Nine ships and a base of 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 F ...
have borne the name HMS ''Curlew'' after the bird, the
curlew
The curlews () are a group of nine species of birds in the genus ''Numenius'', characterised by their long, slender, downcurved bills and mottled brown plumage. The English name is imitative of the Eurasian curlew's call, but may have been in ...
:
* was a 16-gun
brig
A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the ...
sloop
A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...
launched in 1795 that foundered in 1796.
* was a 16-gun sloop, previously named ''Leander'', purchased in 1803 and sold in 1810.
* was an 18-gun brig sloop of the launched in 1812 and sold in 1822 for use in the opium trade, being renamed ''Jamesina''.
* was a 10-gun brig sloop of the launched in 1830 and broken up in 1840.
* was a
screw sloop
A screw sloop is a propeller-driven sloop-of-war. In the 19th century, during the introduction of the steam engine, ships driven by propellers were differentiated from those driven by paddle-wheels by referring to the ship's ''screws'' (propelle ...
launched in 1854 and sold in 1865.
* was a launched in 1868 and sold in 1882.
* was a torpedo gunvessel launched in 1885 and sold in 1906.
* was a launched in 1917 and sunk in 1940.
* was a , launched in 1953 as HMS ''Montrose'', renamed in 1958 and then HMAS ''Curlew'' on her transfer to the
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...
in 1962. She was paid off in 1990, and sold in 1997. She was taken to
Hobart
Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...
in 1998 where there are plans as of 2003 to preserve her as a
museum ship
A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...
.
* HMS ''Curlew'' was a
Naval Air Station near
St Merryn
St Merryn ( kw, S. Meryn) is a civil parish and village in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is about south of the fishing port of Padstow and northeast of the coastal resort of Newquay.
The village has a primary school, a veterinar ...
,
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
, previously named . She was HMS ''Vulture'' from her commissioning in 1940 until 1952, when she was renamed HMS ''Curlew''. She was closed in 1956 and sold in 1959.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Curlew
Royal Navy ship names