Thirteen 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 ''Vigilant'': * ex-French ''Le Vigilant'' captured 19 May 1745, sold 1759. * was a

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 ...

that served on the Canadian lakes. The French captured her in 1756. * was a 64-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 ...

, built in 1774. She was converted to 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 ...

in 1799, and sank in 1806. She was raised several months later, and broken up in 1814. * was an armed ship purchased in 1777, formerly ''Empress of Russia''. She was burnt as unfit in 1780. * was a

, purchased in 1803 and sold in 1808. * HMS ''Vigilant'' (1806) was previously the French schooner ''Impériale'', that the

packet Packet may refer to: * A small container or pouch ** Packet (container), a small single use container ** Cigarette packet ** Sugar packet * Network packet, a formatted unit of data carried by a packet-mode computer network * Packet radio, a form ...

''Duke of Montrose'' and captured in 1806. The Royal Navy initially named her ''Vigilant'', and later that year, renamed her ''Subtle''. She was wrecked off

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

in 1807. * was a cutter built in 1821 and sold in 1832. * was a wood screw

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 ...

, ordered in 1846, but cancelled in 1849. * was a wood screw gunvessel, built in 1856 and sold in 1869. * was a wood paddle dispatch boat, built in 1871, and sold in 1886 to serve as a dispatch boat in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. * was a , built speculatively by the yards of

John Brown & Company John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a Scottish Naval architecture, marine engineering and shipbuilding firm. It built many notable and world-famous ships including , , , , , and the ''Queen Elizabeth 2 (ship), Queen Elizabeth 2''. At its ...

, launched in 1900 and bought that year by the navy. She was sold in 1920 for breaking up. * was a V-class destroyer that saw service during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. She was later converted into a Type 15 fast

anti-submarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...

frigate. * was a patrol boat launched in March 1975, and renamed ''Meavy'' in July 1986. * is a , commissioned in November 1996 and currently in service.

See also