Seven ships of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 have been named HMS Archer, named after a person proficient in archery

Archery

Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...

 - an archer

Archery

Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...

:
was a 12-gun gun-brig

Brig

A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...

 launched in 1801 and sold in 1815. was a wood screw sloop

Screw sloop

A screw sloop is a propeller-driven sloop-of-war. In the 19th century, during the introduction of the steam engine, ships driven by propellers were differentiated from those driven by paddle-wheels by referring to the ship's screws...

 launched in 1849 and broken up in 1866. was a torpedo cruiser

Cruiser

A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...

 launched in 1885 and sold in 1905. was an Acheron-class

Acheron class destroyer

The Acheron class was a class of twenty-three destroyers of the British Royal Navy, all built under the 1910-11 Programme and completed between 1911 and 1912, which served during World War I. A further six ships were built to the same design for the Royal Australian Navy as River-class destroyers...

 destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

 launched in 1911 and sold in 1921. was a Long Island-class

Long Island class escort carrier

The Long Island-class escort carrier was a two-ship class, originally listed as "AVG" . They were converted from merchant ships....

 aircraft carrier

Aircraft carrier

An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...

 launched in 1939 and transferred to the Royal Navy on Lend-lease

Lend-Lease

Lend-Lease was the program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, Free France, and other Allied nations with materiel between 1941 and 1945. It was signed into law on March 11, 1941, a year and a half after the outbreak of war in Europe in...

 in 1941. She was later operated by the Ministry of War Transport as Empire Lagan, and was returned to the US in 1945. She was sold into mercantile service and was broken up in 1962. is an Archer-class

Archer class patrol vessel

The Archer class is a class of patrol and training vessels in service with the British Royal Navy, commonly referred to as a Fast Training Boat.-History & operations:...

 patrol vessel launched in 1985 and is currently in service.

See also

was an Attack-class

Attack class patrol boat

The Attack class patrol boats were small coastal defence vessels built for the Royal Australian Navy and operated between 1967 and 1985...

 patrol vessel of the Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

 launched in 1967 and sold to Indonesia in 1974, being renamed Siliman. was a Gay-class fast patrol boat

Gay class fast patrol boat

The Gay class were a class of twelve fast patrol boats that served with the Royal Navy from the early 1950s. All were named after types of soldiers or military or related figures, prefixed with 'Gay'...

of the Royal Navy launched on 20 August 1952, and currently refitted for civilian use.