Numerous

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 ...

vessels have been named HMS ''Dolphin'' after the

dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the b ...

. * The first seven ''Dolphins'' were small

ketch A ketch is a two- masted sailboat whose mainmast is taller than the mizzen mast (or aft-mast), and whose mizzen mast is stepped forward of the rudder post. The mizzen mast stepped forward of the rudder post is what distinguishes the ketch fr ...

es and

fireship A fire ship or fireship, used in the days of wooden rowed or sailing ships, was a ship filled with combustibles, or gunpowder deliberately set on fire and steered (or, when possible, allowed to drift) into an enemy fleet, in order to destroy sh ...

s. * , launched in 1731, was a 20-gun

post ship Post ship was a designation used in the Royal Navy during the second half of the 18th century and the Napoleonic Wars to describe a ship of the sixth rate (see rating system of the Royal Navy) that was smaller than a frigate (in practice, carr ...

, renamed ''Firebrand'' in 1755 and ''Penguin'' in 1757. * , launched in 1751, was a 24-gun post ship. She was used as a

survey ship 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 ...

from 1764 and made two

circumnavigation Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical body (e.g. a planet or moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first recorded circumnavigation of the Earth was the ...

s under the command of

John Byron Vice-Admiral John Byron (8 November 1723 – 1 April 1786) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer. He earned the nickname "Foul-Weather Jack" in the press because of his frequent encounters with bad weather at sea. As a midshipman, he sa ...

and

Samuel Wallis Samuel Wallis (23 April 1728 – 21 January 1795 in London) was a British naval officer and explorer of the Pacific Ocean. He made the first recorded visit by a European navigator to Tahiti. Biography Wallis was born at Fenteroon Farm, n ...

. She was broken up in 1777. * was a 44-gun

fifth rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a fifth rate was the second-smallest class of warships in a hierarchical system of six " ratings" based on size and firepower. Rating The rating system in the Royal ...

launched in 1781 and broken up in 1817. * was originally the Dutch 24-gun ''Dolflin'', launched in 1780 at the Amsterdam naval yard, which and captured at Vlie Island in 1799. She became a transport in 1800, a storeship in 1802, and was broken up in 1803. * was a 10 or 12-gun cutter hired by the Royal Navy in 1793, purchased in 1801, and sold in 1802. * was the 12-gun American privateer schooner ''Dolphin'' captured by Admiral

John Borlase Warren Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, 1st Baronet (2 September 1753 – 27 February 1822) was a British Royal Navy officer, diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1774 and 1807. Naval career Born in Stapleford, Nottinghams ...

's squadron on 13 April 1813. * was originally the

East Indiaman East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vesse ...

''Admiral Rainier'', purchased in 1804 and renamed ''Hindostan'', renamed ''Dolphin'' in 1819, and ''Justitia'' in 1830. She was used as a

convict ship A convict ship was any ship engaged on a voyage to carry convicted felons under sentence of penal transportation from their place of conviction to their place of exile. Description A convict ship, as used to convey convicts to the British coloni ...

and sold in 1855. * was a 3-gun

brigantine A brigantine is a two-masted sailing vessel with a fully square-rigged foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts. Ol ...

launched in 1836 and sold in 1894. * was a screw

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

launched in 1882. She served as a

submarine depot ship A submarine tender is a type of depot ship that supplies and supports submarines. Development Submarines are small compared to most oceangoing vessels, and generally do not have the ability to carry large amounts of food, fuel, torpedoes, a ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. She foundered in 1925 but was beached and used as a

school ship A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house class ...

. She was broken up in 1977. * was originally the depot ship ''Pandora'', purchased in 1914. She was renamed ''Dolphin'' in 1924 and was sunk by a mine in 1939. * , the spiritual home of the Royal Navy's submarine service at

Fort Blockhouse Fort Blockhouse is a military establishment in Gosport, Hampshire, England, and the final version of a complicated site. At its greatest extent in the 19th century, the structure was part of a set of fortifications which encircled much of Gos ...

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite ...

, and was a

submarine base A submarine base is a military base that shelters submarines and their personnel. Examples of present-day submarine bases include HMNB Clyde, Île Longue (the base for France's Force océanique stratégique), Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay ...

until 1994 and training school to 1999.

Also

* , a brig-sloop that was formerly the French privateer ''La Marquise de Cavalaire'', captured by HMS ''Dolphin'' on 19 September 1747 * In 1803 , anchored in Portsmouth, had a cutter ''Dolphin'' that made two captures in company with the privateer ''Henry''.

References

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