HMS Bee

Three vessels and two shore establishments of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Bee, after the insect, the Bee. A third ship was ordered but never completed:

Ships

• HM Schooner Bee was a 79-foot wooden supply schooner of 30.5 tonnes displacement, stationed at the Penetanguishene Naval Establishment from 1817 to 1831.
• HMS Bee was a wooden screw and paddle vessel launched in 1842 and broken up in 1874.
• HMS Bee was an Insect class gunboat launched in 1915 and sold in 1939.
• HMS Bee was to have been another river patrol boat. She was ordered in 1939, but cancelled in 1940.

Shore establishments

• HMS Bee was a Coastal Forces Motor Launch working up base at Weymouth in commission between 1942 and 1943.
• HMS Bee was a Coastal Forces ML working up base at Holyhead, taking over from the previous base in 1943 and being paid off in 1945.

Other shore establishments have borne similar names

• HMS Beecroft was a naval base in Nigeria between 1960 and 1978.
• HMS Beehive was a Coastal Forces base at Felixstowe between 1940 and 1945.

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.