Four ships of the
British 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 ''Scipio'' after the Roman general
Scipio Africanus
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (, , ; 236/235–) was a Roman general and statesman who was one of the main architects of Rome's victory against Ancient Carthage, Carthage in the Second Punic War. Often regarded as one of the greatest milit ...
:
* was an 8-gun
fireship
A fire ship or fireship is a large wooden vessel set on fire to be used against enemy ships during a ramming attack or similar maneuver. Fireships were used to great effect against wooden ships throughout naval military history up until the adv ...
purchased in 1739 and sold in 1746.
* 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).
Rating
When the rating system was f ...
launched in 1782 and broken up in 1798.
* HMS ''Scipio'' was the intended name for a 74-gun third rate, but she was renamed in 1806 before being launched in 1807.
*
HMS ''Scipio'' was the Dutch 20-gun
corvette
A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...
that
Edward Pellew
Admiral Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, GCB (19 April 1757 – 23 January 1833) was a Royal Navy officer and politician. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars. His younge ...
in captured in 1807. She was not commissioned into the Royal Navy but served in the East Indies as HMS ''Scipio'' and then HMS ''Samarang''. She was sold in 1814.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scipio, Hms
Royal Navy ship names