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 ''Sapphire'', after the

Sapphire Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived via the Latin "sapphir ...

, a precious gemstone: * was a 34-gun ship launched in 1651 and run ashore to avoid capture in 1671. * was a 32-gun fifth-rate

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 ...

launched in 1675 and scuttled by her captain (Capt. Thomas Cleasby) to prevent capture by the French in 1696. * was a 42-gun fourth rate launched in 1708, hulked in 1740 and sold in 1745. * was a 44-gun fifth rate launched in 1741. She was reduced to 32 guns in 1756 to 1758 and relaunched as: * was a 32-gun frigate built by

Adam Hayes Adam Hayes (1710–1785) was an 18th century shipbuilder to the Royal Navy. A great number of his models survive. He was responsible for the selection of the ship the "Earl of Pembroke" and was the wright who converted it into HMS Endeavour ...

at Deptford * 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 ...

launched in 1806 and sold in 1822. * was a 28-gun sixth rate launched in 1827 and sold in 1864. * was an wooden screw

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...

launched in 1874 and sold in 1892. * was a third-class protected cruiser launched in 1904 and sold for scrap in 1921. * was an ASW trawler (P.No.T.27) sold on 9 April 1946 and scrapped at Stavanger, Norway in June 1970.

See also