Twelve 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 ''Otter'', for the

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, badgers, mink, and wolverines, among ...

. * was a 4-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 1700 and captured by the French in 1702. * was a 14-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 1709 and sold in 1713. * was an 8-gun sloop launched in 1721 and wrecked in 1741. * was a 14-gun sloop launched in 1742 and sold in 1763. * was a 14-gun sloop launched in 1767 and wrecked in 1778. * was a 14-gun sloop, the former French merchantman ''Glanure'', that the royal Navy captured in 1778 and sold in 1783. She then became the merchantman and

slave ship Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting Slavery, slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea ( ...

''Cyclops''. The French captured her in December 1795 as she was delivering her third cargo of slaves to the West Indies. * was a 14-gun

brig-sloop During the 18th and 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship of the Royal Navy with a single gun deck that carried up to 18 guns. The rating system of the Royal Navy covered all vessels with 20 or more guns; thus, the term encompassed all ...

launched in 1782. She was converted to 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 1800 and was sold in 1801. * was an 18-gun sloop launched in 1805. She was used for harbour service from 1814 and was sold in 1828. * was a wooden paddle

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 ...

, previously the GPO vessel ''Wizard''. She was transferred to the Royal Navy in 1837, became a gunvessel in 1854, a

tug A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

in 1865, a coal hulk in 1878 and was sold in 1893. * was a screw gunboat launched in 1884. She served with the Queensland Maritime Defence Force and

Commonwealth Naval Forces The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond. The Chief of Navy is also jointly responsible to the Minister for D ...

and was sold in 1906. She was later rehired by the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...

as HMAS ''Otter''. * was an launched in 1896 and sold in 1916. * was an launched in 1962 and sold in 1992.

See also