Eight 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 ''Lowestoft'', or the archaic HMS ''Lowestoffe'', after the

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

town of

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and sou ...

: * was a 28-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 N ...

launched in 1697. She was rebuilt in 1723 as 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 ...

and sold in 1774. * was a 24-gun

launched in 1742 and sold in 1748. * was a 28-gun sixth rate launched in 1756 and sunk in 1760. * was a 32-gun fifth rate launched in 1761 and wrecked in 1801. * HMS ''Lowestoft'' was to have been a 38-gun fifth rate, ordered in 1801 and cancelled in 1805. * was a

light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to thi ...

launched in 1913 and scrapped in 1931. * was a

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 1934. She was sold into mercantile service in 1946 and renamed ''Miraflores''. She was scrapped in 1955. * was a ''Rothesay''-class or Type 12I anti-submarine

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 ...

. She was launched in 1960 and sunk as a target in 1986. There was also , an 8-gun brig-sloop captured in 1777 and condemned in 1779.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lowestoft Royal Navy ship names