List of ship names of the Royal Navy

Naval Service of the British Armed Forces Components Royal Navy Surface Fleet Fleet Air Arm Submarine Service Royal Naval Reserve Nursing Service (QARNNS) Royal Fleet Auxiliary Royal Marines Royal Marines Reserve History and future History of the Royal Navy History of the Royal Marines Customs and traditions Future of the Royal Navy Ships Current fleet Current deployments Historic ships Personnel The Admiralty Senior officers Uniforms Officer rank insignia Ratings rank insignia Related civilian agencies of the Ministry of Defence Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service

Ships of the Royal Navy A - B - C - D - E - F - G H - I - J - K - L - M - N O - P - Q - R - S - T - U V - W - X - Y - Z aircraft carriers amphibious assault shipping battlecruisers battleships bomb vessels corvettes and sloops cruisers destroyers fireships frigates gunboats and gunvessels mine countermeasure vessels monitors patrol and attack craft royal yachts ships of the line submarines support ships survey vessels fleet bases shore establishments hospitals and hospital ships air stations aircraft wings fleets and major commands squadrons and flotillas early English ships • early Scots ships

This is an alphabetical list of all the names of ships that have ever been in service with the Royal Navy, as well as a list of fictional vessels in literature about the Royal Navy. Many of the names have been re-used over the years and thus represent more than one ship.

Altogether over 13,000 ships have been in service with the Royal Navy.^[1]

Note that, unlike many other naval services, the Royal Navy designates certain types of shore establishment (e.g. barracks and naval airfields) as 'ships' and names them accordingly. These establishments are often referred to in service slang as stone frigates.

Lists of ship names

Due to the large number of names the list has been split into smaller lists:

Alphabetical

• A
• B
• C
• D-F
• G-H
• I-L
• M-N
• O-Q
• R-T
• U-Z

By types of ship

• List of aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy
• List of amphibious warfare ships of the Royal Navy
• List of battleships of the Royal Navy
• List of battlecruisers of the Royal Navy
• List of bomb vessels of the Royal Navy
• List of cruisers of the Royal Navy
• List of destroyers of the Royal Navy
• List of fast patrol boats of the Royal Navy
• List of frigates of the Royal Navy
• List of corvettes and sloops of the Royal Navy
• List of gunboats and gunvessels of the Royal Navy
• List of monitors of the Royal Navy
• List of mine countermeasure vessels of the Royal Navy (includes minesweepers and mine hunters)
• List of Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship names
• List of submarines of the Royal Navy
• List of survey vessels of the Royal Navy
• List of Royal Navy shore establishments

Fictional

Many novels about the Royal Navy feature fictional ships, but most use real names. This is a list of fictional names of note.

• Argonaute (from Colors Aloft by Alexander Kent)
• Atropos (from Hornblower and the Atropos by C. S. Forester)
• Bellipotent (from Billy Budd, Sailor by Herman Melville)
• Carousel (from We Saw the Sea by Robert Winton)
• Clam and Moth (Bomb ketches) (from Commodore Hornblower by C. S. Forester)
• Clampherdown (from The Ballad of the "Clampherdown" by Rudyard Kipling)
• Compass Rose and Saltash (from The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat)
• Justinian (from Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by C. S. Forester)
• Lydia (from The Happy Return by C. S. Forester)
• Pinafore (from the operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan)
• Polychrest (from Post Captain by Patrick O'Brian)
• Porta Coeli (from Lord Hornblower by C. S. Forester)
• Sophie (from Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian) (Based on the actual ship HM Sloop Speedy)
• Thunder Child (from The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells)
• HMS Troutbridge from The Navy Lark
• HMS Hero from the BBC's Drama Series "Warship"

Notes

References

Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475.