Fifteen ships of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

have borne the name HMS ''Ranger'' * was a 24-gun

sixth rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a sixth-rate was the designation for small warships mounting between 20 and 28 carriage-mounted guns on a single deck, sometimes with smaller guns on the upper works an ...

, previously the French

privateer A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...

''Deux Couronnes''. She was captured in 1747 by . * was an 8-gun sloop launched in 1752 and sold in 1783. * was a

cutter Cutter may refer to: Tools * Bolt cutter * Box cutter * Cigar cutter * Cookie cutter * Cutter (hydraulic rescue tool) * Glass cutter * Meat cutter * Milling cutter * Paper cutter * Pizza cutter * Side cutter People * Cutter (surname) * Cutt ...

purchased in 1779. The Admiralty renamed her HMS ''Pigmy'' in 1781 and had her converted into a sloop. It sold her in 1784. * was the 14-gun revenue cutter ''Rose'', launched in 1776, that the Royal Navy purchased in 1787, and that the French captured in 1794. The British recaptured her (twice) in 1797 and renamed her HMS ''Venturer''. She was sold in 1803. * was a 16-gun sloop launched in 1794. The French captured and burned her in 1805. * was a 16-gun cutter launched in 1806 and purchased by the Navy. She was renamed HMS ''Pigmy'' later in 1806 and grounded and was captured in 1807. * was an 18-gun sloop launched in 1807 and broken up in 1814. * was a 28-gun sixth rate launched in 1820 and sold in 1832. * was an 8-gun

packet brig 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 ...

launched in 1835, hulked in 1860 and sold in 1867. * was a wood screw

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 ...

, launched in 1859 and sold in 1869. * was an composite screw gunvessel launched in 1880. She was sold to the Liverpool Salvage Association as a salvage vessel in 1892, doing contract salvage work for the Admiralty in both World Wars, as well as having an extensive civilian career. * was a launched in 1895 and sold in 1920. * HMS ''Ranger'' was to have been a . She was renamed in 1942 before being launched in 1944. * is an , launched in 1986, completed in 1988, and currently in service.

His Majesty's hired armed vessels

A series of

hired armed vessel During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Royal Navy used a considerable number of hired armed vessels. These were generally smaller vessels, often cutters and luggers, that the Navy used for duties ranging from carrying and passenge ...

s were hired by the Royal Navy; * A sloop named ''Ranger'' was temporarily hired in 1718 to take part in the successful hunt for the notorious

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

Blackbeard Edward Teach (or Thatch; – 22 November 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's North American colonies. Little is known about his early life, but he ma ...

, but does not appear to have ever formally been a part of the Navy. * In July 1809 the Royal Navy hired ten open boats, all between 14 and 16 tons ( bm), for less than a month to serve as pilot boats for the unfortunate

Walcheren Campaign The Walcheren Campaign () was an unsuccessful United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British expedition to the Kingdom of Holland in 1809 intended to open another front in the Austrian Empire's struggle with First French Empire, France ...

. One of these boats was named ''Ranger''.Winfield (2008), p. 395. * Lastly, in January 1810, the RN hired the ship ''Ranger'', of 16 guns, for several weeks.Winfield (2008), p. 395. This may have been the ''Ranger'', of 326 tons (bm), Deanham, master.

British Revenue vessel

* HMS ''Ranger'' was a revenue cutter operating off

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...

. In April 1821, under the command of Captain Sayer, she seized about 400 tubs of Geneva from a smuggling vessel, but was lost in a gale in October 1822 off

Happisburgh Happisburgh () is a village civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is on the coast, to the east of a north–south road, the B1159 from Bacton on the coast to Stalham. It is a nucleated village. The nearest substantial ...

, with no attempt being made by locals to rescue the crew. Happishburgh, Losses at Sea
/ref>

In fiction

* A fictitious

Polaris Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris (Latinisation of names, Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an ...

captured in the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

film '' The Spy Who Loved Me'' was also named HMS ''Ranger''.

Citations

References

* * __NOTOC__ {{DEFAULTSORT:Ranger, Hms Royal Navy ship names