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 F ...
have borne the name HMS ''Alert'' (or the variants ''Alerte'' and ''Alaart''), while another was planned:
* , an 8-gun cutter in service from 1753 to 1754.
* , a 10-gun cutter launched at Dover in 1777, converted to a sloop in the same year, and captured in the Channel by the ''Junon'' in 1778; foundered December 1779 off the coast of America.Roche (2005) French records show her serving as ''Alerte'', a cutter of fourteen 4-pounder guns and valued as a prize at Lt 32,289.
* , a 10-gun cutter launched at Dover in 1778 and captured by the French frigate ''Diligente'' in September 1780 in the Bay of Biscay. The prize was valued at Lt52,405. In French service she was armed with six 8-pounder guns and twelve 18-pounder howitzers.Demerliac (1996), p.90, #600. recaptured her in North American waters on 7 December 1781, after a strong resistance.
* , a 4-gun
schooner
A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...
purchased in 1790, wrecked in 1791, but possibly salved and broken up in 1799.
* , a 16-gun sloop launched at Rotherhithe in 1794 and captured by the French ''Unité'' in May off the coast of Ireland; wrecked later that year in the Bay of
Audierne
Audierne (; br, Gwaien) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. On 1 January 2016 the former commune of Esquibien merged into Audierne.HMS ''Alerte'', a 14-gun brig-sloop launched in 1787, captured from the French in 1793, retaken by the French after being burnt to the waterline that same year and rebuilt by them, captured by in 1799, renamed HMS ''Minorca'' and sold in 1802.
* , previously the collier ''Oxford'', purchased in 1804 and captured by in 1812; remained in US service until 1829.
* HMS ''Allart'' (1807) (or ''Alaart''), a 16-gun Danish sloop captured in 1807 and retaken by the Danes in 1809.Hepper (1994), p.130. She was to be named ''Cassandra''.
* , a brig-sloop, launched in 1813 and sold in 1832.
* , an 8-gun packet-brig launched in 1835 at Rotherhithe and broken up in 1851.
* , an 8-gun brig, previously a slaver, captured in 1848 and sold 1850.
* , a wooden screw sloop launched in 1856 at Pembroke Dock. She was converted for Arctic exploration in 1874, reached 82°N in the expedition of 1876, worked as a survey vessel, and was loaned to the US Navy and the Canadian Government. She was laid up in 1884 and sold.
* , an launched in 1894 at Sheerness. She was lent to the civil authority at Basra in 1918, and sold to them in 1926 for use as a pilot vessel. She was broken up in 1949.
*''Alert'' was an , renamed in 1941 before being launched in 1942.
* , a launched in 1945, originally ''Dundrum Bay'' and ''Loch Scamadale''. She was sold in 1971.
In addition, the Royal Navy used several
hired armed vessels
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Royal Navy made use of a considerable number of hired armed vessels. These were generally smaller vessels, often cutters and luggers, that the Navy used for duties ranging from carrying and pa ...
with the name ''Alert'', including several cutters and a
lugger
A lugger is a sailing vessel defined by its rig, using the lug sail on all of its one or several masts. They were widely used as working craft, particularly off the coasts of France, England, Ireland and Scotland. Luggers varied extensively i ...
.
Citations
References
*
*Demerliac, Alain (1996) ''La Marine De Louis XVI: Nomenclature Des Navires Français De 1774 À 1792''. (Nice: Éditions OMEGA).
* Fonds Marine. Campagnes (opérations ; divisions et stations navales ; missions diverses). Inventaire de la sous-série Marine BB4. Tome premier : BB4 1 à 209 (1790-1804 * Hepper, David J. (1994) ''British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859''. (Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot).
* Roche, Jean-Michel (2005) ''Dictionnaire des Bâtiments de la Flotte de Guerre Française de Colbert à nos Jours.'' (Group Retozel-Maury Millau).
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alert, HMS
Royal Navy ship names