HMS Hector

Eleven ships of the British Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Hector, named after the Trojan hero Hector in the Iliad.

• The first Hector was a 22-gun ship sold in 1656.
• The second Hector was a 30-gun ship sold in 1657.
• The third Hector was a 22-gun ship sunk by the Dutch Navy in 1665.
• The fourth Hector was a 44-gun fourth-rate launched in 1703 and broken up in 1742.
• The fifth Hector was another 44-gun fourth-rate sold in 1762.
• The sixth Hector was cutter purchased in 1763 and sold in 1773.
• The seventh Hector was a 74-gun third-rate launched at Deptford in 1774 and converted to a prison ship in 1808.
• The eighth Hector was a 74-gun third-rate captured from France in April 1782 but recaptured by them in September of the same year.
• The ninth Hector was the first ship of her class of iron steam propelled battleships and launched in 1862, and scrapped in 1905.
• The tenth Hector was a kite balloon ship operating in WWI, which served in the Dardanelles campaign (1915).
• The eleventh Hector was an armed merchant cruiser that served in World War II and was damaged beyond repair by Japanese aircraft in 1942.