__NOTOC__ Seven 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 been named ''Warspite''. The origins of the name are unclear, although it is probably from the Elizabethan-era spelling of the word 'spite' – 'spight' – in part embodying contempt for the Navy's enemies, but which was also the common name for the

green woodpecker There are four species of bird named green woodpecker: * European green woodpecker, ''Picus viridis'' * Iberian green woodpecker The Iberian green woodpecker (''Picus sharpei'') is a medium-sized woodpecker endemic to the Iberian peninsula. It wa ...

, suggesting the 'Warspight' would poke holes in enemy ships' (wooden) hulls. Until 1919 a woodpecker was used as the ships' crest; the official badge was a cannon, although the woodpecker continued to be used on the ships' tompions or gun muzzle plugs. ''Warspite'' carries the most battle honours of any ship in the Royal Navy, with the sixth ''Warspite'' being awarded fifteen of them. * was a 29-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 ...

, originally known as ''Warspight''. She was launched in 1596 and sold in 1649. * 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 ...

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. She was renamed in 1721, rebuilt three times and broken up in 1771. * was a 74-gun third rate launched in 1758. She was on harbour service from 1778, was renamed in 1800 and was broken up in 1801. * was a 76-gun third rate launched in 1807,

razee A razee or razée is a sailing ship that has been cut down (''razeed'') to reduce the number of decks. The word is derived from the French ''vaisseau rasé'', meaning a razed (in the sense of shaved down) ship. Seventeenth century During the ...

d in 1840 and paid off in 1846. The ship was lent to

The Marine Society The Marine Society is a British charity, the world's first established for seafarers. In 1756, at the beginning of the Seven Years' War against France, Austria, and Saxony (and subsequently the Mughal Empire, Spain, Russia and Sweden) Britain urg ...

and destroyed by fire in 1876. * was an first-class

armoured cruiser The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship and fast eno ...

launched in 1884 and scrapped in 1905. * was a launched in 1913. She served in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and in numerous operations in the

Second World War 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 ...

, earning the most battle honours of any Royal Navy ship. She ran aground on her way to be broken up in 1947 and was scrapped in 1950. * was a nuclear-powered

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

launched in 1965 and decommissioned in 1991. She is currently awaiting disposal. * HMS ''Warspite'' is the third planned

ballistic missile submarine A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine capable of deploying submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with nuclear warheads. The United States Navy's hull classification symbols for ballistic missile submarines are SSB and SSBN – t ...

Battle honours

* Cadiz 1596 * Orfordness 1666 * Sole Bay 1672 * Schooneveld 1673 * Texel 1673 * Barfleur 1692 * Velez Malaga 1705 * Marbella 1705 * Lagos 1759 * Quiberon 1759 * Jutland 1916 * Atlantic 1939 * Narvik 1940 *

Norway 1940 Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

* Calabria 1940 * Mediterranean 1940–43 * Malta Convoys 1941 * Matapan 1941 * Crete 1941 *

Sicily 1943 (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

* Salerno 1943 * English Channel 1944 * Normandy 1944 * Biscay 1944 * Walcheren 1944

Citations

General and cited references

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

Battle honours

See also

Citations

General and cited references