HMS Mercure (1798) on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Eighteen ships of the
Eighteen 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 ''Mercury'', or HMS ''Mercure'', after the God Mercury
Mercury commonly refers to:
* Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun
* Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg
* Mercury (mythology), a Roman god
Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to:
Companies
* Merc ...
, of Roman mythology
Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. One of a wide variety of genres of Roman folklore, ''Roman mythology'' may also refer to the modern study of these representat ...
:
* was a 6-gun galley
A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by oars. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, and low freeboard (clearance between sea and gunwale). Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be used ...
launched in 1592 and sold in 1611.
* was a ship launched in 1620. Her fate is unknown.
* was a ship purchased in 1622. Her fate is unknown.
* was a 6-gun advice boat launched in 1694 and captured by a French privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
in 1697.
* 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 ...
purchased in 1739 and foundered in 1744.
* was a 16-gun brigantine
A brigantine is a two-masted sailing vessel with a fully square-rigged foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts.
Older ...
launched in 1744 and captured in 1745.
* was a 24-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 1745 and broken up in 1753.
* was a 20-gun sixth rate launched in 1756 and wrecked in 1777.
* was an unrated schooner in service 1760–65.
* was a 28-gun sixth rate launched in 1779 and broken up in 1814.
* was an 18-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 ...
. She was formerly a French privateer that and captured in 1798. She was renamed HMS ''Trompeuse'' in 1799 and foundered in 1800.
* was a tender launched in 1807 and broken up in 1835.
* was a 46-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 1826, used as a coal hulk from 1861 and sold in 1906.
* was a cutter tender launched in 1837, renamed ''YC6'' in 1866, HMS ''Plymouth'' in 1876, and sold in 1904.
* was an and despatch vessel launched in 1878, converted to a depot ship in 1906, and sold in 1919. She was to have been named HMS ''Columbine'' in 1912, but this did not happen.
* was an auxiliary minesweeper
A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping.
History
The earliest known usage of ...
sunk during World War I.
* was a paddle steamer requisition during World War II for use as an auxiliary minesweeper which struck a mine and sank in 1940.
* was a Royal Naval Communications/Signal School located at the site of Leydene House near Petersfield
Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth. The town has its own railway station on the Portsmouth Direct line, the mainline rail link connecting Portsmouth a ...
, England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. The establishment was in commission between 1941 and 1993.
See also
* was a 14-gunbrig
A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the ...
launched at Bombay Dockyard
Bombay Dockyard, also known as Naval Dockyard, is an Indian shipbuilding yard at Mumbai. The superintendent of the dockyard is a Naval Officer of the rank Rear Admiral, known as the Admiral Superintendent.
Background
Shipbuilding was an establ ...
in 1806 for the naval arm of 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 ...
and lost at sea in 1833.
* or ''Mercury Packet'', launched at Calcutta in 1806, sold at Java in 1822
References
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mercury, Hms Royal Navy ship names