At least seven vessels 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 ''Firefly'': *, was a vessel built in Bermuda that the Royal Navy purchased there in 1801. She was the former ''John Gordon'', which probably had been a privateer.

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...

records list an armed ship built in Bermuda in 1801, and purchased in 1803. * was the French privateer schooner ''Poisson Volant'', of 130 tons ( bm), which the Royal Navy captured in 1803. She was wrecked on 17 November 1807 off Curacao; no survivors. * was a 14-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 ...

, the ex-Spanish prize ''Antelope'' captured in February 1808 and purchased. She was renamed HMS ''Antelope'' in 1812, or possibly in 1809, and was broken up in 1814. * , a schooner wrecked on 27 February 1835 on the Northern Triangles, off

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

with the loss of thirteen of her 23 crew. * , a ''Firefly''-class gunboat, re-engined in 1844 with the engine from and became a survey ship. She was broken up at Malta in 1866. * , a British . * , a British that the Ottomans captured but that the British recaptured at the

Battle of Nahr-al-Kalek A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

in February 1917. * , a British trawler that operated between 1930 and 1961, and that between September 1939 to October 1945 served as a minesweeper.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Firefly, Hms Royal Navy ship names