HMS Whitby explained

Three ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Whitby, after the Yorkshire seaside town of Whitby:

• was a 12-gun storeship purchased in 1780 and sold in 1785.
• HMS Whitby was the intended name of a destroyer ordered in 1916, but due to a clerical error she was launched as in 1917 and retained the latter name
• was a launched in 1954 and sold for scrapping in 1978.