Three 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 borne the name HMS ''Alligator'', after the marine reptile, the

alligator An alligator, or colloquially gator, is a large reptile in the genus ''Alligator'' of the Family (biology), family Alligatoridae in the Order (biology), order Crocodilia. The two Extant taxon, extant species are the American alligator (''A. mis ...

. A fourth ship was planned but later cancelled: * was a 14-gun sloop launched in 1780. In April 1782 she was at Accra, in company with when they destroyed a French storeship and captured several forts. On her way back to Britain on 26 June she encountered a French frigate off the Scilly Isles and a chase ensued and eventually a two-hour action in which she had three men killed and her captain and eleven others wounded. Eventually she struck to ''Fée''. Between 1782 and 1783 she was known as ''Alligator No.2''. In October 1783 she became the

packet ship Packet boats were medium-sized boats designed mainly for domestic mail and freight transport in European countries and in North American rivers and canals. Eventually including basic passenger accommodation, they were used extensively during t ...

''Courrier de New-York'', operating out of

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

, and took up the Lorient-New York route in December. She was transferred to the Régie de Paquebots in May 1787 and used on the Le Havre-New York and Le Havre-Antilles routes. As a packet ship she had a crew of 47 men and was armed with sixteen 6-pounder guns. She was put up for sale in December 1788 and in January 1789 she was sold at Havre to Sr. Ruellen. In 1794 she was renamed ''Alligator''. * 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 ...

launched in 1787 and sold in 1814. * was a 28-gun sixth rate launched in 1821, hulked in December 1846 as a hospital and storeship at Hong Kong until struck there in October 1865. *HMS ''Alligator'' was to have been a wooden screw

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

. She was laid down in 1860, but cancelled in 1863.

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References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alligator Royal Navy ship names