HMS Mermaid

Sixteen ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Mermaid after the mermaid:

• HMS Mermaid was a galley captured in 1545 and listed until 1563.
• HMS Mermaid was a 24-gun ship launched in 1651, rebuilt as a 32-gun fifth rate in 1689, rebuilt again in 1707 and broken up in 1734.
• HMS Mermaid was an 8-gun fireship captured in 1692 and burnt by accident in 1693.
• HMS Mermaid was to have been a 24-gun sixth rate. She was renamed HMS Kennington in 1735 and launched in 1736.
• HMS Mermaid was a 54-gun fourth rate launched in 1708 as HMS Ruby. She was renamed HMS Mermaid in 1744 and was sold in 1748.
• HMS Mermaid was a 24-gun sixth rate frigate launched in 1749 and wrecked in 1760.
• HMS Mermaid was a 28-gun sixth rate frigate launched in 1761 and wrecked during combat in 1778.
• HMS Mermaid was a 32-gun fifth rate frigate launched in 1784 and broken up in 1815.
• HMS Mermaid was a 1-gun gunvessel purchased in 1798 and sold in 1800.
• HMS Mermaid was a survey cutter purchased in 1817. She ran aground in 1820, sold in 1823, wrecked off the Frankland Islands, 40 km south-east of Cairns, in 1829.
• HMS Mermaid was a 46-gun fifth rate frigate launched in 1825, used as a powder hulk from 1850, lent to the war department in 1863 and broken up by 1875.
• HMS Mermaid was a coastguard vessel purchased in 1853 and sold in 1890.
• HMS Mermaid was a Mermaid-class destroyer launched in 1898 and sold in 1919.
• HMS Mermaid was a modified Black Swan-class sloop launched in 1943. She was transferred to the German Navy in 1959 and renamed Scharnhorst, was hulked for damage control training between 1974 and 1989, and was towed to be broken up in 1990.
• HMS Mermaid was a Ton-class minesweeper launched in 1954 as HMS Sullington. She was renamed HMS Mermaid on her conversion to a survey vessel in 1965. She was sold in 1970.
• HMS Mermaid was a frigate, built as the Ghanaian Black Star, but was purchased in 1972 and launched in 1973. She collided with and sank HMS Fittleton in 1976 and was sold to the Royal Malaysian Navy as KD Hang Tuah in 1977 as a training ship.

See also

• HMAS Mermaid is a Paluma-class survey motor launch of the Royal Australian Navy, launched in 1989 and currently in service.

• His Majesty's hired armed vessel Mermaid, which was present at the Vlieter Incident in August 1799.^[1]

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475. 
• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1861762461.