__NOTOC__ Nine ships and one shore establishment 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 ''Wasp'', with one other government vessel using the name:

Ships

* HMS ''Wasp'' 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 1749. She was sold in 1781. In 1782 she became the mercantile ''Polly'', and then in 1784 she became the

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 French captured ''Mentor'' circa 1795. * was purchased on the stocks as a 14-gun sloop, 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 1798, and expended in July 1800 in the operation to capture the . * ''Wasp'' was a gunboat at the

Siege of Toulon (1793) The siege of Toulon (29 August – 19 December 1793) was a military engagement that took place during the Federalist revolts of the French Revolutionary Wars. It was undertaken by Republican forces against Royalist rebels supported by Anglo-Spa ...

. She may have been a

tartane A tartane (also tartan, tartana) was a small ship used both as a fishing ship and for coastal trading in the Mediterranean. They were in use for over 300 years until the late 19th century. A tartane had a single mast on which was rigged a large la ...

that the French Navy had acquired at Toulon earlier that year. * was a 4-gun

gunvessel A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

purchased in 1794 from the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

. She was sold in 1802. * was originally the French 14-gun sloop ''Guepe'', launched in 1798 and captured in 1800. The Navy sold her in 1811. * was an 18-gun launched in 1812. She was broken up in 1847. * was an wooden screw sloop launched in 1850. She was sold in 1869. * was a composite screw

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

launched in 1880. She was wrecked in 1884 and finally sold in 1910. * was a composite screw gunboat launched in 1886. She foundered 1887 after leaving

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

Shore establishments

* was a

Coastal Forces Coastal Forces was a division of the Royal Navy initially established during World War I, and then again in World War II under the command of Rear-Admiral, Coastal Forces. It remained active until the last minesweepers to wear the "HM Coastal Fo ...

shore establishment at

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

during World War II

Other vessels

* ''Torpedo Boat No. 191'' was a second-class spar

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of se ...

launched in 1883 by Thornycroft for Tasmanian service, arriving in Hobart on SS ''Abington'' on 1 May 1884. Called ''Wasp'' by her builders, she was referred to only by the number TB 1 when in service. She was transferred to South Australia in 1905, being towed behind ''Protector'', and sold in 1917. *''Wasp'' was one of two

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

s built at Calcutta for the Bengal Government in 1799. She served for three years in the Red Sea before being turned over to the government in Bombay. The other may have been ''Fury''. They both supported General Baird's

expedition to Egypt The French campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) was Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in the Ottoman territories of Egypt and Syria, proclaimed to defend French trade interests, to establish scientific enterprise in the region. It was the ...

to help General

Ralph Abercromby Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom), Lieutenant General Sir Ralph Abercromby (7 October 173428 March 1801) was a British people, British soldier and politician. He rose to the rank of lieutenant-general in the British Army, was appointed Gov ...

expel the French there.''Asiatic Annual Register...'' (1805) Vol, 7, pp.145-149.

Citations and references

Citations

References

*''The Asiatic Annual Register, Or, a View of the History of Hindustan and of the Politics, Commerce and Literature of Asia'', vol. 7. (1805). (Debrett). * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wasp, Hms Royal Navy ship names