Eight ships of Britain's

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 ''Eclipse'': *, a 12-gun, 169-ton

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

launched at Blackwall on 29 March 1797. She was offered for sale in August 1802, and was sold in October. *, a 4-gun ''Vesuve''-class 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 ...

originally called ''Volage'', and then ''Venteux'', that the Royal Navy captured in 1803 and initially named HMS ''Eagle'' until it renamed her in 1804. It sold her in April 1807. * an 18-gun launched at Dover on 4 August 1807 and sold on 31 August 1815. She traded with India until 1823. Then between 1823 and 1845 she made seven voyages as a whaler. *, a 10-gun that for a time became a

Post Office Packet Service The Post Office Packet Service dates to Tudor times and ran until 1823, when the Admiralty assumed control of the service. Originally, the General Post Office, Post Office used packet ships to carry mail packets to and from British embassies, col ...

packet Packet may refer to: * A small container or pouch ** Packet (container), a small single use container ** Cigarette packet ** Sugar packet * Network packet, a formatted unit of data carried by a packet-mode computer network * Packet radio, a form ...

, sailing out of

Falmouth, Cornwall Falmouth ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Falmouth was founded in 1613 by the Killigrew family on a site near the existing Pendennis Castle. It developed as a po ...

. She was sold on 10 November 1863. *, a 700-ton wooden

screw sloop A screw sloop is a propeller-driven sloop-of-war. They were popularized in the mid-19th century, during the introduction of the steam engine and the transition of fleets to this new technology. The sailing sloop The British sloop in the Age o ...

launched at

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

on 18 September 1860 and broken up in July 1867. *, a 1,267-ton wooden screw sloop originally named ''Sappho'' but renamed before her launch at Sheerness on 14 November 1867. Converted to store ship by 1888 and sold in 1921. *, the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships that are all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very comple ...

of her class of cruisers. Launched at Portsmouth on 19 July 1894 and sold in August 1921. *, an E-class

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

launched at Denny on 12 April 1934 and sunk by a

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun M ...

in the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

on 24 October 1943.

Citations

References

* *Winfield, Rif & Stephen S Roberts (2015) ''French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786 – 1861: Design Construction, Careers and Fates''. (Seaforth Publishing). {{DEFAULTSORT:Eclipse, Hms Royal Navy ship names