HMS Porcupine explained

Nine vessels of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy have been named HMS Porcupine, after the porcupine, a rodent belonging to the families Erethizontidae or Hystricidae.

was a 16-gun sloop launched in 1743, purchased in 1746, and sold in 1763. She became the mercantile Minerva, which in 1768 traded between London and Africa.^[1]
was a 24-gun post ship launched in 1777 and broken up in 1805.
HMS Porcupine was a 16-gun sloop purchased in Jamaica in 1777 and sold in 1788.
was a 22-gun post ship launched in 1807 and sold in 1816.
HMS Porcupine was to have been a 28-gun sixth rate; ordered in 1819, she was canceled in 1832.
was a wooden paddle wheel surveying vessel built at Deptford and sold in 1883.
was a launched by Palmers in 1895 that served in home waters and was sold in 1920.
was a P-class destroyer launched in 1941 and torpedoed by in the Mediterranean Sea in 1942.
HMS Porcupine was to have been a survey ship, renamed in 1967 as HMS Barracouta, but the order was cancelled in 1967.

References

- Book: Gosset, William Patrick. 1986. The lost ships of the Royal Navy, 1793-1900. Mansell. 0-7201-1816-6.