Twelve 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 been named HMS ''Otter'', for the

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...

. * was a 4-gun ketch launched in 1700 and captured by the French in 1702. * was a 14-gun sixth rate launched in 1709 and sold in 1713. * was an 8-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 ...

launched in 1721 and wrecked in 1741. * was a 14-gun sloop launched in 1742 and sold in 1763. * was a 14-gun sloop launched in 1767 and wrecked in 1778. * was a 14-gun sloop, the former French merchantman ''Glanure'', that the royal Navy captured in 1778 and sold in 1783. She then became the merchantman and

slave ship Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea coast ...

''Cyclops''. The French captured her in December 1795 as she was delivering her third cargo of slaves to the West Indies. * was a 14-gun brig-sloop launched in 1782. She was converted to 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 ...

in 1800 and was sold in 1801. * was an 18-gun sloop launched in 1805. She was used for harbour service from 1814 and was sold in 1828. * was a wooden paddle packet, previously the

GPO GPO may refer to: Government and politics * General Post Office, Dublin * General Post Office, in Britain * Social Security Government Pension Offset, a provision reducing benefits * Government Pharmaceutical Organization, a Thai state enterpris ...

vessel ''Wizard''. She was transferred to the Royal Navy in 1837, became a gunvessel in 1854, a

tug A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

in 1865, a coal hulk in 1878 and was sold in 1893. * was a screw gunboat launched in 1884. She served with the

Queensland Maritime Defence Force Before Federation in 1901 five of the six separate colonies maintained their own naval forces for defence. The colonial navies were supported by the ships of the Royal Navy's Australian Station which was established in 1859. The separate colonie ...

and

Commonwealth Naval Forces The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

and was sold in 1906. She was later rehired by the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

as HMAS ''Otter''. * was an launched in 1896 and sold in 1916. * was an launched in 1962 and sold in 1992.

See also