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 Fr ...

is the principal naval warfare service branch of the

British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, s ...

. As of October 2022, there are 72 commissioned ships in the Royal Navy. Of the commissioned vessels, twenty-two are major surface combatants (two

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

s, six guided missile destroyers, twelve

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 an ...

s and two

amphibious transport dock An amphibious transport dock, also called a landing platform dock (LPD), is an amphibious warfare ship, a warship that embarks, transports, and lands elements of a landing force for expeditionary warfare missions. Several navies currently operat ...

s) and ten are

nuclear-powered submarines A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor, but not necessarily nuclear-armed. Nuclear submarines have considerable performance advantages over "conventional" (typically diesel-electric) submarines. Nuclear propulsion, ...

(four

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 � ...

s and six

fleet submarine A fleet submarine is a submarine with the speed, range, and endurance to operate as part of a navy's battle fleet. Examples of fleet submarines are the British First World War era K class and the American World War II era ''Gato'' class. The t ...

s). In addition the Navy possesses nine mine countermeasures vessels, twenty-six patrol vessels, three

survey vessel A survey vessel is any type of ship or boat that is used for underwater surveys, usually to collect data for mapping or planning underwater construction or mineral extraction. It is a type of research vessel, and may be designed for the pur ...

s, one

icebreaker An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

and one historic warship, . The total displacement of the Royal Navy is approximately 431,000

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...

s. The Royal Navy operates four bases where commissioned ships are based:

HMNB Portsmouth His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is lo ...

HMNB Devonport His Majesty's Naval Base, Devonport (HMNB Devonport) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Portsmouth) and is the sole nuclear repair and refuelling facility for the R ...

and

HMNB Clyde His Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde (HMNB Clyde; also HMS ''Neptune''), primarily sited at Faslane on the Gare Loch, is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Devonport and HMNB Portsmouth). It ...

and the Royal Navy's newest base, in

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and a ...

. In addition, a number of commissioned vessels belonging to the University Royal Naval Units (URNU) are stationed at various locations around the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. Two fast patrol boats, together with a forward-deployed ''River''-class Offshore Patrol Vessel, normally form part of the

Gibraltar Squadron The Gibraltar Squadron is a unit of the British Royal Navy. It is the only seagoing Royal Naval unit based in Gibraltar, attached to British Forces Gibraltar. It currently includes two ''Cutlass''-class fast patrol boats with a maximum speed of ...

and are permanently based there. Four other ''River''-class vessels are forward-deployed: in the Falkland Islands (one ship), the Caribbean (one ship) and the Indo-Pacific region (two ships). Besides the Royal Navy, the

Royal Fleet Auxiliary The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) is a naval auxiliary fleet owned by the UK's Ministry of Defence. It provides logistical and operational support to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. The RFA ensures the Royal Navy is supplied and supported by ...

(RFA) and the

Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious warfare, amphibious light infantry and also one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighti ...

operate their own flotillas of vessels which complement the assets of the Royal Navy, however they are not included in this list or the above figures (the Royal Navy and RFA combined have 83 vessels with a total displacement in excess of 763,000 tonnes). In addition, the naval training vessels and can be found based at the Royal Navy shore establishment and the

Britannia Royal Naval College Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC), commonly known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, En ...

, respectively, along with a number of P1000s and Motor Whalers. As a supporting contingent of His Majesty's Naval Service, the civilian Marine Services operate many auxiliary ships (including coastal logistics, tugs and research vessels) in support of Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary operations. (with a total displacement in excess of 817,500 tonnes). All ships and submarines currently in commission with the Royal Navy were built in the United Kingdom, with the exceptions of icebreaker which was built in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, 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 ...

and survey vessel which was substantially built in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. All vessels of the Royal Navy bear the

ship prefix A ship prefix is a combination of letters, usually abbreviations, used in front of the name of a civilian or naval ship that has historically served numerous purposes, such as identifying the vessel's mode of propulsion, purpose, or ownership/n ...

"HMS", for His Majesty's Ship or His Majesty's Submarine.

Ceremonial/Historic ship

Submarine service

Surface fleet

Auxiliary vessels

Gallery

File:HMS Victory at dusk. MOD 45143807.jpg, , Flagship of the First Sea Lord File:Vanguard at Faslane 02.jpg, ''Vanguard'' ( ''Vanguard'' class) File:HMS Ambush long.jpg, ''Ambush'' () File:Royal_Navy_Trafalgar-class_submarine_HMS_Trenchant_(S91).jpg, ''Trenchant'' () File:HMS Queen Elizabeth in Gibraltar - 2018 (28386226189).jpg, ''Queen Elizabeth''
( ''Queen Elizabeth'' class) File:HMS Albion MOD 45151289.jpg, ''Albion'' (''Albion'' class) File:Royal Navy Type 45 Destroyer HMS Daring MOD 45153705.jpg, ''Daring'' (

Type 45 destroyer The Type 45 destroyer, also known as the D or ''Daring'' class, is a class of six guided-missile destroyers built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy in the early 21st century. The class is primarily designed for anti-aircraft and anti-missile ...

) File:HMS Northumberland MOD 45154788.jpg, ''Northumberland'' (

Type 23 frigate The Type 23 frigate or Duke class is a ship class, class of frigates built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The ships are named after List of dukes in the peerages of the British Isles, British Dukes, thus leading to the class being commonl ...

) File:HMS Forth formally gets commissioned into the Royal Navy 13042018 MOD 45164104.jpg, ''Forth'' (River class) File:HMS_Hurworth_MOD_45151313.jpg, ''Hurworth'' (Hunt class) File:Sandown Class Mine Hunter HMS Ramsey MOD.jpg, ''Ramsey'' (''Sandown'' class) File:P2000 Class Royal Navy Patrol Vessel HMS Raider MOD 45151351.jpg, ''Raider'' (''Archer'' class) File:HMS Cutlass (P295).jpg, ''Cutlass'' (''Cutlass'' class) File:HMS Echo (H87) 2015.jpg, ''Echo'' (''Echo'' class) File:HMS Scott at Port Lockroy MOD 45151219.jpg, ''Scott'' File:Royal Navy Antarctic Patrol Ship HMS Protector MOD 45153156.jpg, ''Protector'' File:HMS Magpie (H130) on River Dart.jpg, ''Magpie'' File:Aerial photograph of Portsmouth Dockyard taken during a Photex, taken from 2,000 feet. MOD 45144949.jpg, ''Excellent''

Silhouettes

Silhouettes of major fleet units: Queen Elizabeth class silhouette.jpg, - (R08) & (R09) Royal Navy Albion silhouette.png, - (L14) & (L15) Type45Destroyer Silhouette.png, Type 45 or ''Daring''-class destroyer - (D32), (D33), (D34), (D35), (D36) & (D37) Royal Navy Type 23 Frigate silhouette.png, Type 23 or ''Duke''-class frigate - (F231), (F229), (F234), (F236), (F237), (F238), (F239), (F82), (F81), (F78), (F79) & (F83) Vangaurd class SSBN silhouette.png, - (S28), (S29), (S30) & (S31) Astute class SSN silhouette.png, - (S119), (S120), (S121), (S122) & (S123) Trafalgar class SSN silhouette.png, - (S93)

Footnotes

References

External links

Royal Navy
(royalnavy.mod.uk)
Royal Navy — The Equipment — Ships
(royalnavy.mod.uk) {{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Active Royal Navy Ships Active