Three ships of the British
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 been named HMS ''Oiseau'', after the
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
for
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
:
* , a 26-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 ...
captured from France on 23 October 1762 by in the Mediterranean.
* , a 32-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 1769 as the frigate ''Oiseau'', captured from France on 31 January 1779 by
HMS ''Apollo'' and sold on 19 June 1783. She then became the Liverpool-based slaver ''Count du Nord''. Last listed in 1789. May have become the ''Dover'', sold to the Imperial East India Company, Ostend (Austrian flag) in 1796.
*
HMS ''Oiseau'', a 36-gun fifth rate originally the French frigate ''Cléopâtre'', which captured on 18 January 1793.
''Oiseau'' was converted to a
prison ship
A prison ship, often more accurately described as a prison hulk, is a current or former seagoing vessel that has been modified to become a place of substantive detention for convicts, prisoners of war or civilian internees. While many nation ...
in 1806 and sold on 18 September 1816.
Notes
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oiseau, Hms
Royal Navy ship names