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 borne the name HMS ''Laurel''. Another was planned but never completed. The first British ship of the name served in the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

navy. All were named after the plant family ''

Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant Family (biology), family that includes the bay laurel, true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genus (biology), genera worldwide. They are dicotyled ...

''. * was a 50-gun ship launched in 1651 and wrecked in 1657. * was a 12-gun sloop, formerly the

privateer A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...

''Beckford''. She was purchased in 1759 and sold in 1763. * was a 10-gun cutter purchased in 1763 and sold in 1771. * 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 A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

launched in 1779. She foundered in 1780. *HMS ''Laurel'' was to have been a 28-gun sixth-rate frigate, but the order for her was canceled in 1783 after her builder went bankrupt. *HMS ''Laurel'' was a 22-gun

post ship Post ship was a designation used in the Royal Navy during the second half of the 18th century and the Napoleonic Wars to describe a sixth-rate ship (see rating system of the Royal Navy) that was smaller than a frigate (in practice, carrying ...

, formerly the French

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 ...

''Jean Bart''. She was captured in 1795 and sold in 1797 at Jamaica. *HMS ''Laurel'' was the Dutch , launched in 1786, captured in 1796 at the

capitulation of Saldanha Bay The capitulation of Saldanha Bay was the surrender to the British of a Batavian expeditionary force sent to recapture the Dutch Cape Colony in 1796. In 1795, early in the War of the First Coalition, French troops overran the Dutch Republic wh ...

and brought into service as the 24-gun

HMS ''Daphne''. She was converted to a

prison ship A prison ship, is a current or former seagoing vessel that has been modified to become a place of substantive detention for convicts, prisoner of war, prisoners of war or civilian internees. Some prison ships were hulk (ship type), hulked. W ...

in 1798 and renamed HMS ''Laurel''; she was sold in 1821. * was a 22-gun post ship launched in 1806 and captured in 1808 by the French, who took her into service as ''Laurel'' but then sold her to commercial owners who renamed her ''Esperance''. The British recaptured her in 1810, and renamed her HMS ''Laurestinus''; she was wrecked in 1813. * was a 36-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 ...

frigate, formerly the French ''Fidèle''. She was captured on the stocks at Flushing (Vlissingen), Netherlands in 1809, and was wrecked in 1812.Hepper (1994), p.139. * was a 38-gun fifth-rate frigate launched in 1813. She was used for harbour service from 1864 and was broken up in 1885. * was a

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 in 1913 as HMS ''Redgauntlet'', but renamed shortly after. She was sold in 1921. * was a trawler launched in 1930, acquired by the Admiralty in 1935 and converted to a minesweeper. She served throughout World War II before being sold in 1946. After many years of commercial service she was scrapped in 1955.

Citations

References

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