HMS Perseus

Six ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Perseus, after the Greek hero Perseus:

• HMS Perseus (1776) was a 20-gun sixth rate launched in 1776; she was the first vessel of the Royal Navy to be sheathed in copper. She was converted to a bomb vessel in 1799 and was broken up in 1805.
• HMS Perseus (1812) was a 22-gun sixth rate launched in 1812. She was used for harbour service from 1818 and was broken up in 1850.
• HMS Perseus (1861) was a Camelion-class wooden screw sloop launched in 1861. She was used for harbour service from 1886, was renamed HMS Defiance II in 1904 and was probably sold in 1912.
• HMS Perseus (1897) was a Pelorus-class protected cruiser launched in 1897 and sold for scrap in 1914.
• HMS Perseus (N36) was a Parthian-class submarine launched in 1929 and sunk in 1941 during the Second World War.
• HMS Perseus (R51) was a Colossus-class aircraft carrier launched in 1944 as HMS Edgar but renamed a few months later. She was scrapped in 1958.

References

• Chambers, Robert & Thomas Thomson (1870) A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen, Vol. 2. (Blackie and son).
• 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.