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 borne the name HMS ''Thetis'', named after the sea-nymph in

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

: * was a 22-gun

storeship Combat stores ships, or storeships, are ships used to store naval supplies. They are used to deliver supplies such as provisions and fuel to combat ships on extended deployments. The United States US Navy, Navy operated the and es and the Royal ...

launched in 1717. Her fate is unknown. * was a 44-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 1747. She became a hospital ship in 1757 and was sold in 1767. * was a 32-gun fifth rate launched in 1773 and wrecked entering the Careenage at St. Lucia Bay in 1781. * was a 38-gun fifth rate launched in 1782 and sold in 1814. * was an 8-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 1796 and listed until 1800. * HMS ''Thetis'' 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 ...

that the Royal Navy captured from the Dutch at Demerara in 1796 and later scuttled there. She was a Dutch 7th Charter frigate built at Amsterdam and launched in 1785. Her dimensions, in Dutch feet of 11 Rotterdam inches, were: 125' 7/11" x 34' x 13' 2/11". * was a 10-gun

gun-brig A gun-brig was a small brig-rigged warship that enjoyed popularity in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, during which large numbers were purchased or built. In general these were vessels of under 200 tons burthen, and thus smaller than ...

launched in 1810 and on the lists until at least 1836. * was a 46-gun fifth rate launched in 1817 and wrecked off

Arraial do Cabo Arraial do Cabo () is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. Its population was 30,593 as of 2020 census and its total area is . It was founded in 1503 by the conqueror Amerigo Vespucci. In 1960 a documentary film was ma ...

(near Cape Frio) in 1830.Hepper (1994), p.161. * was a 36-gun fifth rate launched in 1846 and transferred to

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

in 1855 in exchange for two

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 ...

s. * was 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 ...

launched in 1871 and sold in 1887. * was an second-class

protected cruiser Protected cruisers, a type of cruiser of the late 19th century, took their name from the armored deck, which protected vital machine-spaces from fragments released by explosive shells. Protected cruisers notably lacked a belt of armour alon ...

launched in 1890. She was used as a

minelayer A minelayer is any warship, submarine, military aircraft or land vehicle deploying explosive mines. Since World War I the term "minelayer" refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines. "Mine planting" was the term for ins ...

from 1907 and was sunk in 1918 as a

blockship A blockship is a ship deliberately sunk to prevent a river, channel, or canal from being used as a waterway. It may either be sunk by a navy defending the waterway to prevent the ingress of attacking enemy forces, as in the case of at Portland ...

Zeebrugge Zeebrugge (; from , meaning "Bruges-on-Sea"; , ) is a village on the coast of Belgium and a subdivision of Bruges, for which it is the modern port. Zeebrugge serves as both the international port of Bruges-Zeebrugge and a seafront resort with ...

. * was a T-class

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

launched in 1938. She sank during trials but was salvaged and recommissioned as HMS ''Thunderbolt''. The Italian corvette ''Cicogna'' sank ''Thunderbolt'' in 1943.

Citations

References

* * * van Maanen, Ron, ''Preliminary list of Dutch naval vessel built or required in the period 1700-1799''. Unpublished manuscrip

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thetis Royal Navy ship names

See also

Citations

References