Five ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Duchess:
- HMS Duchess (1652), a 24-gun ship, previously the French ship Duchesse captured in 1652 and sold in 1654.
- HMS Duchess (1679), a 90-gun second rate launched in 1679. She was renamed HMS Princess Anne in 1701, HMS Windsor Castle in 1702, and HMS Blenheim in 1706. She was broken up in 1763.
- HMS Duchess (1903), a paddle steamer named Duchess of Fife launched in 1903, and taken into Royal Navy service from 1916 to 1919. The vessel was sold in 1923.
- HMS Duchess (H64), a D class destroyer launched in 1932 and sunk in a collision with HMS Barham in 1939.
- HMS Duchess (D154), a Daring class destroyer launched in 1951. She was transferred to the Royal Australian Navy in 1964, and was broken up in 1980.
Famous quotes containing the word duchess:
“The earth is the earth as a peasant sees it, the world is the world as a duchess sees it, and anyway a duchess would be nothing if the earth was not there as the peasant sees it.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)