HMS DEFIANCE
Name meaning: Open resistance; bold disobedience.
The name HMS Defiance has been given to twelve ships and two shore establishments by the Royal Navy.
HMS Defiance 1588 -
A 8 gun pinnace involved in battles with the Spanish Armada.
HMS Defiance 1590 - 1650
This 46 gun galleon was launched by the English Tudor Navy in 1590. Sold out of the Navy in 1650.
HMS Defiance 1652 - 1652
Captured from the royalists during the English Civil war in 1652, the 10 gun ship was soon founded.
HMS Defiance 1666 - 1668
Launched in 1666 this 66 gun ship was accidentally burned in 1668
HMS Defiance 1671 - 1678
Sloop In service between 1671 - 1678
HMS Defiance 1675 - 1749
Built in Chatham Dockyard in 1675, this fully rigged ship was rebuilt in 1695 at Woolwich Dockyard, again as a 64 gun ship.
Part of a squadron under Vice - Admiral John Benbow in 1702. The captain refused to engage with the French enemy during a action, Captain Richard Kirkby was convicted of cowardice and sentenced to death.
Broken up in 1749, after another rebuild at Depford Dockyard in 1707.
HMS Defiance 1744 - 1766
Launched in late 1744, Defiance was a 58 gun forth rate ship.
Engaged into short battle with fellow ship, HMS Hampton Court recognised in November 1745 when both vessels mistook one another, at long range to be a enemy.Only after the crew of Defiance recognised the cannonballs markings, indicating to be a British ship, did the engagement cease.
Sold out of service in 1766.
HMS Defiance 1766
A sloop launched in 1766
HMS Defiance 1772 - 1780
One of fifteen Intrepid - class ships designed by Sir John Williams for the Royal Navy, she launched on 31st August 1772 at Woolwich Dockyard as a 64 gun third rate ship.Sailed to North America in May 1779, suffered damage to her hull just off the Savannah river and sunk in 1780.
HMS Defiance 1783 - 1817
Built on the banks of the River Thames at Rotherhithe, launched on 10th December 1783 as a 74 gun third rate ship.
Defiance’s battle honours include Battle of Copenhagen (1801) and Battle Of Trafalgar (1805) along side HMS Neptune, HMS Achilles, HMS Swiftsure, HMS Revenge, HMS Leviathan, HMS Conqueror, HMS Dreadnought , HMS Ajax, HMS Thunderer and HMS Temeraire.
Served as a prison ship from 1813, then broken up in 1817.
HMS Defiance 1794 - 1797
Purchased in 1794, as a 4 gun gunboat and sold in 1797.
HMS Forth, a Maidstone class submarine supply ship was renamed HMS Defiance from February 1972- 1978
HMS Defiance 1861 - 1931
Built in Pembroke Dockyard, Defiance was the last wooden battle ship launched by the Royal Navy. Launched on 27th March 1861, she never served in battle and became, in 1884 the Devonport Torpedo and Mining school ship, Devonport, Plymouth.
Experiments conducted on Defiance in 1897, led to the introdcuction of wirless telegraphy to the Royal Navy.
A special railway station, called Defiance Halt was built for the personnel to travel to the ship, as the railway line ran along side the Estuary. Opening in 1905 and closing to passengers in 1930, the halt was located between Saltash and St Germans.
Defiance was sold on 26th June 1931 and dismantled nearby.
HMS DEFIANCE
Shore Establishments
The original shore establishment was the above HMS Defiance 1861, the first school ship, but as the site developed and expanded, further vessels joined Defiance on the Lynher estuary, being subsequently renamed HMS Defiance
HMS Perseus was HMS Defiance II 1904 - 1931
HMS Spartan was HMS Defiance II 1921- 1931
HMS Cleopatra was HMS Defiance III 1922 - 1931
HMS Inconstant was HMS Defiance IV 1922 - 1930
HMS Defiance II from 1930 - 1956
HMS Andromeda was HMS Defiance 1931 - 1956
HMS Vulcan was HMS Defiance III 1931 - 1955 -
The school moved ashore in 1955 when it moved to Portsmouth.
HMS Defiance 1972 - 1994
The fleet maintenance base at HMNB Devonport from 1972 - 1979 and again in 1981- 1994
Between 1905 - 1930, a dedicated railway halt, called Defiance Halt was used by personnel to travel to and from the school.
Photo credit for badge : R Payling
