Eleven ships 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 ''Firebrand''. * was an 8-gun

fireship A fire ship or fireship, used in the days of wooden rowed or sailing ships, was a ship filled with combustibles, or gunpowder deliberately set on fire and steered (or, when possible, allowed to drift) into an enemy fleet, in order to destroy sh ...

launched in 1694 and wrecked in 1707. * was an 8-gun fireship, previously the civilian vessel ''Charming Jenny''. She was purchased in 1739 and sold in 1743. * HMS ''Firebrand'' was a 10-gun fireship, previously a 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 ...

launched in 1731 as . She was converted to a fireship in 1746 and renamed HMS ''Firebrand'' in 1755. She was reconverted to a sixth rate in 1757 and renamed HMS ''Penguin''. The French captured her in 1760. * HMS ''Firebrand'' was a fireship, previously a 16-gun

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 ...

purchased in 1777 as . She was converted to a fireship, renamed HMS ''Firebrand'' in 1778, and was burnt in 1781. * was a fireship purchased in 1794 and broken up in 1800. * HMS ''Firebrand'' (1804a), was the French privateer brig ''Adèle'', that captured in November 1800 and that became the British

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

's armed brig ''Waller''. The Royal Navy purchased her at London in August 1804 but she was wrecked in October. * was the mercantile ''Lord Lennox'', a French prize taken in 1799 and renamed, that the Royal Navy purchased in 1804 for use as a fireship and sold in 1807.Winfield (2008), p.380. * was an American gunboat captured at the

Battle of Lake Borgne The Battle of Lake Borgne was a coastal engagement between the Royal Navy and the U.S. Navy in the American South theatre of the War of 1812. It occurred on December 14, 1814 on Lake Borgne. The British victory allowed them to disembark their tro ...

on 14 December 1814 and in service until at least 4 June 1815.Paullin and Paxson (1914), p.436. * was a wooden paddle vessel launched in 1831. She was rebuilt in 1834 and renamed HMS ''Black Eagle'' in 1843. She was broken up in 1876. * was a wooden paddle

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

, ordered as HMS ''Belzebub'', but renamed before being launched in 1842. In 1845 she was one of the Royal Navy vessels in the Anglo-French force at the

Battle of Vuelta de Obligado The naval Battle of Vuelta de Obligado took place on the waters of the Paraná River on 20 November 1845, between the Argentine Confederation, under the leadership of Juan Manuel de Rosas, and a combined Anglo-French fleet. The action was part o ...

. She also participated in the Crimean War. She was sold in 1864. * was a composite screw

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

launched in 1877. She was sold out of the service in 1905 and renamed ''Hoi Tin''. * was a tender, previously the

War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War (1789–1947) See also * War Office, a former department of the British Government * Ministry of defence * Ministry of War * Ministry of Defence * Dep ...

vessel ''Lord Heathfield''. She was transferred to the Royal Navy in 1906 and was sold in 1920. * HMS ''Firebrand'' was a sloop launched in 1894 as . She was given to the New Zealand government in 1917 as a

training ship A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house classr ...

, and was renamed ''Firebrand''. She was sold in 1920.

Citations

References

* * * O'Byrne, William R. (1849) ''A Naval Biographical Dictionary: comprising the life and services of every living officer in Her Majesty's navy, from the rank of admiral of the fleet to that of lieutenant, inclusive''. (London: J. Murray), vol. 1. * Paullin, Charles Oscar and Frederic Logan Paxson (1914) ''Guide to the materials in London archives for the history of the United States since 1783''. (Carnegie Institution of Washington). * {{DEFAULTSORT:Firebrand, Hms Royal Navy ship names