HMS Sphinx explained

Six ships (and one shore establishment) of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Sphinx or HMS Sphynx, after the mythical creature, the Sphinx:

• was a 24-gun sixth rate launched in 1748 and sold in 1770.
• was a 20-gun sixth rate launched in 1775. The French captured her in September 1779,^[1] but recaptured her on 29 November 1779. She was broken up in 1811.
• was a 10-gun launched in 1815 that became a Post Office Packet Service packet, sailing out of Falmouth, Cornwall. She was sold in 1835.
• was a wooden paddle sloop launched in 1846 and broken up in 1881.
• was a composite paddle vessel launched in 1882 and sold in 1919.
• was an launched in 1939 that foundered in 1940 after an air attack.
• HMS Sphinx was the name given to a naval accommodation camp in Alexandria, Egypt, from April 1941.^[2]

References

• Demerliac, Alain (1996) La Marine De Louis XVI: Nomenclature Des Navires Français De 1774 À 1792. (Nice: Éditions OMEGA).

Notes and References

1. Demerliac (1996), p.69, #432.
2. Web site: HMS Sphinx, minesweeper . Bill . Burn . naval-history.net . 2011 . 2 March 2013.