Eighteen 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 ''Eagle'', after the

eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

. * was an ex-merchantman purchased in 1592 and in use as a careening hulk. She was sold in 1683. * was a 6-gun shallop

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 ...

, listed until 1653. * was a 12-gun ship, previously the French ship ''Aigle'', captured in 1650 and sold in 1655. * was a 22-gun armed ship, previously named . She was renamed HMS ''Eagle'' in 1660, used as 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 ...

from 1674 and sunk as a foundation in 1694. * was a 6-gun fireship captured from the Algerians in 1670 and expended in 1671. * was a 6-gun fireship purchased in 1672 and foundered in 1673. * was a 70-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 ...

launched in 1679, rebuilt in 1699 and wrecked in 1707. * was a 10-gun advice boat launched in 1696 and wrecked in 1703. * was a fireship sunk in 1745 as a

breakwater Breakwater may refer to: * Breakwater (structure), a structure for protecting a beach or harbour Places * Breakwater, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia * Breakwater Island Breakwater Island () is a small island in the Palme ...

. * was a 58-gun

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 ...

launched in 1745 and sold in 1767. * was a 14-gun

launched in 1745. Her fate is unknown. * was a 64-gun third rate launched in 1774. She was attacked by the submersible ''Turtle'' during the American Revolution, was placed on harbour service from 1790 and renamed HMS ''Buckingham'' in 1800. She was broken up in 1812. * was a 4-gun gunvessel, formerly a Dutch

hoy Hoy ( sco, Hoy; from Norse , meaning "high island") is an island in Orkney, Scotland, measuring – the second largest in the archipelago, after Mainland. A natural causeway, ''the Ayre'', links the island to the smaller South Walls; the tw ...

purchased in 1794. She was sold in 1804. * HMS ''Eagle'' (1803) was a 12-gun gun-brig, previously the French ''Venteux''. captured her in 1803. The Royal Navy renamed her in 1804 and sold her in 1807. * was a 74-gun third rate launched in 1804. She was reduced to 50 guns in 1830 and then became a training school in 1860, being renamed in 1918. She was lost in a fire in 1926; the wreck was sold in 1927. * was a one-gun

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the ...

built in 1812 that served as a tender to . The American fishing smack ''Yankee'' used a stratagem to capture ''Eagle'' on 4 July 1812. * was an American gunboat captured at the

Battle of Lake Borgne The Battle of Lake Borgne was a coastal engagement between the Royal Navy and the U.S. Navy in the American South theatre of the War of 1812. It occurred on December 14, 1814 on Lake Borgne. The British victory allowed them to disembark their tro ...

on 14 December 1814. She remained in service until at least 4 June 1815. Prize money for her and the other vessels captured at the battle was paid in July 1821. * HMS ''Eagle'' (shore establishment) was the name of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve training facility at Liverpool from 1904. It was renamed in 1918. * was an early

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

, converted from an unfinished Chilean battleship, , launched in 1918, and sunk in 1942. * HMS ''Eagle'' was to have been an , laid down in 1944, but cancelled in 1945. * was an ''Audacious''-class aircraft carrier originally designated HMS ''Audacious'', launched in 1946 and broken up in 1978.

Battle honours

Ships named ''Eagle'' have earned the following

battle honours A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags ("colours"), uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible. In European military t ...

: *

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, 1653 * Gabbard, 1653 *

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and sou ...

, 1665 *

Orfordness Orford Ness is a cuspate foreland shingle spit on the Suffolk coast in Great Britain, linked to the mainland at Aldeburgh and stretching along the coast to Orford and down to North Weir Point, opposite Shingle Street. It is divided from the m ...

, 1666 *

Barfleur Barfleur () is a commune and fishing village in Manche, Normandy, northwestern France. History During the Middle Ages, Barfleur was one of the chief ports of embarkation for England. * 1066: A large medallion fixed to a rock in the harbour ...

, 1692 *

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

, 1704 * Velez Malaga, 1704 *

Ushant Ushant (; br, Eusa, ; french: Ouessant, ) is a French island at the southwestern end of the English Channel which marks the westernmost point of metropolitan France. It belongs to Brittany and, in medieval terms, Léon. In lower tiers of governm ...

, 1747 *

Sadras Sadras is a fortress town located on India's Coromandel Coast in Chengalpattu district, 70 km south of Chennai in Tamil Nadu state. ''Sadras'' is the anglicised form of the ancient town of ''Saduranga pattinam''. History and Etymology An i ...

, 1782 * Providien, 1782 *

Negapatam Nagapattinam (''nākappaṭṭinam'', previously spelt Nagapatnam or Negapatam) is a town in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Nagapattinam District. The town came to prominence during the period of Medieval ...

, 1782 *

Trincomalee Trincomalee (; ta, திருகோணமலை, translit=Tirukōṇamalai; si, ත්‍රිකුණාමළය, translit= Trikuṇāmaḷaya), also known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee Dis ...

, 1782 *

Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, 1940 *

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

, 1940 *

Malta Convoys The Malta convoys were Allied supply convoys of the Second World War. The convoys took place during the Siege of Malta in the Mediterranean Theatre. Malta was a base from which British sea and air forces could attack ships carrying supplies f ...

, 1942

Citations and references

Citations

References

* *Paullin, Charles Oscar and Frederic Logan Paxson (1914) ''Guide to the materials in London archives for the history of the United States since 1783''. (Carnegie Institution of Washington). __NOTOC__ {{DEFAULTSORT:Eagle, Hms Royal Navy ship names

Battle honours

See also

Citations and references

Citations

References