Ten 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 borne the name HMS Medusa, after the ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 mythological figure Medusa

Medusa

In Greek mythology Medusa , " guardian, protectress") was a Gorgon, a chthonic monster, and a daughter of Phorcys and Ceto. The author Hyginus, interposes a generation and gives Medusa another chthonic pair as parents. Gazing directly upon her would turn onlookers to stone...

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was a 50-gun fourth rate launched in 1785 and wrecked in 1798. was 32-gun fifth-rate frigate

Frigate

A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

 launched in 1801. She was Nelson's

Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson

Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB was a flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was noted for his inspirational leadership and superb grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics, which resulted in a number of...

 flagship on his return to England at Harwich on 9 August, was present at the Action of 5 October 1804

Action of 5 October 1804

The Battle of Cape Santa Maria was a naval action that took place off the southern Portuguese coast, in which a British squadron under the command of Commodore Graham Moore attacked a Spanish squadron commanded by Brigadier Don José de Bustamante y Guerra, in time of peace, without...

 and was broken up in 1816.http://www.realessex.co.uk/content/download/63/276/file/REview+Issue2.pdf

• HMS Medusa was to have been a 46-gun fifth rate. She was ordered in 1816, reordered in 1830 and cancelled in 1831. was a wooden paddle packet launched in 1838 and sold in 1872. was an iron paddle gunboat
  Gunboat
  A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...
  
   launched in 1839 and wrecked in 1853. was a launched in 1888, on harbour service from 1910, sold in 1920 and resold in 1921. was a , previously the Greek Lesvos. She was purchased in 1914, before being launched in 1915. She was sunk in a collision with in 1916.
• HMS Medusa was an M29-class
  M29 class monitor
  The M29-class comprised five monitors of the Royal Navy, all built and launched during 1915.The ships of this class were ordered in March, 1915, as part of the Emergency War Programme of ship construction...
  
   monitor
  Monitor (warship)
  A monitor was a class of relatively small warship which was neither fast nor strongly armoured but carried disproportionately large guns. They were used by some navies from the 1860s until the end of World War II, and saw their final use by the United States Navy during the Vietnam War.The monitors...
  
  , previously named . She was renamed HMS Medusa in 1925, converted to a depot ship and renamed HMS Talbot in 1941, HMS Medway II in 1943 and back to HMS Medusa in 1944. She was sold in 1946 and broken up in 1947. was an auxiliary minesweeper requisitioned in 1939 and transferred to 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...
  
   as in 1942. was a harbour defence launch
  Launch (boat)
  A launch in contemporary usage refers to a large motorboat. The name originally referred to the largest boat carried by a warship. The etymology of the word is given as Portuguese lancha "barge", from Malay lancha, lancharan, "boat," from lanchar "velocity without effort," "action of gliding...
  
  , launched in 1943 as ML 1387. She served in D-Day, was renamed BDB 76 in 1946, SDML 3516 in 1949 and Medusa in 1961. She was paid off in 1963, and is now a museum ship
  Museum ship
  A 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...
  
  .http://www.hmsmedusa.org.uk/http://www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/ships_register.php?action=ship&id=522