Eleven 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 ''Weazel'' or HMS ''Weazle'', archaic spellings of

weasel Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slender bo ...

, while another was planned: * was a 10-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 1704 and sold in 1712. * was an 8-gun sloop launched in 1721 and sold in 1732. * was a 16-gun sloop purchased on the stocks and launched in 1745. The French

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 ...

captured her in 1779 in the West Indies. The French took her to the French Antilles where they removed her guns for Admiral d'Estaing's squadron. They then sold her at Guadeloupe in 1781. * was a 14-gun

brig-sloop In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' enc ...

launched in 1783 and wrecked while attempting to leave Barnstaple Bay on 12 February 1799. She vainly fired signals of distress before she broke up; her purser was the only survivor of her crew of 106 men and boys. * was a 16-gun brig-sloop launched in 1799 and purchased that year. She was wrecked on 1 March 1804 off Cabritta Point near Gibraltar with the loss of one man of her crew of 70. * was an 18-gun launched in 1805 and sold in 1815 for breaking up. * was a 10-gun

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 ...

purchased in 1808 and on the navy lists until 1811. * was a 10-gun launched in 1822 and sold in 1844. * was a wood 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 1855 and sold in 1869. * was an iron screw gunboat launched in 1873. She became an oil fuel

lighter A lighter is a portable device which creates a flame, and can be used to ignite a variety of items, such as cigarettes, gas lighter, fireworks, candles or campfires. It consists of a metal or plastic container filled with a flammable liquid or c ...

in 1904 and was renamed ''C 118''. * was a tender, previously the

War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War (1789–1947) See also * War Office, a former department of the British Government * Ministry of defence * Ministry of War * Ministry of Defence * Dep ...

vessel ''Sir W. Green''. She was transferred to the Royal Navy in 1906 and was renamed HMS ''Stoat'' in 1918. She was sold in 1923. * HMS ''Weazel'' was to have been a W-class

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

. The order was cancelled in 1918.

Citations

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Weazel, Hms Royal Navy ship names