HMS Active

Twelve ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Active or HMS Actif, with a thirteenth currently under construction:

• HMS Active (1758) was a 28-gun sixth rate launched in 1758 and captured in 1778 by two French frigates off San Domingo.^[1]
• HMS Active (1776) was a 14-gun brig-sloop launched in 1776 and captured in 1780 by the American privateer General Pickering off New York.^[2]
• HMS Active (1779) was a 12-gun cutter that entered service in 1779 and surrendered that same year to the French cutter Mutin when Active encountered and was unable to escape the combined Franco-Spanish fleet in the English Channel.^[3] The French took her into service as Actif and later Activ No.1 (1782). She was paid off at Brest in December 1782 and broken up there early the next year.^[4]
• HMS Active (1780) was a 32-gun fifth rate launched in 1780 and wrecked in 1796 on Anticosti Island at the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River.^[5]
• HMS Active (1782) was a 14-gun brig-sloop listed in 1782.
• HMS Actif (1794) was a 16-gun privateer that Iphigenia captured from the French on 16 March 1794; she foundered on 26 November, although all her crew were saved.
• HMS Active (1799) was a 38-gun fifth rate launched in 1799. She was placed on harbour service in 1826, renamed HMS Argo in 1833, and was broken up in 1860.
• HMS Active (1845) was a 36-gun fifth rate launched in 1845, becoming a training ship and being renamed HMS Tyne in 1867 and HMS Durham in 1867. She was sold in 1908.
• HMS Active (1869) was a Volage-class iron screw corvette launched in 1869 and sold in 1906.
• HMS Active (1911) was an Active-class scout cruiser launched in 1911 and scrapped in 1920.
• HMS Active (H14) was an A-class destroyer launched in 1928 and broken up in 1947.
• HMS Active (F171) was a Type 21 frigate launched in 1972. She was sold to the Pakistan Navy in 1994 and was renamed Shah Jahan.
• HMS Active (Type 31 frigate) is a Type 31 frigate that is currently under construction.

Battle honours

Ships named Active have earned the following battle honours:

• Lagos, 1759
• Trincomalee, 1782
• Camperdown, 1797
• Egypt, 1801
• Lissa, 1811
• Pelagosa, 1811
• Ashantee, 1873−74
• Jutland, 1916
• Atlantic, 1939−44
• Bismarck, 1941
• Diego Suarez, 1942
• Arctic, 1944
• Falkland Islands, 1982

See also

• Hired armed cutter Active
• The schooner Active, which was under the command of Lieutenant Michael Fitton, was a tender to the flagship on the Jamaica station. She assisted Nereide at the capitulation of Curaçao on 13 September 1800.^[6]