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Ten 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 called HMS ''Thunder'', while an eleventh was planned but never built:
* was a 5-gun
bomb vessel launched in 1695. She was 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 1696.
* was a 6-gun bomb vessel captured from the Spanish in 1720 and broken up in 1734.
* was an 8-gun bomb vessel launched in 1740. She foundered in a hurricane in 1744.
* was an 8-gun bomb vessel launched in 1759 and sold in 1774. She was almost completely rebuilt in 1775 and became the mercantile vessel ''Hawke'', of 320 tons (bm). In 1783 she was listed in ''
Lloyd's Register
Lloyd's Register Group Limited (LR) is a technical and professional services organisation and a maritime classification society, wholly owned by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a UK charity dedicated to research and education in science and ...
'' with master M. Scott, owner E. Hoskins, trade London-Greenland fisheries, and armament of 4 x 9-pounder and 10 x 6-pounder guns.
* HMS ''Thunder'' was an 18-gun bomb vessel, previously . She was captured by the French
64-gun
The 64-gun ship of the line was a type of two-decker warship defined during the 18th century, named after the number of their guns. 64-guns had a lower battery of 24-pounders, and an upper battery of 12-pounders. Heavier variants with 18-pounder o ...
in August 1778 near Rhode Island. The French then destroyed her.
* was an 8-gun bomb vessel launched in 1779. She foundered in 1781.
* was an 8-gun bomb vessel, previously the Dutch ''Guter Erwartung''. She was captured in 1797. Reportedly her crew mutinied in 1800 and took her into Bilbao.
[''Naval Chronicle'', Vol. 4, pp. 513–14.] This may have been mistaken as the Royal Navy paid her off in 1801, and sold her in 1802.
* was an 8-gun bomb vessel, previously the mercantile ''Dasher'', launched at Bideford in 1800 that made two voyages as a
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 ...
. The Navy purchased her in 1803 and sold her in 1814.
* HMS ''Thunder'' was to have been a bomb vessel. She was ordered in 1812, but the order was later cancelled.
* was a 12-gun bomb vessel launched in 1829. She was converted to a
survey ship
A survey vessel is any type of ship or boat that is used for underwater surveys, usually to collect data for mapping or planning underwater construction or mineral extraction. It is a type of research vessel, and may be designed for the purpo ...
in 1833 and was broken up in 1851.
* was a wooden
ironclad
An ironclad is a steam engine, steam-propelled warship protected by Wrought iron, iron or steel iron armor, armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships ...
floating battery
A floating battery is a kind of armed watercraft, often improvised or experimental, which carries heavy armament but has few other qualities as a warship.
History
Use of timber rafts loaded with cannon by Danish defenders of Copenhagen a ...
launched in 1855 and broken up in 1874.
Also
* ''Thunder'' was a gunboat that the garrison at Gibraltar launched in June 1782 during the
Great Siege of Gibraltar
The Great Siege of Gibraltar was an unsuccessful attempt by Spain and France to capture Gibraltar from the British during the War of the American Revolution. It was the largest battle in the war by number of combatants. The American war had end ...
. She was one of 12. Each was armed with an 18-pounder gun, and received a crew of 21 men drawn from Royal Navy vessels stationed at Gibraltar. provided ''Thunder''s crew.
See also
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Citations
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thunder, Hms
Royal Navy ship names