The

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

is the principal naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. As of October 2022, there are 72 commissioned ships in the Royal Navy. Of the commissioned vessels, twenty-two are major surface combatants (two aircraft carriers, six

guided missile destroyer A guided-missile destroyer (DDG) is a destroyer whose primary armament is guided missiles so they can provide anti-aircraft warfare screening for the fleet. The NATO standard designation for these vessels is DDG, while destroyers who have a prim ...

s, twelve frigates and two

amphibious transport dock An amphibious transport dock, also called a landing platform dock (LPD), is an amphibious warfare ship, a warship that embarks, transports, and lands elements of a landing force for expeditionary warfare missions. Several navies currently opera ...

s) and ten are nuclear-powered submarines (four ballistic missile submarines and six

fleet submarine A fleet submarine is a submarine with the speed, range, and endurance to operate as part of a navy's battle fleet. Examples of fleet submarines are the British First World War era K class and the American World War II era ''Gato'' class. The t ...

s). In addition the Navy possesses nine

mine countermeasures vessel A mine countermeasures vessel or MCMV is a type of naval ship designed for the location of and destruction of naval mines which combines the role of a minesweeper and minehunter A minehunter is a naval vessel that seeks, detects, and destr ...

s, twenty-six

patrol vessels A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and the ...

, three

survey vessel A survey vessel is any type of ship or boat that is used for underwater surveys, usually to collect data for mapping or planning underwater construction or mineral extraction. It is a type of research vessel, and may be designed for the pur ...

s, one

icebreaker An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

and one historic warship, . The total

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics * Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

of the Royal Navy is approximately 431,000

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...

s. The Royal Navy operates four bases where commissioned ships are based: HMNB Portsmouth, HMNB Devonport and

HMNB Clyde His Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde (HMNB Clyde; also HMS ''Neptune''), primarily sited at Faslane on the Gare Loch, is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Devonport and HMNB Portsmouth). It ...

and the Royal Navy's newest base, in

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

. In addition, a number of commissioned vessels belonging to the

University Royal Naval Unit The University Royal Naval Units (URNU) ( , less commonly ) (formerly Universities' Royal Naval Units) are Royal Navy training establishments who recruit Officer Cadets from a university or a number of universities, usually concentrated in one ...

s (URNU) are stationed at various locations around the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Two fast patrol boats, together with a forward-deployed ''River''-class Offshore Patrol Vessel, normally form part of the

Gibraltar Squadron The Gibraltar Squadron is a unit of the British Royal Navy. It is the only seagoing Royal Naval unit based in Gibraltar, attached to British Forces Gibraltar. It currently includes two ''Cutlass''-class fast patrol boats with a maximum speed of ...

and are permanently based there. Four other ''River''-class vessels are forward-deployed: in the Falkland Islands (one ship), the Caribbean (one ship) and the Indo-Pacific region (two ships). Besides the Royal Navy, the

Royal Fleet Auxiliary The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) is a naval auxiliary fleet owned by the UK's Ministry of Defence. It provides logistical and operational support to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. The RFA ensures the Royal Navy is supplied and supported by ...

(RFA) and the Royal Marines operate their own flotillas of vessels which complement the assets of the Royal Navy, however they are not included in this list or the above figures (the Royal Navy and RFA combined have 83 vessels with a total displacement in excess of 763,000 tonnes). In addition, the naval training vessels and can be found based at the Royal Navy shore establishment and the

Britannia Royal Naval College Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC), commonly known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, En ...

, respectively, along with a number of P1000s and Motor Whalers. As a supporting contingent of

His Majesty's Naval Service His Majesty's Naval Service is the United Kingdom's naval warfare and maritime service. It consists of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Royal Fleet Auxiliary, Royal Naval Reserve, Royal Marines Reserve and Naval Careers Service. The term Naval Ser ...

, the civilian Marine Services operate many auxiliary ships (including coastal logistics, tugs and research vessels) in support of Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary operations. (with a total displacement in excess of 817,500 tonnes). All ships and submarines currently in commission with the Royal Navy were built in the United Kingdom, with the exceptions of icebreaker which was built in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

and survey vessel which was substantially built in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. All vessels of the Royal Navy bear the ship prefix "HMS", for His Majesty's Ship or His Majesty's Submarine.

Ceremonial/Historic ship

Submarine service

Surface fleet

Auxiliary vessels

Gallery

File:HMS Victory at dusk. MOD 45143807.jpg, , Flagship of the First Sea Lord File:Vanguard at Faslane 02.jpg, ''Vanguard'' ( ''Vanguard'' class) File:HMS Ambush long.jpg, ''Ambush'' () File:Royal_Navy_Trafalgar-class_submarine_HMS_Trenchant_(S91).jpg, ''Trenchant'' () File:HMS Queen Elizabeth in Gibraltar - 2018 (28386226189).jpg, ''Queen Elizabeth''
( ''Queen Elizabeth'' class) File:HMS Albion MOD 45151289.jpg, ''Albion'' (''Albion'' class) File:Royal Navy Type 45 Destroyer HMS Daring MOD 45153705.jpg, ''Daring'' (

Type 45 destroyer The Type 45 destroyer, also known as the D or ''Daring'' class, is a class of six guided-missile destroyers built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy in the early 21st century. The class is primarily designed for anti-aircraft and anti-missile ...

) File:HMS Northumberland MOD 45154788.jpg, ''Northumberland'' (

Type 23 frigate The Type 23 frigate or Duke class is a class of frigates built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The ships are named after British Dukes, thus leading to the class being commonly known as the Duke class. The first Type 23, , was commission ...

) File:HMS Forth formally gets commissioned into the Royal Navy 13042018 MOD 45164104.jpg, ''Forth'' (River class) File:HMS_Hurworth_MOD_45151313.jpg, ''Hurworth'' (Hunt class) File:Sandown Class Mine Hunter HMS Ramsey MOD.jpg, ''Ramsey'' (''Sandown'' class) File:P2000 Class Royal Navy Patrol Vessel HMS Raider MOD 45151351.jpg, ''Raider'' (''Archer'' class) File:HMS Cutlass (P295).jpg, ''Cutlass'' (''Cutlass'' class) File:HMS Echo (H87) 2015.jpg, ''Echo'' (''Echo'' class) File:HMS Scott at Port Lockroy MOD 45151219.jpg, ''Scott'' File:Royal Navy Antarctic Patrol Ship HMS Protector MOD 45153156.jpg, ''Protector'' File:HMS Magpie (H130) on River Dart.jpg, ''Magpie'' File:Aerial photograph of Portsmouth Dockyard taken during a Photex, taken from 2,000 feet. MOD 45144949.jpg, ''Excellent''

Silhouettes

Silhouettes of major fleet units: Queen Elizabeth class silhouette.jpg, - (R08) & (R09) Royal Navy Albion silhouette.png, - (L14) & (L15) Type45Destroyer Silhouette.png, Type 45 or ''Daring''-class destroyer - (D32), (D33), (D34), (D35), (D36) & (D37) Royal Navy Type 23 Frigate silhouette.png, Type 23 or ''Duke''-class frigate - (F231), (F229), (F234), (F236), (F237), (F238), (F239), (F82), (F81), (F78), (F79) & (F83) Vangaurd class SSBN silhouette.png, - (S28), (S29), (S30) & (S31) Astute class SSN silhouette.png, - (S119), (S120), (S121), (S122) & (S123) Trafalgar class SSN silhouette.png, - (S93)

Footnotes

References

External links

Royal Navy
(royalnavy.mod.uk)
Royal Navy — The Equipment — Ships
(royalnavy.mod.uk) {{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Active Royal Navy Ships Active