List of ship names of the Royal Navy


This is an alphabetical list of the of all ships that have been in service with the Royal Navy,[Kingfisher-class sloop|] or with predecessor fleets formally in the service of the Kingdom of England or the Commonwealth of England. The list also includes fictional vessels which have prominently featured in literature about the Royal Navy. Names are traditionally re-used over the years, and have been carried by more than one ship.
Altogether over 13,000 ships have been in service with the Royal Navy.
Unlike many other naval services, the Royal Navy designates certain types of shore establishment as "ships" and names them accordingly. These establishments are often referred to in service slang as stone frigates.

Lists of ship names

Due to the large number of names the list has been split into smaller lists:

Alphabetical

By type of ship

By namesake

Fictional RN ship names

Many novels and films about the Royal Navy feature fictional ships, but most use real names. This is a list of fictional names of note. Where real ship names are used fictionally, there is a link to the actual ships using that name.

Fictional wooden RN ships

In novels

In film, television and radio

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Fictional metal RN ships

Pre-World War II

  • The original 1920s edition of the H. P. Gibson naval board game Dover Patrol used a number of real RN ship names, but generally attached them to different ship classes. Thus the "Flagships" were H.M.S. and, and the "Super Dreadnoughts" were H.M.S.,, Canada and India, but few of these resembled the actual ships with the same names in the drawings used on the playing pieces. The "Dreadnoughts" were given all new 'County' names: H.M.S. Surrey, Middlesex, Lancashire and Yorkshire, and the "Battle Cruisers" had 'Town' names: H.M.S.,,,, and. "Light Cruisers" had animal names:,,,,,, and ; "Destroyers" had 'Bird' names:,,,,, Seagull, and ; and "Auxiliary Cruisers" were given insect names:,, Firefly,,,, Mosquito and. In the revised edition of the game published after World War II, the "Flagships" and "Vice Flagships" were unnamed, but all the other names shown above were retained, including the four wholly fictional county names given to the "Battleships".
  • ; also "H M Battlecruiser " and "her attendant light cruiser " Clampherdown Rutland and
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In World War II novels

Apache

In World War II films

Amesbury,, and Stratford, Ballantrae

Post-war novels

Aries Belligerent Bluewhale Carousel
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Post-war film and media

Aristotle