HMS Roebuck

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There have been sixteen Royal Navy ships called HMS Roebuck after a small deer native to the British Isles. Most are listed here:

• Roebuck, a flyboat purchased in January 1585.
• Roebuck, 10, a 90 ton vessel launched at Woolwich in 1636 and sunk in 1641 as a result of a collision.
• Roebuck, 14, 110 tons, captured in 1646 and commissioned into the Royalist Navy two years later. Captured at Kinsale in November 1649 by Parliamentarian forces and sold two years later.
• Roebuck, 34, captured in 1653 and converted to a hulk in 1654. Sold in 1668.
• Roebuck, 16, 129 ton sixth rate launched at Harwich in 1666 and sold in 1683.
• Roebuck, 6, fireship of 70 tons bought in 1688. Renamed Old Roebuck in 1690 and deliberately sunk in Portsmouth in 1696 to form foundations.
• HMS Roebuck (1690), 12, launched at Woolwich as a fireship in 1690, and later converted to a 26 gun fifth rate. Sailed under the command of William Dampier to Australia in 1699 and sank in 1701 at Ascension Island on the return voyage.
• Roebuck, 42, fifth rate 494 ton vessel launched at Portsmouth in 1704 and dismantled in 1725. Rebuilt in 1722 as a 598 ton ship at Woolwich, she was sunk in April 1743 as a breakwater at Sheerness.
• Roebuck, 44, 708 ton fifth rate launched at Southampton in December 1743 and sold in July 1764.
• Roebuck, 44, frigate launched at Chatham on 28 April 1774 and converted to a hospital ship in 1790. In 1799 she was converted to a troopship, and four years later to a guard ship. Broken up in 1811. She is best known for capturing USS Confederacy in 1781 along with HMS Orpheus.
• Roebuck, wooden screw gunvessel launched at Millwall in March 1856 and sold at Charlton in 1864.
• Roebuck, a destroyer launched at Hawthorn on 4 January 1901 and broken up at Portsmouth in 1919.
• HMS Roebuck (H95), an R class destroyer that served in World War II.
• HMS Roebuck (H130), a survey ship, launched on 14 November 1985.

[edit] References

• Colledge, J. J. and Warlow, Ben (2006). Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy, Rev. ed., London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475.