifth-rate ship built in 1655 and wrecked in the Sound of Mull on 9 October 1690, while on a mission to persuade the MacLeans of Duart to sign Articles of Allegiance to William and Mary.
HMS Defence (1763) HMS Defence was a 3rd rate ship of the line of 74 guns, built at Plymouth (Devonport) dockyard in 1763 for the Royal Navy. She was one of the most famous ships of the period, taking part in several of the most important naval battles of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.
HMS Delhi (I74) HMS Delhi was a Danae class cruiser that served with the Royal Navy in World War II (not to be confused with the Leander class cruiser, INS Delhi that served with the Indian Navy). She was laid down in 1917 and scrapped in 1946 after war service in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
HMS Devastation (1871) HMS Devastation was built by the British Royal Navy at the Pembroke Dockyard, Wales in 1871. She is considered the first true capital ship built by any nation at the time, the development of the monitor-type ship into the ocean-going battleship.
HMS Diamond (1774) The fourth Diamond was a Modified Lowestoffe Class Fifth Rate frigate, ordered on 25 December 1770 as one of five Fifth Rate frigates of 32 guns each contained in the Emergency frigate-building programme inaugurated when the likelihood of war with Spain arose over the ownership of the Falkland Islands (eight Sixth Rate frigates of 28 guns each were ordered at the same time). Sir Thomas Slade's design for the Lowestoffe was approved, but was revised to produce a more rounded midships section; the amended design was approved on 3 January 1771 by Hawke's outgoing Admiralty Board, just before it was replaced.
HMS Diomede (I92) HMS Diomede was a Danae class cruiser of the Royal Navy. Constructed at Vickers Armstrong, Barrow, she was constructed too late to take part in World War I and was consequently completed at the Royal Dockyard, Portsmouth.
HMS Discovery (1774) HMS Discovery was the consort ship of James Cook's third expedition to the Pacific Ocean in 1776 - 1780. Like Cook's other ships, Discovery was a Whitby-built collier of 298 tons, originally named Diligence when it was built in 1774.
HMS Dolphin (1751) HMS Dolphin was a 24-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Launched in 1751, she was used as a survey ship from 1764 and made two circumnavigations of the world under the successive commands of John Byron and Samuel Wallis.
HMS Dolphin shore-establishment The seventeenth Royal Navy 'ship' to be named HMS Dolphin was the the RN shore establishment sited at Fort Blockhouse in Gosport. Dolphin was the home of the Royal Naval Submarine Service from 1904 to 1999, and location of the Royal Navy Submarine School.
HMS Dreadnought (1906) The sixth HMS Dreadnought of the Royal Navy was a revolutionary battleship which entered service in 1906. So advanced was Dreadnought that her name became a generic term for modern battleships, whilst the ships she made obsolete were known as "pre-dreadnoughts".
HMS Duke of Edinburgh (1904) The HMS Duke of Edinburgh, a cruiser of the Royal Navy,and one of two Duke of Edinburgh class cruisers, the other being HMS Black Prince. She was named after Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who was also Duke of Edinburgh.
HMS Duke of Wellington HMS Duke of Wellington was a major British warship of the mid-19th century, symptomatic of an era of rapid technological change in the Royal Navy, powered both by sail and steam. She was a screw ship of the line, with towering masts and trim square-set yards, and was the flagship of Sir Charles Napier.
HMS Duke of York (17) HMS Duke of York was a King George V class battleship of the Royal Navy, and the second of the name, the predecessor having been a 4-gun cutter purchased in 1763 and sold in 1766. The ship was originally to be named Anson but adopted its final name in December 1938.
HMS Dumbarton Castle (P265) HMS Dumbarton Castle (P265) is an offshore patrol vessel and its main role is the protection of the offshore assets of the United Kingdom, including oil and gas installations and fisheries out to the 200 mile (370 km) limit.
HMS Dunkirk (D09) HMS Dunkirk (D09) was a later or 1943 Battle-class fleet destroyer of the British Royal Navy (RN). She was named after the dramatic, and at times, tragic and heroic Evacuation from Dunkirk between late May and early June 1940, in which over 300,000 British, as-well as French troops, were rescued by a ragtag fleet of ships.
HMS E11 HMS E11 was an E-class submarine of the Royal Navy launched on 23 April, 1914. E11 was one of the most successful submarines in action during the 1915 naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign, sinking over 80 vessels of all sizes in three tours of the Sea of Marmara.
HMS E3 The British submarine HMS E3 was one of the first British E class submarines to be constructeed, built at Barrow by Vickers in 1911 and 1912. Built with compartmentalisation and endurance not previously achievable, these were the best submarines in the Royal Navy at the start of the First World War, and they proved their worth throughout the conflict.
HMS Edinburgh (C16) HMS Edinburgh was one of the final sub-class of two Town-class light cruiser of Britain's Royal Navy. Along with the nine other vessels of the Town class, Edinburgh saw a great deal of combat service during World War II, especially in the North Sea and the disastrous Norwegian campaign.
HMS Effingham (D98) HMS Effingham was a Hawkins-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was commissioned at Portsmouth in 1925, having had her construction halted for several years following the end of the First World War in 1918.
HMS Electra (1895) The first destroyer to be named HMS Electra was a Brazen class destroyer, later categorized as a C class destroyer, built at J & G Thomson Shipbuilding Company (which in a few years would be renamed John Brown Shipbuilding Company), at their Clydeside yard. She was one of the three-funneled ships of the 1895 Naval Programme.
HMS Electra (H27) HMS Electra, pennant number H27, was a Royal Navy 'E' class destroyer (one of 16, including two flotilla leaders, in the E and F classes to be built). She was launched on 15 February1934 at the Hawthorne Leslie shipyard at Hebburn, Tyneside.
HMS Emperor of India (1913) HMS Emperor of India was an Iron Duke-class battleship of the British Royal Navy. She was originally to have been named Delhi but was renamed just a month before launching after King George V, who was also Emperor of India.
HMS Empress (D42) The USS Carnegie (CVE-38) (previously AVG-38 then later ACV-38) was an escort aircraft carrier built in 1942-43 for transfer to the United Kingdom. She was reclassified ACV-38 on 20 August 1942, and CVE-38 on 15 July 1943.
HMS Endurance There have been two Royal Navy ships with the name HMS Endurance. Both were named after Sir Ernest Shackleton's Endurance, the ship crushed in the ice of the Weddell Sea during the expedition to Antarctica from 1914 to 1915.
HMS Endymion (1797) HMS Endymion was a 40-gun 24-pounder fifth-rate frigate, that served in the French Revolutionary War, the Napoleonic Wars, the War of 1812 and during the First Opium War. She was the lead ship of her class of six frigates build to the lines of the French prize Pomone captured in 1794.
HMS Engadine (1911) HMS Engadine was a seaplane tender which served in the First World War. She was built as a Folkestone-Boulogne ferry by William Denny and Sons, launched on 23 September 1911 and named after the Engadine valley in Switzerland.
HMS Enterprise (1705) The first HMS Enterprise (1705) (sometimes spelled Enterprize), 24, a sixth-rate of the Royal Navy, was known as L'Entreprise before her capture from the French by HMS Tryton in May 1705. She served in the Mediterranean Sea under command of J.
HMS Enterprise (1864) The seventh HMS Enterprise of the Royal Navy was a sloop of war launched in 1864 at Deptford Dockyard. Originally laid down as a wooden screw sloop, she was redesigned and completed as an ironclad, making her one of the first vessels of composite construction.
HMS Erebus (1826) HMS Erebus was a Hecla class bomb vessel designed by Sir Henry Peake and constructed by the Royal Navy in Pembroke dockyard, Wales in 1826. The vessel was named after the dark region in Hades of Greek Mythology called Erebus.
HMS Eskimo (F75) HMS Eskimo (L-75/F-75/G-75) was a Tribal-class destroyer laid down by the High Walker Yard of Vickers Armstrong at Newcastle-on-Tyne on 5 August 1936, launched on 3 September 1937 and commissioned on 30 December 1938. Eskimo participated in the Second Battle of Narvik in April 1940, supported the Allied landings in North Africa in November 1942, served with the 10th Destroyer Flotilla at Plymouth, attacked and sank the enemy German submarine U-971 while in company with the Canadian destroyer HMCS Haida and a Liberator aircraft of the Czech air force in the English Channel north of Brest on 24 June 1944, and operated in the Far East during the final days of the war.
HMS Euryalus (1803) HMS Euryalus was a Royal Navy frigate of 36 guns, built at Bucklers Hard and launched in 1803. In 1805, captained by Henry Blackwood, she led the squadron of frigates watching Cádiz prior to the Battle of Trafalgar.
HMS Exeter (68) The fourth and best known of the Exeters, HMS Exeter (68), was a York class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy that served in World War II. She was laid down on 1 August 1928 at the Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth, Devon.
HMS Exploit (P167) HMS Exploit is an Archer-class patrol and training vessel of the British Royal Navy, built in Woolston by, Vosper Thornycroft and commissioned in 1988. She is attached to Birmingham University Royal Naval Unit (URNU), that exists to provide training to undergraduate students in a wide range of naval skills.
HMS Explorer In 1946 the experimental High test peroxide (HTP) powered U-boat 1407, which had been scuttled following the German collapse, was salvaged and eventually commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Meteorite. Her recovery was the impetus for a British research programme which resulted in the construction of two experimental submarines, HMS/m Explorer and Excalibur.
HMS Fantome HMS Fantome was a British Royal Navy brig which sunk of the coast of Nova Scotia in November 1814 carrying goods taken by British and Canadian forces during their burning of Washington, DC during the War of 1812. It is believed by some to have had goods taken from the White House.
HMS Favorite (1864) HMS Favorite was one of the three wooden warships of moderate dimension (the others being HMS Research and HMS Enterprise) selected by Sir Edward Reed for conversion to broadside ironclads in response to the increased tempo of French warship building.
HMS Fencer (D64) USS Croatan (CVE-14) (originally AVG-14 then ACV-14) was transferred to the United Kingdom on 27 February 1943 under lend-lease where she served as the HMS Fencer (D64). As an anti-submarine warfare carrier, Fencer escorted Atlantic, Russian and African convoys, even participating in a strike on the German battleship Tirpitz before being transferred to the Pacific.
HMS Flying Fox HMS Flying Fox is a Royal Naval Reserve unit located in Bristol. Training over 100 reservists on Thursday evenings in Bristol, HMS Flying Fox serves Avon, Dorset, Devon, Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.
HMS Formidable (1898) HMS Formidable (1898) was the lead ship of the Formidable class of battleship and the third of four to have the name HMS Formidable to serve in the British Royal Navy. Formidable served in the Mediterranean Fleet] up to April 1908 when she was transferred to the [[Channel Fleet.
HMS Fox (1893) HMS Fox was a second class cruiser of the Astraea class of the Royal Navy. The class represented an improvement on previous types, 1,000 tons displacement larger with better seaworthiness due to improved hull design.
HMS Gaiete HMS Gaiete (also found Gayette) was a French sloop of twenty guns captured by HMS Arethusa off Bermuda in 1797. Commissioned in the Royal Navy, she was commanded by Edward Dunford King (who made post captain in 1801) and had a cruise to the West Indies in 1798-99.
HMS Gallant (H59) HMS Gallant (H59) was a G-class destroyer of the Royal Navy laid down by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited, at Govan in Scotland on 15 September 1934, launched on 26 September 1935 and completed on 25 February 1936. Gallant struck a mine off Pantellaria on 10 January 1941, beached in Malta and damaged beyond repair by an air raid in April 1942.
HMS Ganges (1821) HMS Ganges was an 84-gun 2nd rate of the Royal Navy launched on November 10 1821 at Bombay Dockyard. She is notable for being the last sailing ship of the Navy to serve as a flagship, and was the second ship to have borne the name.
HMS Gipsy (H63) HMS Gipsy (H63) was a G-class destroyer of the Royal Navy laid down by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited, at Govan in Scotland on 5 September 1934, launched on 7 November 1935 and completed on 22 February 1936. Gipsy struck a mine and sank off Harwich on the east coast of England on 21 November 1939 with the loss of 30 of her crew.
HMS Gladiolus (K34) HMS Gladiolus (K34) was the first of 225 Flower-class corvettes built during World War II. She was laid down at Smiths Dock on the River Tees in the United Kingdom, on October 19, 1939, launched on 24 January 1940, and commissioned on April 6, 1940.
HMS Glasgow (C21) The seventh HMS Glasgow (21) was built on the Clyde, and was a Southampton-class light cruiser, a sub-class of the Town-class, commissioned in September 1937. She displaced 11,930 tons with a top speed of 32 knots (59 km/h).
HMS Glasgow (D88) HMS Glasgow (D88) is a Type 42 destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was built at Swan Hunter Shipyard in Wallsend, Tyneside and launched on April 14, 1976 by Lady Kirstie Treacher, wife of Admiral Sir John Treacher.
HMS Glorious (77) HMS Glorious was a warship of the Royal Navy. Built as a "large light cruiser" during World War I, Glorious, her sister HMS Courageous, and half-sister HMS Furious were the brainchildren of Admiral Lord Fisher, and were designed to be "light cruiser destroyers".
HMS Glory (R62) HMS Glory (R62) was a Colossus-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy laid down on 8 November 1942 by Stephen s at Govan. It was launched on 27 November 1943 by Lady Cynthia Brookes, wife of the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.
HMS Gloucester (D96) HMS Gloucester (D96) is a batch three Type 42 destroyer of the Royal Navy. The ship was built by Vosper Thorneycroft at Woolston, Southampton and launched on 2nd November 1982 by Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Gloucester.
HMS Good Hope (1901) HMS Good Hope was a 14,100-ton Drake-class armoured cruiser of the Royal Navy; she was originally planned to be named Africa, but was renamed before she was launched. Laid down on 11 September 1899 and launched on 21 February 1901, with her heaviest gun being of 9.
HMS Goodson (K480) HMS Goodson (K480), originally USS George (DE-276), was named after Eugene Frank George, born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, 23 April 1925. He enlisted in the Navy on 18 May 1942, and reported for duty on the heavy cruiser San Francisco at Pearl Harbor on 17 July.
HMS Gotland (Gtd) HMS Gotland is an attack submarine of the Swedish Navy. It is the first ship of its class, the Gotland class, which is the first operational submarine class in the world to use air-independent propulsion (AIP).
HMS Grampus Ten vessels of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Grampus after two members of the dolphin family (Delphinidae): Grampus griseus, also known as Risso's Dolphin, and Orcinus orca, also known as the Killer Whale.
HMS Grampus (1910) HMS Grampus was a Beagle-class destroyer of the Royal Navy and originally named HMS Nautilus when she was commissioned on March 30, 1910. She was renamed Grampus on December 16, 1913, her former name being reallocated to HMS Nautilus, the first Royal Navy submarine to be given one.
HMS Graph (P715) Unterseeboot 570 was a Type VIIC submarine of the Kriegsmarine that was captured and commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Graph (P715). She was the only German submarine to be taken into Allied service and to fight for both sides in World War II.
HMS Grenade (H86) HMS Grenade (H86) was a G-class destroyer of the Royal Navy laid down by Alexander Stephen and Sons at Linthouse in Scotland on 3 October 1934, launched on 12 November 1935 and completed on 28 March 1936. Grenade was attacked by German Ju-87 dive bombers as she evacuated Allied troops during the Battle of Dunkirk and sank in the English Channel on 29 May 1940.
HMS Grenville (H03) HMS Grenville (H03) was a British Royal Navy ship. Named for Vice Admiral Sir Richard Grenville (1541–1591), was a G-class destroyer laid down by the Yarrow Shipbuilding Company, Limited, at Scotstoun in Glasgow on 29 September 1934, launched on 15 August 1935 and completed on 1 July 1936.
HMS Greyhound (H05) HMS Greyhound (H05) was a G-class destroyer laid down by Vickers Armstrong Naval Construction Works at Barrow-in-Furness on 20 September 1934, launched on 15 August 1935 and completed on 31 January 1936. Greyhound participated in the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941.
HMS Griffin (H31) HMS Griffin (H31) was a G-class destroyer of the Royal Navy laid down by Vickers Armstrong Naval Construction Works at Barrow-in-Furness on 20 September 1934, launched on 15 August 1935 and commissioned on 6 June 1936. Griffin participated in the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941 and the evacuation of Greece in April 1941.
HMS Gurkha (F20) HMS Gurkha (L-20/F-20) was a Tribal-class destroyer laid down by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited, at Govan in Scotland on 6 July 1936, launched on 7 July 1937 and commissioned on 21 October 1938. Gurkha served with the 1st Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean, on North Sea escort duty and in the Humber Striking Force, and attacked and sank the enemy German submarine U-53 south of the Faroe Islands on 23 February 1940.
HMS Hardy (1936) HMS Hardy was a Royal Navy destroyer flotilla leader of the H Class destroyers, laid down by Cammell Laird and Company at Birkenhead on 30 May 1935, launched on 7 April 1936 and commissioned on 11 December 1936. Her pennant number was H87, but as she spent her entire career as a flotilla leader she never actually wore it.
HMS Hasty (H24) HMS Hasty (H24) was an H-class destroyer of the Royal Navy laid down by William Denny, Brothers and Company, Limited, of Dumbarton in Scotland on 15 April 1935, launched on 5 May 1936 and commissioned on 11 November 1936. Hasty participated in the Battle of Calabria and the Battle of Cape Spada in July 1940, the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941, and the evacuation of Greece in April 1941, and attacked and sank the enemy German submarine U-79 in the Mediterranean north of Sollum while in company with the destroyer Hotspur on 23 December 1941.
HMS Havock (1893) HMS Havock was a Havock-class torpedo boat destroyer of the Royal Navy. She had a 240 tons displacement, a speed of 27 knots, and was armed with a single 12-pounder gun, three 6-pounders, and three torpedo tubes.
HMS Havock (H43) HMS Havock (H43) was an H-class destroyer of the Royal Navy laid down by William Denny, Brothers and Company, Limited, of Dumbarton in Scotland on 15 May 1935, launched on 7 July 1936 and commissioned on 18 January 1937.
HMS Herald (H138) HMS Herald was the last A-class ocean survey ship in Service with the RN, and is a veteran of both the Falklands War and Gulf War. Herald been replaced by two new survey vessels, HMS Echo (H87) and Enterprise (H88).
HMS Hercules (1910) HMS Hercules was a Colossus-class battleship built by Palmers, launched on May 10, 1910, and commissioned on July 31, 1911 at Portsmouth. She was a 20,000-ton dreadnought, mounting ten 12 inch (305 mm) guns in five twin gun turrets, sixteen 4 inch (101.
HMS Hereward (H93) HMS Hereward (H93), named after Hereward the Wake, was an H-class destroyer of the Royal Navy laid down by the High Walker Yard of Vickers Armstrong at Newcastle-on-Tyne on 28 February 1935, launched on 10 March 1936 and commissioned on 9 December 1936. Hereward participated in the Battle of Calabria in July 1940, the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941 and the evacuation of Greece in April 1941.
HMS Hermes (1913) HMS Hermes was the first of three modified Eclipse class cruisers, commonly known as the Highflyer class. She is historically notable for being refitted in April-May 1913 to act as the first experimental seaplane carrier of the British Navy, with a launching platform and room to stow 3 seaplanes (the French La Foudre preceeded her by about a year).
HMS Hermes (95) HMS Hermes (95) of the Royal Navy was the world's first purpose-built aircraft carrier to be launched, although the Imperial Japanese Navy's HĹŤshĹŤ was the first to be commissioned. The design of Hermes preceded and influenced that of the HĹŤshĹŤ, and she was launched before HĹŤshĹŤ was laid down but her commissioning did not occur until more than six months after that of the HĹŤshĹŤ.
HMS Hero (H99) HMS Hero (H99) was an H-class destroyer of the Royal Navy laid down by the High Walker Yard of Vickers Armstrong at Newcastle-on-Tyne on 28 February 1935, launched on 10 March 1936 and commissioned on 23 October 1936. Hero participated in the Second Battle of Narvik in April 1940, the Battle of Calabria and the Battle of Cape Spada in July 1940, and the evacuation of Greece in April 1941, and attacked and sank the enemy German submarines U-568 while in company with the frigates Eridge and Hurworth in the Mediterranean north-east of Tobruk on 29 May 1942 and U-559 while in company with the destroyers Petard and Pakenham, and the frigates Dulverton and Hurworth and a Wellesley aircraft of the Royal Air Force in the Mediterranean north-east of Port Said on 30 October 1942.
HMS Hostile (H55) HMS Hostile (H55) was an H-class destroyer of the Royal Navy laid down by Scott's Shipbuilding and Engineering at Greenock in Scotland on 27 February 1935, launched on 24 January 1936 and commissioned on 10 September 1936. Hostile participated in the First Battle of Narvik in April 1940 and the Battle of Calabria in July 1940.
HMS Howe (1860) HMS Howe was built as a 110-gun screw 1st rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched 13th March 1860, but never completed for sea service (and never served under her original name) as she had already been made obsolete by the first ironclad battleships.
HMS Hunter (H35) HMS Hunter (H35) was one of nine H-class destroyers of the Royal Navy. She was laid down by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Limited at Wallsend-on-Tyne on 26 March 1935, launched on 25 February 1936 and commissioned on 20 September 1936.
HMS Hydra Eight ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Hydra after the hydra of Greek mythology. The ship's badge is a representation of the hydra as a serpent with seven heads The ship's motto was Ut Herculis Perseverantia (Latin]: "Like [[Hercules Persevere").
HMS Hydra (A144) HMS Hydra (Pennant Number A144) was a Royal Navy deep ocean hydrographic survey vessel, the third of the original three of the Hecla class. The ship was laid down as yard number 2258 on 14 May 1964 at Yarrow Shipbuilders, at Scotstoun on the River Clyde and launched on 14 July 1965 by Mary Lythall, wife of the then Chief Scientist (Royal Navy), Basil W Lythall CB (1919-2001).
HMS Challenger (1858) The fifth HMS Challenger (launched 1858) was a steam assisted British naval corvette. In 1862 she took part in operations against Mexico, including the occupation of Vera Cruz, and in 1866 a punitive operation against some Fijian natives to avenge the murder of a missionary and some of his dependents.
HMS Challenger (K07) HMS Challenger was a unique vessel in Royal Navy service — she was purpose built to support deep sea operations and saturation diving. However, she was commissioned in 1984, during a time when the Royal Navy was cutting back on expenditure, with the consequence that the Challenger was seen as an extravagance that the Admiralty could not afford.
HMS Charybdis (F75) HMS Charybdis (F75) was a Leander-class frigate of the Royal Navy (RN). She was built by the famous Harland & Wolff company of Belfast, and was the last ship to be built there for British naval forces until RFA Fort Victoria of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, was launched in 1990.
HMS Chichester (F59) HMS Chichester (F59) was a Salisbury-class or Type 61 aircraft direction frigate of the British Royal Navy. Towards the end of her career she was partially disarmed for use as a Hong Kong guard ship and "showing the flag" deployments, due in part to her good range conferred by her diesel machinery.
HMS Illustrious There have been five ships in the Royal Navy to bear the proud name Illustrious, and as her name suggests, she and her predecessors have had an illustrious history. The ship's motto is "Vox Non Incerta" which translates as "No Uncertain Voice".
HMS Illustrious (R06) The fifth HMS Illustrious (R06) is an Invincible-class light aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy, affectionately known as 'Lusty' to her crew. She became the Fleet Flagship on 4 August 2005 after her sister ship HMS Invincible was decommissioned was laid down at Swan Hunter] on the [[River Tyne, England|River Tyne in 1976, and launched in 1981.
HMS Implacable (1805) Originally Duguay-Trouin, she was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, named after René Duguay-Trouin, and launched at Rochefort in 1800 (other sources say 1789 or 1795). On 21 October 1805 she fought in the Battle of Trafalgar, where she was part of the vanguard of the French fleet under contre-amiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley, and was one of four French ships which escaped capture that day.

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