Ten 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 HMS ''Aetna'' (historically spelled ''Ætna'') or HMS ''Etna'', after the volcano Etna: * 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 ...

launched in 1691 and captured by the French in 1697. * was an 8-gun fireship purchased in 1739 and sold in 1746. * was an 8-gun fireship purchased in 1756. She was converted into a sloop later that year and was sold in 1763. * was an 8-gun fireship purchased in 1771. She was renamed HMS ''Scorpion'' and converted into a sloop later that year and was sold in 1780. * was an 8-gun

bomb vessel A bomb vessel, bomb ship, bomb ketch, or simply bomb was a type of wooden sailing naval ship. Its primary armament was not cannons (Naval long gun, long guns or carronades) – although bomb vessels carried a few cannons for self-defence – but ...

launched in 1776 and broken up in 1784. * HMS ''Aetna'' (or ''Etna'') was a French 20-gun corvette that and captured from the French in 1796. The Royal Navy rated her as a

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 ...

and renamed her HMS ''Cormorant'' in 1797; she was wrecked in 1800. * was the mercantile ''Success'' launched in 1803 at Littlehampton. The Admiralty purchased here in 1803 to convert her to a Royal Navy an 8-gun bomb vessel. The Navy sold her in 1816 and she returned to mercantile service under her original name. She was wrecked in 1823. * was a 6-gun bomb vessel launched in 1824. 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 1826 and was sold in 1846. * was a 14-gun ironclad screw floating battery. She was laid down in 1854, but caught fire and launched herself in 1855. She was broken up on the riverbank. * was a 16-gun lengthened ''Aetna''-class screw ironclad floating battery launched in 1856. She was used for harbour service from 1866, was burnt out in 1873 and broken up in 1874. * was a Malta-class 530-ton iron paddle dockyard tug built by Laird Brothers, Birkenhead. She was scrapped in 1929.

References

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