Twelve ships and two

shore establishment A stone frigate is a naval establishment on land. "Stone frigate" is an informal term that has its origin in Britain's Royal Navy after its use of Diamond Rock, an island off Martinique, as a 'sloop of war' to harass the First French Empire, ...

s 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 ''Defiance''. Others have borne the name whilst serving as depot ships and tenders to the establishments: * was an 8-gun

pinnace Pinnace may refer to: * Pinnace (ship's boat), a small vessel used as a tender to larger vessels among other things * Full-rigged pinnace The full-rigged pinnace was the larger of two types of vessel called a pinnace in use from the sixteenth c ...

that took part in the action against the

Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aris ...

in 1588. * was a 46-gun

galleon Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used as armed cargo carriers by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch War ...

built in 1590. She was rebuilt and reduced to 34 guns in 1614 and was sold in 1650. * was a 10-gun ship captured from the Parliamentarians by the

Royalists A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...

in 1652 during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. She foundered later in 1652. * was a 66-gun

third rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Years of experience proved that the third r ...

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 1666 and burned by accident in 1668. * was a

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 ...

in service between 1671 and 1678. * was a 64-gun third rate launched in 1675. She was rebuilt in 1695, reduced to a

fourth rate In 1603 all English warships with a compliment of fewer than 160 men were known as 'small ships'. In 1625/26 to establish pay rates for officers a six tier naval ship rating system was introduced.Winfield 2009 These small ships were divided i ...

in 1716, hulked in 1743 and broken up in 1749. * was a 69-gun fourth rate launched in 1744 and sold in 1766. * was a sloop launched in 1766. * was a 64-gun third rate launched in 1772 and wrecked in 1780 off the

Savannah River The Savannah River is a major river in the southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia. Two tributaries of the Savannah, the Tugaloo River and the Chattooga River, form the norther ...

. * was a 74-gun third rate of launched in 1783. She was used as a

prison ship A prison ship, often more accurately described as a prison hulk, is a current or former seagoing vessel that has been modified to become a place of substantive detention for convicts, prisoners of war or civilian internees. While many nation ...

from 1813 and was broken up in 1817. * was a 4-gun

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 ...

purchased in 1794 and sold in 1797. * was a 91-gun screw propelled

second rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a second-rate was a ship of the line which by the start of the 18th century mounted 90 to 98 guns on three gun decks; earlier 17th-century second rates had fewer guns ...

launched in 1861. She became the Navy's

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...

school ship A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house classr ...

in 1884 and was sold in 1931. * was the Royal Navy's torpedo school, established in 1884 in the second rate , and in subsequent ships that were renamed HMS ''Defiance''. These included: ** was the original school ship from 1884 until 1931. ** was HMS ''Defiance II'' from 1904 until 1931. ** was HMS ''Defiance II'' from 1921 until 1931. ** was HMS ''Defiance III'' from 1922 until 1931. ** was HMS ''Defiance IV'' from 1922 until 1930 and HMS ''Defiance II'' from 1930 until 1956. ** was HMS ''Defiance'' from 1931 until 1956. ** was HMS ''Defiance III'' from 1931 until 1955. The school moved ashore at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

in 1955, becoming a

stone frigate A stone frigate is a naval establishment on land. "Stone frigate" is an informal term that has its origin in Britain's Royal Navy after its use of Diamond Rock, an island off Martinique, as a ' sloop of war' to harass the French in 1803–04 ...

. It was paid off in 1959. * was the Fleet Maintenance Base at

HMNB Devonport His Majesty's Naval Base, Devonport (HMNB Devonport) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Portsmouth) and is the sole nuclear repair and refuelling facility for the Roy ...

between 1972 and 1979, and again between 1981 and 1994 when it was absorbed into the main base. One ship was renamed HMS ''Defiance'' whilst serving as the establishment's depot ship. ** was HMS ''Defiance'' from 1972 until 1978. Also *''Defiance'' 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 ''Defiance''s crew.Drinkwater (1905), p.246.

Citations and references

Citations References * *Drinkwater, John (1905) ''A History of the Siege of Gibraltar, 1779-1783: With a Description and Account of that Garrison from the Earliest Times''. (J. Murray). {{DEFAULTSORT:Defiance, Hms Royal Navy ship names

See also

Citations and references