HMS Roebuck

Fourteen ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Roebuck after a small deer native to the British Isles:

• English ship Roebuck (1585) was a flyboat purchased in 1585.
• English ship Roebuck (1636) was a 10-gun vessel launched in 1636 and sunk in 1641 as a result of a collision.
• English ship Roebuck (1646) was a 14-gun ship captured in 1646 and commissioned into the Royalist Navy two years later. She was captured at Kinsale in 1649 by Parliamentarian forces and sold in 1651.
• English ship Roebuck (1653) was a 34-gun ship captured in 1653, converted to a hulk in 1664 and sold in 1668.
• HMS Roebuck (1666) was a 16-gun sixth rate launched in 1666 and sold in 1683.
• HMS Roebuck (1688) was a 6-gun fireship purchased in 1688. She was renamed Old Roebuck in 1690 and was deliberately sunk as a foundation in 1696.
• HMS Roebuck (1690) was an 8-gun fireship launched in 1690, and later converted to a 26-gun fifth rate. She sailed under William Dampier to Australia in 1699 and sank in 1701 at Ascension Island on the return voyage.
• HMS Roebuck (1704) was a 42-gun fifth rate launched in 1704 and dismantled in 1725. She was rebuilt in 1722, and sunk in 1743 as a breakwater.
• HMS Roebuck (1743) was a 44-gun fifth rate launched in 1743 and sold in 1764.
• HMS Roebuck (1774) was a 44-gun fifth rate two-decker launched in 1774 and converted to a hospital ship in 1790. In 1799 she was converted to a troopship, and four years later to a guard ship. She was broken up in 1811.
• HMS Roebuck (1856) was a wooden screw gunvessel launched in 1856 and sold in 1864.
• HMS Roebuck (1901) was a Greyhound-class destroyer launched in 1901 and broken up in 1919.
• HMS Roebuck (H95) was an R-class destroyer launched in 1942. She was converted to a frigate in 1953 and was sold in 1968.
• HMS Roebuck (H130) was a survey ship launched in 1985, and was decommissioned in April 2010 and sold to the Bangladesh Navy.

Battle honours

Ships named Roebuck have earned the following battle honours:

• Armada, 1588
• Cadiz, 1596
• Portland, 1653
• Gabbard, 1653
• Scheveningen, 1653
• Barfleur, 1692
• Velez Malaga, 1704
• Martinique, 1794
• Egypt, 1801
• China, 1860
• Sabang, 1944
• Burma, 1944–45
• East Indies, 1944−45
• Al-Faw, 2003

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.