Six ships and a
shore establishment
A stone frigate is a naval establishment on land.
'Stone frigate' is an informal term which has its origin in Britain's Royal Navy (RN), after its use of Diamond Rock, an island off Martinique, as a ' sloop of war' to harass the French in ...
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 ''Actaeon'' or HMS ''Acteon'', after
Actaeon
In Greek mythology, Actaeon (; ''Aktaiōn'') was the son of the priestly herdsman Aristaeus and Autonoe in Boeotia, and a famous Thebes, Greece, Theban Greek hero cult, hero. Through his mother he was a member of the ruling House of Cadmus. Like ...
, a figure in
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...
:
* was a 28-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 ...
frigate launched in 1757 and sold as unserviceable in 1766.
* was a 28-gun sixth-rate frigate launched in 1775 and grounded and burnt in 1776.
* 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 N ...
two-decker launched in 1778, on harbour service from 1795 and sold in 1802.
* was the 16-gun French
brig
A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the l ...
''Actêon'' that captured in 1805 off Rochefort; ''Acteon'' was broken up in 1816.
* was a 26-gun sixth rate launched in 1831. She was converted to 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 pu ...
in 1856, lent to the Cork Harbour Board in 1870 as a hulk, and sold in 1889.
* HMS ''Actaeon'' was a hulk, originally the 50-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 ...
that formed part of the Navy's
torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...
school, . She was renamed HMS ''Actaeon'' in 1886 and was sold in 1923.
* was a modified
sloop launched in 1945 and sold to West Germany in 1959 as ''Hipper''. She was hulked in 1964 and sold for breaking up in 1967.
* was a shore establishment, originally part of . It was established as a separate command in 1905 and
paid off
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship i ...
in 1922.
** was the original HMS ''Actaeon'', renamed and commissioned in 1905 and sold in 1922.
** was HMS ''Actaeon II'' between 1906 and 1922.
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Actaeon, Hms
Royal Navy ship names