Six 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 Panther, after the panther

Black panther

A black panther is typically a melanistic color variant of any of several species of larger cat. Wild black panthers in Latin America are black jaguars , in Asia and Africa they are black leopards , and in North America they may be black jaguars or possibly black cougars A black panther is...

, whilst another two were planned:
was a 54-gun fourth-rate

Fourth-rate

In the British Royal Navy, a fourth rate was, during the first half of the 18th century, a ship of the line mounting from 46 up to 60 guns. While the number of guns stayed subsequently in the same range up until 1817, after 1756 the ships of 50 guns and below were considered too weak to stand in...

 ship of the line

Ship of the line

A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...

 launched in 1703. She was rebuilt in 1716, hulked in 1743 and sold in 1768. was 50-gun fourth rate launched in 1746 and broken up in 1756. was a 60-gun fourth rate launched in 1758. She was used as a hospital ship

Hospital ship

A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating medical treatment facility or hospital; most are operated by the military forces of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones....

 from 1791 and a prison hulk from 1807. She was broken up in 1813. was a 14-gun sloop

Sloop

A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....

 built in 1778, and was being used as a survey vessel in 1802.

• HMS Panther
  HMS Panther (1897)
  HMS Panther was a B-class torpedo boat destroyer of the British Royal Navy. She was completed by Laird, Son & Company, Birkenhead, in 1897. She was sold in 1920....
  
   was a B-class
  B class destroyer
  The B class was a class of nine destroyers of the British Royal Navy, ordered as part of the 1928 Naval Estimates, launched in 1930 and that commissioned in 1931. The class was similar to the preceding A class, with minor modifications...
  
   torpedo boat destroyer launched in 1897 and sold in 1920.
• HMS Panther
  HMS Panther (G41)
  HMS Panther was a P class destroyer of the Royal Navy laid down on 5 March 1940 by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company and launched on 28 May of the following year...
  
   was a P-class 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 1941 and sunk in 1943.
• HMS Panther was a planned Leopard-class
  Leopard class frigate
  The Type 41 or Leopard class were a class of anti-aircraft defence frigates built for the Royal Navy and Indian Navy in the 1950s. These ships were designed to provide anti-aircraft escorts to convoys, as a result they were not built for fleet speeds and made only...
  
   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"...
  
  , but she was launched instead for the Indian Navy
  Indian Navy
  The Indian Navy is the naval branch of the armed forces of India. The President of India serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff , usually a four-star officer in the rank of Admiral, commands the Navy...
  
   as INS Brahmaputra in 1957. She was deleted from the Indian Navy Lists in 1985.
• HMS Panther was a planned Salisbury-class
  Salisbury class frigate
  The Type 61 Salisbury class were a class of British aircraft direction frigates built for the Royal Navy. They were related to the Type 41 Leopard class frigates, but with reduced armament to make way for more aircraft direction equipment.-Construction Programme:Three further ships of the class...
  
   frigate, ordered in 1956 but her name was changed to HMS Gloucester, before being eventually cancelled. Gloucester was subsequently reordered as a Leander-class
  Leander class frigate
  The Leander class, or Type 12I frigates, comprising twenty-six vessels, was among the most numerous and long-lived classes of frigate in the Royal Navy's modern history. The class was built in three batches between 1959 and 1973...
  
   frigate. Note, however, that no Leander class frigate named Gloucester ever served in the Royal Navy. The name Gloucester was re-used in 1982 for a Type 42
  Type 42 destroyer
  The Type 42 or Sheffield class, are guided missile destroyers used by the British Royal Navy and the Argentine Navy. The first ship of the class was ordered in 1968 and launched in 1971, and today three ships remain active in the Royal Navy and one in the Argentinian Navy...
  
  destroyer.

Reference