HMS Revenge explained

Thirteen warships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Revenge:

• was a 46-gun galleon launched in 1577. She fought the Spanish Armada in 1588, and was captured by a Spanish fleet in 1591. She sank while being sailed back to Spain.
• was a 42-gun ship, previously a merchantman, purchased in 1650 by the Royalists. Her crew deserted to the Parliamentarians in 1652, bringing the ship with them. She was renamed Marmaduke, and was sunk in 1667 as a blockship.
• was a 58-gun third rate launched in 1654 as Newbury, during the Commonwealth. She was renamed Revenge at the Restoration, and was condemned in 1678.
• was 70-gun third rate launched in 1699, and renamed Buckingham in 1711 before being hulked in 1727. She was subsequently sunk as a foundation in 1745.
• HMS Revenge was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line launched in 1673 as, and renamed HMS Revenge in 1716. She was rebuilt three times and was sold in 1787.
• was a sloop commanded by Benjamin Norton for privateering in the British colonies.
• was a 14-gun brig-sloop in service in 1778 and captured by the Americans in 1779.
• was an 8-gun cutter purchased in 1796 and listed until 1798.
• was a 74-gun third rate launched in 1805 and broken up in 1849.
• was a 91-gun screw powered second rate launched in 1859. She was used as a base ship from 1872, became a training ship and was renamed Empress in 1891, and was sold for breaking up in 1923.
• was a launched in 1892. She was renamed in 1915 and was broken up in 1919.
• was a, laid down as HMS Renown, but renamed in 1913, prior to her launch in 1915. She was on harbour service from 1945 and was scrapped in 1948.
• was a launched in 1968 and laid up in 1995.

Also

• was a 16, or 28-gun ship that the Bombay Dockyard launched in 1755 for the Bombay Marine, the naval arm of the British East India Company. Revenge foundered in 1782 off Bombay in a storm.
• Revenge was a gunboat that the garrison at Gibraltar launched in June 1782 during the Great Siege of Gibraltar. She was one of 12. Each was armed with an 18-pounder gun, and received a crew of 21 men drawn from Royal Navy vessels stationed at Gibraltar. provided Revenges crew.^[1]

Battle honours

Ships named Revenge have earned the following battle honours:

• Armada, 1588
• Azores, 1591
• Lowestoft, 1665
• Four Days' Battle, 1666
• Orfordness, 1666
• Bugia, 1671
• Schooneveld, 1673
• Marbella, 1705
• Orphee, 1758
• Quiberon Bay, 1759
• Trafalgar, 1805
• Basque Roads, 1809
• Belgian Coast, 1914−15
• Jutland, 1916
• Atlantic, 1939−41
• English Channel, 1940

References

• Drinkwater, John (1905) A History of the Siege of Gibraltar, 1779-1783: With a Description and Account of that Garrison from the Earliest Times. (J. Murray).
• Book: Hackman . Rowan . 2001 . Ships of the East India Company . Gravesend, Kent . World Ship Society . 0-905617-96-7.
• Book: Wadia, R. A. . 1957 . 1986 . The Bombay Dockyard and the Wadia Master Builders . Bombay .

Notes and References

1. Drinkwater (1905), p.246.