HMS Porpoise

Eleven ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Porpoise, after the marine mammal, the Porpoise:

• HMS Porpoise was a 16-gun sloop, formerly the Annapolis, purchased in 1777. She was renamed HMS Firebrand in 1778 and was burnt off Falmouth in 1781.
• HMS Porpoise was a 14-gun storeship purchased in 1780 and sold in 1783.
• HMS Porpoise was also a storeship, launched in 1798, renamed HMS Diligent in 1801 and sold in 1802.
• HMS Porpoise was a 10-gun storeship, formerly the Spanish sloop Infanta Amelia. HMS Argo captured her in 1799 off Portugal; Porpoise was wrecked in 1803 off New South Wales.
• HMS Porpoise was a 10-gun storeship, formerly the Lord Melville, launched in 1804. The Admiralty purchased her that same year and sold her in 1816.
• HMS Porpoise was a mortar vessel launched in 1855. She was renamed MV 8 later that year and hulked in 1866, before being sold in 1885.
• HMS Porpoise was a wood screw Albacore-class gunboat, launched in 1856 and broken up in 1864.
• HMS Porpoise was an Archer-class torpedo cruiser launched in 1886 and sold in 1905.
• HMS Porpoise was an Acasta-class destroyer launched in 1913 and sold to the Brazilian Navy in 1920, who renamed her "Maranhão".
• HMS Porpoise was a Grampus-class submarine launched in 1932. She served in the Second World War and was sunk in 1945.
• HMS Porpoise was a Porpoise-class diesel patrol submarine launched in 1956 and sunk as a target in 1985.

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.