HMS Swan

HMS Swan

Twenty ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Swan, or the archaic HMS Swann, probably after the bird, the Swan:

• English ship Swann (1417) was a balinger acquired 1417 and sold 1423.
• English ship Swann (1672) was a vessel sailing with Sir Francis Drake in 1572.
• English ship Swann (1577) was a flyboat sailing with Drake in 1577. She was lost in 1578.
• English ship Swann (1632) was a 'frigat' listed in service between 1632 and 1633.
• English ship Swan (1641) was a ship launched in 1641 and wrecked in 1653.
• HMS Swann was a 22-gun ship captured in 1652 and sold in 1654.
• HMS Swann was a 6-gun flyboat captured from the Dutch in 1665 and sold in 1666.
• HMS Swann was a smack launched in 1666 and captured by the Dutch in 1673.
• HMS Swann was a 2-gun fireship purchased in 1667 and expended that year.
• HMS Swann was a 32-gun fifth rate captured from the Dutch in 1673. She was converted into a 10-gun fireship between 1688 and 1689 and was wrecked in 1692.
• HMS Swann was a sixth rate captured from the Algerians in 1684 and sold that year.
• HMS Swann was a 24-gun sixth rate launched in 1694. She foundered in 1707.
• HMS Swann was a 12-gun sixth rate launched in 1709 and sold in 1713.
• HMS Swan was a 14-gun sloop launched in 1745 and sold in 1763.
• HMS Swan was a 14-gun sloop launched in 1767. She bore the name HMS Explosion between 1779 and 1783 whilst being used as a fireship. She was sold in 1814.
• HMS Swan was an 18-gun sloop, previously purchased from civilian service in 1781 and named HMS Bonetta. She was renamed HMS Swan in 1782, but capsized later that year.
• HMS Swan was a 10-gun cutter purchased in 1788 for the Revenue Service, transferred to the Royal Navy in 1790 and wrecked in 1792.
• HMS Swan was a 10-gun cutter purchased in 1792 for the Revenue Service, transferred to the Royal Navy in 1795 and captured that year by the French.
• HMS Swan was a 10-gun Nimble class cutter launched in 1811, lent to the Church Mission Society in 1844, and broken up in 1874.
• HMS Swan was an Albacore-class wooden screw gunboat launched in 1856, used as a coal hulk from 1869 and sold in 1906.