Eight ships and a
shore establishment
A stone frigate is a naval establishment on land.
"Stone frigate" is an informal term that has its origin in Britain's Royal Navy after its use of Diamond Rock, an island off Martinique, as a 'sloop of war' to harass the French in 1803–04. ...
of the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...
have borne the name HMS ''Vulcan'', after the god
Vulcan, of
Roman mythology
Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. One of a wide variety of genres of Roman folklore, ''Roman mythology'' may also refer to the modern study of these represent ...
:
Ships
* was an 8-gun
fireship
A fire ship or fireship, used in the days of wooden rowed or sailing ships, was a ship filled with combustibles, or gunpowder deliberately set on fire and steered (or, when possible, allowed to drift) into an enemy fleet, in order to destroy sh ...
launched in 1691 and sunk as a
breakwater in 1709.
* was an 8-gun fireship, previously the civilian ''Hunter''. She was purchased in 1739 and hulked in 1743.
* was an 8-gun fireship, previously the civilian ''Mary''. She was purchased in 1745 and sold in 1749.
* was an 8-gun fireship, previously an American merchantman. She was purchased in 1777 and destroyed in 1782 to prevent her capture.
* was a 14-gun fireship launched in 1783. She was destroyed in 1793 to prevent her capture.
* was a 10-gun
bomb vessel
A bomb vessel, bomb ship, bomb ketch, or simply bomb was a type of wooden sailing naval ship. Its primary armament was not cannons (long guns or carronades) – although bomb vessels carried a few cannons for self-defence – but mortars moun ...
, previously the civilian ''Hector''. She was purchased in 1796 and was sold in 1802.
*
HMS ''Vulcan'' was to have been an iron paddle
frigate. She was renamed in 1843 before being launched in 1845.
* was an iron screw frigate launched in 1849. She was converted to a
troopship
A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...
in 1851 and was sold in 1867 as the
barque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...
''Jorawur''.
* was a
depot ship
A depot ship is an auxiliary ship used as a mobile or fixed base for submarines, destroyers, minesweepers, fast attack craft, landing craft, or other small ships with similarly limited space for maintenance equipment and crew dining, berthing and ...
launched in 1889. She was converted to a training hulk and renamed HMS ''Defiance III'' in 1931 and was scrapped in 1955. Two replacement ships were named HMS ''Vulcan II'':
** was HMS ''Vulcan II'' between 1919 and 1924.
** was HMS ''Vulcan II'' between 1923 and 1930.
* was a trawler used as a depot ship for
Coastal Forces, then serving as a repair ship for a minesweeping flotilla, being paid off in 1947. HMS ''Vulcan'' was involved in lifesaving after the
Air Raid on Bari
The air raid on Bari (german: Luftangriff auf den Hafen von Bari, it, Bombardamento di Bari) was an air attack by German bombers on Allied forces and shipping in Bari, Italy, on 2 December 1943, during World War II. 105 German Junkers Ju 88 ...
and had some
mustard gas
Mustard gas or sulfur mustard is a chemical compound belonging to a family of cytotoxic and blister agents known as mustard agents. The name ''mustard gas'' is technically incorrect: the substance, when dispersed, is often not actually a gas, b ...
casualties as a result.
Establishments
* HMS ''Vulcan'' was the
Ministry of Defence
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...
naval nuclear reactor
shore establishment
A stone frigate is a naval establishment on land.
"Stone frigate" is an informal term that has its origin in Britain's Royal Navy after its use of Diamond Rock, an island off Martinique, as a 'sloop of war' to harass the French in 1803–04. ...
at
Dounreay
Dounreay (; gd, Dùnrath) is a small settlement and the site of two large nuclear establishments on the north coast of Caithness in the Highland area of Scotland. It is on the A836 road west of Thurso.
The nuclear establishments were cre ...
between 1970 and 1981, when it was renamed the
Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment.
See also
* , a paddle steamer used in trials against in 1839.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vulcan, Hms
Royal Navy ship names