HMS Dolphin

Sixteen ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Dolphin after the dolphin.

• The first seven Dolphins were small ketches and fireships.
• HMS Dolphin, launched in 1731, was a 20-gun sixth-rate, renamed Firebrand in 1755 and Penguin in 1757.
• HMS Dolphin, launched in 1751, was a 24-gun sixth-rate. She was used as a survey ship from 1764 and made two circumnavigations under the command of John Byron and Samuel Wallis. She was broken up in 1777.
• HMS Dolphin was a 44-gun fifth-rate launched in 1781 and broken up in 1817.
• HMS Dolphin was originally the Dutch 24-gun sixth-rate Dolflin, captured in 1799 by HMS Wolverine and HMS Arrow.
• HMS Dolphin was a 4-gun cutter purchased in 1801 and sold in 1802.
• HMS Dolphin was originally the East Indiaman Admiral Rainer, purchased in 1804 and renamed Hindostan, renamed Dolphin in 1819, and Justitia in 1830. She was used as a convict ship and sold in 1855.
• HMS Dolphin was a 3-gun brigantine launched in 1836 and sold in 1894.
• HMS Dolphin was a screw sloop launched in 1882. She served as a submarine depot ship in World War I. She foundered in 1925 but was beached and used as a school ship. She was broken up in 1977.
• HMS Dolphin was originally the depot ship Pandora, purchased in 1914. She was renamed Dolphin in 1924 and was sunk by a mine in 1939.
• HMS Dolphin is the spiritual home of the Royal Navy's submarine service at Fort Blockhouse in Gosport, and was a submarine base until 1994 and training school to 1999.

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 Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.