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 ...
has four vessels with the name HMS ''Erne''; the name comes from the
white-tailed eagle
The white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla'') is a very large species of sea eagle widely distributed across temperate Palearctic, Eurasia. Like all eagles, it is a member of the family Accipitridae (or accipitrids) which includes other diur ...
, also known as the erne.
*The 20-gun
sixth-rate
In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a sixth-rate was the designation for small warships mounting between 20 and 28 carriage-mounted guns on a single deck, sometimes with smaller guns on the upper works and ...
post ship
Post ship was a designation used in the Royal Navy during the second half of the 18th century and the Napoleonic Wars to describe a ship of the sixth rate (see rating system of the Royal Navy) that was smaller than a frigate (in practice, carry ...
, launched in 1813 and wrecked in 1819 on the Isle of
Sal, Cape Verde
Sal (Portuguese for "salt") is an island in Cape Verde. Sal is a tourist destination with white sandy beaches and over 350 days of sunshine a year. It is one of the three sandy eastern islands of the Cape Verde archipelago in the central Atlantic ...
.
[Gossett (1986), p.99.]
*The ''Albacore''-class gunboat launched in 1856 and broken up in 1874.
*The torpedo boat destroyer launched in 1903 and wrecked in 1915 at
Rattray Head
Rattray Head (), historically Rattray Point, is a headland in Buchan, Aberdeenshire, on the north-east coast Scotland. To north lies Strathbeg Bay and Rattray Bay is to its south. The dunes at Rattray Head beach can be up to high and stretch ...
.
*The sloop launched in 1939, renamed ''Wessex'' in 1952, and broken up in 1965.
Notes
References
*
*Gossett, William Patrick (1986) ''The lost ships of the Royal Navy, 1793-1900''. (London:Mansell).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erne, Hms
Royal Navy ship names