HMS Hercules
Encyclopedia
Five ships of the Royal Navy
have borne the name HMS Hercules, or HMS Hercule, after the Greek and Roman hero Hercules
. Another was launched, but never served in the Navy:
was a 74-gun third rate launched in 1759 and sold in 1784.
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 borne the name HMS Hercules, or HMS Hercule, after the Greek and Roman hero Hercules
Hercules
Hercules is the Roman name for Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus , and the mortal Alcmene...
. Another was launched, but never served in the Navy:
was a 74-gun third rate launched in 1759 and sold in 1784.
- HMS HerculeFrench ship Hercule (1798)The Hercule was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.During her maiden journey, on 21 April 1798, and just 24 hours out of port, she was captured by the British ship HMS Mars after a violent fight, off Île de Sein near Brest...
was a 74-gun third rate captured by HMS MarsHMS Mars (1794)HMS Mars was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 25 October 1794 at Deptford Dockyard.-Career:In the early part of the French Revolutionary Wars she was assigned to the Channel Fleet. In 1797 under Captain Alexander Hood she was prominent in the Spithead mutiny...
in 1798 and broken up in 1810. was a 74-gun third rate launched in 1815. She was used for harbour service from 1853 and was sold in 1865. was an ironcladIronclad warshipAn ironclad was a steam-propelled warship in the early part of the second half of the 19th century, protected by iron or steel armor plates. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. The first ironclad battleship, La Gloire,...
battleshipBattleshipA battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
launched in 1868. She was used for harbour service from 1881, as a barracks from 1905, was renamed HMS Calcutta in 1909, HMS Fisgard II in 1915, and was sold in 1932. was a Colossus-classColossus class battleship (1910)The Colossus class of two battleships - Colossus and Hercules of the British Royal Navy were among the first battleships following the original of 1906. Originally intended to be part of the Neptune class, the two ships had thicker armour and other differences from , and so Neptune is...
battleshipBattleshipA battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
launched in 1910 and sold for breaking up in 1921. was to have been a Majestic-class light fleet aircraft carrierAircraft carrierAn 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...
. She was launched in 1945 but was not completed. She was sold to India in 1957, and commissioned in 1961 as INS VikrantINS VikrantINS Vikrant was a Majestic-class light aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy.Her keel was laid down on 12 November 1943 by Vickers-Armstrong on the Tyne and she was launched on 22 September 1945....
. She was paid off in 1997 and opened as a museum shipMuseum shipA museum ship, or sometimes memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public, for educational or memorial purposes...
in 2001.