Sixteen 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 ...
have been named HMS ''Lively''. Another was planned, but renamed before being launched:
* was a 30-gun
fifth rate
In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a fifth rate was the second-smallest class of warships in a hierarchical system of six " ratings" based on size and firepower.
Rating
The rating system in the Royal ...
captured from the French in 1689. She was re-captured by the French later that year.
* was a 12-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 a ...
purchased in 1709 and sold in 1712.
* was a 20-gun sixth rate launched in 1713. She was broken up in 1738 and rebuilt as the next HMS ''Lively''.
* was a 20-gun sixth rate launched in 1740 and sold in 1750.
* was a 20-gun sixth rate launched in 1756. She was captured by the French in 1778, but was recaptured in 1781, and was sold 1784.
* was a 14-gun
brig-sloop
In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' enc ...
purchased on the stocks and launched in 1779. She was seized by Americans she had taken prisoner in 1782 and was handed over to the Spanish at Havana.
* was a 32-gun fifth-rate
frigate launched in 1794 and wrecked off Rota Point, near
Cadiz in 1798.
* was a
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 ...
purchased in 1794 and sold in 1798.
* was a 16-gun storeship, purchased on the stocks and launched in 1797. She was deleted from the navy lists in 1802.
* was a 38-gun fifth-rate frigate launched in 1804 and wrecked off
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
in 1810.
* was a
cutter hired and then purchased in 1805. Her fate is unknown.
*
HMS ''Lively'' was to have been a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate. She was renamed in 1812 and was launched in 1813.
* was a 38-gun fifth-rate frigate launched in 1813. She was relegated to harbour service in 1831 and was sold in 1862.
* was a wooden screw gunboat launched in 1856. She was wrecked in 1863 on the Dutch coast.
* was a wooden paddle despatch vessel launched in 1870 and wrecked in 1883 near Stornoway.
* was a
torpedo boat destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
launched in 1900, acquired by the navy in 1901 and sold in 1920.
* was an
L-class destroyer launched in 1941 and sunk in 1942.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lively
Royal Navy ship names