HMS Nymphe

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Six ships of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy have been called HMS Nymphe (and one HMS Nymph), after the female nature spirits of Greek Mythology.

• Nymph was a sloop of 14 guns launched in 1778 at Chatham Dockyard and destroyed in a fire in 1783 at Tortola, British Virgin Islands in the West Indies.
• The first Nymphe was a fifth rate of 36 guns captured from the French in 1780 but wrecked in December 1810 in the Firth of Forth.
• The second Nymphe was another fifth rate, with 38 guns. She was launched in 1812, having been renamed from Nereide before her launch, and renamed HMS Handy in 1871 before being broken up in 1875.
• The third Nymphe was a wooden screw sloop launched at Deptford in 1866 and sold in 1884.
• The fourth Nymphe was a composite screw sloop of 1140 tons, launched at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1888. She was renamed Wildfire in 1906 when she became a base ship, and Gannet in 1916 and finally Pembroke in 1917. She was sold in 1921 and broken up at Milford Haven.
• The fifth Nymphe was an Acorn class destroyer of 740 tons launched in 1911 and sold in 1921.
• The most recent Nymphe was a sloop of 1350 tons laid down at Chatham Dockyard on 21 February 1945 but cancelled on 23 October 1945 before she had been launched.

[edit] References

• J. J. Colledge, Ships of the Royal Navy, Greenhill Books, 1987.