HMS Swiftsure

The Royal Navy has had ten ships named Swiftsure since 1573, including:

• English ship Swiftsure (1573), a galleon, renamed Speedwell and rebuilt in 1607, and lost in 1624.
• HMS Swiftsure (1621), a 42-gun great ship captured by the Dutch in 1666.
• HMS Swiftsure (1637), a warship involved a colonial admiralty lawsuit.[1]
• HMS Swiftsure (1673), a 70-gun ship later renamed Revenge.
• HMS Swiftsure (1750), a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line.
• HMS Swiftsure (1787), a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line captured by the French in 1801. Later recaptured by the Royal Navy in the Battle of Trafalgar and renamed HMS Irresistible.
• HMS Swiftsure (1804), a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line launched in 1804 which served at the Battle of Trafalgar and was sold in 1845.
• HMS Swiftsure (1870), the lead ship of her class of ironclad battleships.
• HMS Swiftsure (1903), the lead ship of her class of pre-dreadnought battleships. She served in the Mediterranean in World War I and was broken up in 1920.
• HMS Swiftsure (08), a Minotaur-class light cruiser that served in the Far East in World War II.
• HMS Swiftsure (S126), the lead ship of her class of submarines. She was decommissioned in 1992 due to damage suffered to the pressure hull during trials.

Battle honours

• Armada 1588
• Cadiz 1596
• Santa Cruz 1657
• Lowestoft 1665
• Four Days' Battle 1666
• Schooneveld 1673
• Texel 1673
• Barfleur 1692
• Vigo 1702
• Gibraltar 1704
• Velez Malaga 1704
• Lagos 1759
• Quiberon Bay 1759
• Belle Isle 1761
• Nile 1798
• Egypt 1801
• Trafalgar 1805
• Suez Canal 1915
• Dardanelles 1915–16
• Okinawa 1945

References

1. High Court of Admiralty: Instance and Prize Courts: Examinatons. N.p., 1637. Print. Library of Va websiteRetrieved 3 October 2023.

• Weightman, A. E. (1957). Crests and Badges of H.M. Ships.