Seven ships of the
Royal Navy have been named HMS ''Royal Sovereign'', while another was planned but renamed before being launched:
* was a 102-gun
first rate ship of the line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...
launched in 1637. She was rebuilt in 1660 and renamed ''Royal Sovereign'', rebuilt again in 1685 and burnt by accident in 1697.
[
"Sovereign of the Seas 1638" (history),
Crown, 2006, webpage:
]
RoyalN-3899
.
* was a 100-gun first-rate launched in 1701. She underwent a "great repair" (1722–1725) so extensive that the result might be considered a new ship. She was finally broken up in 1768.
* was a 100-gun first-rate launched in 1786. She was at the
Battle of Trafalgar, renamed HMS ''Captain'' after being reduced to harbour service in 1825, and was broken up in 1841.
* was a
yacht launched in 1804 and broken up in 1849.
*
HMS ''Royal Sovereign'' was to have been a 110-gun first-rate. She was ordered in 1833, renamed in 1839, then in 1860, before being launched later that year. She became a
training ship named ''Worcester'' in 1876, was sold in 1948 and foundered that year.
* was a 121-gun screw
first-rate launched in 1857. She was converted between 1861 and 1863 into the first
turret ship of the Royal Navy. She was sold for breaking in 1885.
* was a launched in 1891 and scrapped in 1913.
* was a launched in 1915. She was transferred to the
Soviet Navy in 1944 and renamed , and in 1949 sent back to Britain and scrapped.
MV ''Royal Sovereign'', a cross-channel passenger boat owned by the New Medway Steam Packet Company, was requisitioned for use as a troop transport in 1939 and participated in the
Dunkirk evacuation
The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, or just Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the Second World War from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, in the ...
in May 1940. Renamed HMS ''Royal Scot'', she struck a mine and sank in the
Bristol Channel
The Bristol Channel ( cy, Môr Hafren, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Seve ...
in December 1940.
Battle honours
Ships named ''Royal Sovereign'' have earned the following
battle honours:
*
Kentish Knock
The Kentish Knock is a long shoal (bank, shallows) in the North Sea east of Essex, England. It is the most easterly of those of the Thames Estuary and its core, which is shallower than , extends . Thus it is a major hazard to deep-draught navigat ...
, 1652
*
Orfordness, 1666
*
Sole Bay, 1672
*
Schooneveld
The Schooneveld is a shallow basin at the mouth of the Scheldt river, near the island of Walcheren, off the coast of the Netherlands. It runs parallel to the continental coast, narrowing from the southwest to the northeast, bounded by the irregula ...
, 1673
*
Texel, 1673
*
Barfleur, 1692
*
Vigo, 1702
*
First of June, 1794
*
Cornwallis's Retreat, 1795
*
Trafalgar Trafalgar most often refers to:
* Battle of Trafalgar (1805), fought near Cape Trafalgar, Spain
* Trafalgar Square, a public space and tourist attraction in London, England
It may also refer to:
Music
* ''Trafalgar'' (album), by the Bee Gees
Pl ...
, 1805
*
Dunkirk
Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.[Calabria
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, 1940
*
Atlantic, 1940−41
1: Awarded to merchant vessel MV ''Royal Sovereign''
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Sovereign
Royal Navy ship names