Sixteen ships and two
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 ...
s 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 ''Fox'', after the
fox
Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush").
Twelve species ...
.
Ships
* was a 22-gun ship captured from the French in 1650 and expended as a
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 ...
in 1656.
* was a 14-gun ship captured in 1658 and expended as a fireship in 1666.
* was an 8-gun fireship launched in 1690 and expended in 1692 at
La Hougue.
* was a 6-gun
sloop launched in 1699 and wrecked later that year.
* was a 24-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 ...
captured in 1705 and wrecked the following year.
*
HMS ''Fox'' was a 24-gun sixth rate launched in 1702 as . She was captured by the French in 1707, was recaptured later that year and renamed HMS ''Fox'', rebuilt in 1727 and broken up in 1737.
* was a 20-gun sixth rate launched in 1740 and foundered in 1745.
* was a 24-gun sixth rate launched in 1746 and foundered in a
hurricane
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its ...
in 1751.
* was an 8-gun
ketch
A ketch is a two- masted sailboat whose mainmast is taller than the mizzen mast (or aft-mast), and whose mizzen mast is stepped forward of the rudder post. The mizzen mast stepped forward of the rudder post is what distinguishes the ketch f ...
launched in 1766, and still in the records in 1772.
* was a 28-gun sixth rate launched in 1773, captured by the Americans in 1777, recaptured a month later, then captured by the French in 1778. She ran aground in March 1779 on Pointe St Jacques on
Rhuys Peninsula and could not be refloated.
* was a 32-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 ...
launched in 1780 and broken up in 1816.
*HM
hired armed cutter , of twelve 9-pounder guns, was hired on 27 March 1793 and sunk in action at the
Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1797)
The Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife was an amphibious assault by the Royal Navy on the Spanish port city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Launched by Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson on 22 July 1797, the assault was defeated, an ...
.
* was a 14-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 1799 and wrecked later that year off
Dog Island,
Apalachee Bay
Apalachee Bay is a bay in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico occupying an indentation of the Florida coast to the west of where the Florida peninsula joins the United States mainland. It is bordered by Taylor, Jefferson, Wakulla, and Franklin ...
,
Florida
Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
. There were no lives lost despite the fact that the crew had to wait for 33 days with little food and water before they were rescued.
* was a 46-gun fifth rate launched in 1829, converted to a
screw frigate
Steam frigates (including screw frigates) and the smaller steam corvettes, steam sloops, steam gunboats and steam schooners, were steam-powered warships that were not meant to stand in the line of battle. The first such ships were paddle stea ...
in 1856, and broken up in 1882.
* was an
second class cruiser launched in 1893 and sold in 1920.
* was a
survey vessel
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 ...
launched in 1967 and sold in 1989.
Shore establishments
* was the Navy's base at
Lerwick
Lerwick ( or ; ; ) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010. It is the northernmost major settlement within the United Kingdom.
Centred ...
,
Shetland
Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...
between 1939 and 1945.
*HMS ''Fox II'' was the
Coastal Forces Base at Lerwick between 1942 and 1944.
Battle honours
Ships named ''Fox'' have earned the following
battle honours
A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags ("colours"), uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible.
In European military ...
:
*
Gabbard, 1653
*
Orfordness
Orford Ness is a cuspate foreland spit (landform), shingle spit on the Suffolk coast in Great Britain, linked to the mainland at Aldeburgh and stretching along the coast to Orford, Suffolk, Orford and down to North Weir Point, opposite Shingle ...
, 1666
*
Barfleur
Barfleur () is a commune and fishing village in Manche, Normandy, northwestern France. It is a member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (The Most Beautiful Villages of France) Association.
History
During the Middle Ages, Barfleur was on ...
, 1692
*
Genoa
Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...
, 1795
*
St Vincent, 1797
*
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
, 1801
*
Burma
Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...
, 1852-3
See also
*
*
*
*, Arctic exploration vessel.
Citations
References
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Hms
Royal Navy ship names