Several 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 been named ''Achilles'', after the Greek hero
Achilles
In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus () was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's ''Iliad'', he was the son of the Nereids, Nereid Thetis and Peleus, ...
. Four others, two of them prizes, had the French spelling of the name,
''Achille''.
* was an 8-gun
schooner
A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...
purchased in 1747. She was captured in 1748 by the Spanish.
* was a 60-gun
fourth rate
In 1603 all English warships with a complement of fewer than 160 men were known as 'small ships'. In 1625/26 to establish pay rates for officers, a six-tier naval ship rating system was introduced.Winfield 2009 These small ships were divided ...
launched in 1757, hulked in 1780 and sold in 1784.
* was a broadside
ironclad
An ironclad was a steam engine, steam-propelled warship protected by iron armour, steel or iron armor constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or ince ...
frigate
A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied.
The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...
launched in 1863. She became a base ship in 1902 and was renamed HMS ''Hibernia''. She was renamed HMS ''Egmont'' in 1904, HMS ''Egremont'' in 1916 and HMS ''Pembroke'' in 1919. She was sold in 1923.
* was a
armoured cruiser
The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a pre-dreadnought battles ...
launched in 1905 and sold in 1921.
* ''Achilles II'' was an armed trawler, hired in 1914 and sunk by a mine on 26 June 1918.
* was a
light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to thi ...
launched in 1932. She was transferred to the
Royal New Zealand Navy
The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; ) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of eight ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act 1913, and the subsequent acquisition of the cruiser , whi ...
as HMNZS ''Achilles'' in 1941, but was returned in 1946. She was transferred to the
Royal Indian Navy
The Royal Indian Navy (RIN) was the naval force of British Raj, British India and the Dominion of India. Along with the Presidency armies, later the British Indian Army, Indian Army, and from 1932 the Royal Indian Air Force, it was one of the ...
in 1948 as HMIS ''Delhi'', eventually becoming . She was scrapped in 1978.
* was a frigate launched in 1968. She was sold to Chile in 1990 and renamed ''Ministro Zenteno''.
* is an ''Astute''-class submarine that is under construction and due to enter service in late 2026.
Battle honours
Ships named ''Achilles'' have earned the following
battle honours:
*
Belle Isle, 1761
*
''Leopard'', 1917
*
River Plate, 1939
*
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomons by area and the second- ...
, 1942−43
*
Okinawa
most commonly refers to:
* Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture
* Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture
* Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself
* Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...
, 1945
See also
*
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Achilles, Hms
Royal Navy ship names