View source for HMS Lion

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
Nineteen ships of the [[Royal Navy]] have been named '''HMS ''Lion''''' or '''HMS ''Lyon''''', after the [[lion]], an animal traditionally associated with [[courage]], and also used in several [[heraldry|heraldric motifs]] representing [[England]], [[Scotland]] and the [[Monarchy of the United Kingdom|British Monarchy]].  Another ship was planned but never completed:

* {{ship|English ship|Lion|1509}} was a 36-gun ship of the [[Royal Scottish Navy]] captured in 1511 and sold in 1513.
* {{ship|English ship|Lion|1536}} was a 50-gun ship built in 1536 and on the navy list until 1559.
* {{ship|English ship|Lion|1547}} was the Scottish ship {{ship||Lion|warship|2}}, captured in 1547 and later lost off [[Harwich Dockyard|Harwich]].
* {{ship|English ship|Lion|1557}} was a 40-gun ship, also known as ''Golden Lion''. She was rebuilt four times, in 1582, 1609, 1640 and 1658. After her 1609 rebuild she was renamed ''Red Lion'', but this was reverted to ''Lion'' after the 1640 rebuild.  She was sold in 1698.
* {{HMS|Lion|1665}} was a 6-gun [[ketch]], also known as ''Young Lion''.  She was captured from the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] in 1665, sold in 1667, repurchased in 1668 and sunk as a foundation at [[Sheerness]] in 1673.
* {{HMS|Lion|1683}} was a [[fifth rate]] captured from the [[Algeria]]ns in 1683 and sold the same year.
* {{HMS|Lion|1702}} was a 4-gun [[hoy (boat)|stores hoy]] of 99 [[tons burthen]] purchased in 1702. A French privateer captured her off [[Beachy Head]] in 1708, but she was recaptured in 1709.<ref>Hepper (1994), p. 27.</ref>
* {{HMS|Lion|1709 hoy}} was a 4-gun hoy launched in 1709. She was wrecked in 1752.<ref>Winfield (2007), p.367.</ref>
* {{HMS|Lion|1709}} was a 60-gun [[third rate]] launched in 1709, rebuilt in 1738 and sold in 1765.
* {{HMS|Lion|1753}} was a transport launched in 1753, hulked in 1775, and sold in 1786.
* {{HMS|Lyon|1753}} was a [[hoy (boat)|hoy]] sold in 1786
* {{HMS|Lion|1763}} was a [[Cutter (ship)|cutter]] purchased in 1763 and sold in 1771.
* {{HMS|Lion|1774}} was a discovery vessel in service from 1774 to 1785.
* {{HMS|Lion|1777}} was a 64-gun [[third rate]] launched in 1777, best known for ferrying the [[Macartney Embassy]] to China. She was used as a [[sheer hulk]] from 1816 and was sold for breaking up in 1837.
* {{HMS|Lion|1781}} was a [[schooner]] purchased around 1781 and sold in 1785.
* {{HMS|Lion|1794}} was a 4-gun [[gunboat|gunvessel]], originally a Dutch hoy.  She was purchased in 1794 and sold in 1795.
* {{HMS|Lion|1823}} was the pirate schooner ''Gata'', built in Baltimore in 1820, that the [[Royal Navy]] captured in 1823 and took into service. She took part in numerous expeditions against pirates, recaptured some of their prizes, and captured a slave ship. The Navy sold her in 1826.
* {{HMS|Lion|1847}} was an 80-gun [[second rate]] launched in 1847.  She was converted to screw propulsion in 1859 and became a [[training ship]] after 1871. She was sold for breaking up in 1905.
* {{HMS|Lion|1910}} was a {{sclass|Lion|battlecruiser|2}} launched in 1910 and sold in 1924.
* {{HMS|Lion|1939}} was to have been a {{sclass|Lion|battleship|2}}.  She was laid down in 1939, but work was suspended later that year, and again in 1942.  The order was finally cancelled in 1945 and she was broken up on the slipway.
* {{HMS|Lion|C34}} was a {{sclass|Tiger|cruiser|2}} launched in 1944 as the {{sclass|Minotaur|cruiser (1943)|0}} HMS ''Defence''.  She was finally completed to a revised design in 1960.  She was placed in reserve in 1964 and was scrapped in 1975.

==Battle honours==
Ships named ''Lion'' have earned the following [[Battle honour#Naval battle honours|battle honours]]:
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
*[[Spanish Armada|Armada]], 1588
*[[Capture of Cádiz|Cadiz]], 1596
*[[Battle of the Kentish Knock|Kentish Knock]], 1652
*[[Battle of Portland|Portland]], 1653
*[[Battle of Scheveningen|Scheveningen]], 1653
*[[Battle of Lowestoft|Lowestoft]], 1665
*[[Four Days' Battle]], 1666
*[[St. James's Day Battle|Orfordness]], 1666
*[[Battle of Schooneveld|Schooneveld]], 1673
*[[Battle of Texel|Texel]], 1673
*[[Action at Barfleur|Barfleur]], 1692
*[[Second Battle of Cape Finisterre (1747)|Ushant]], 1747
*[[Action of 15 July 1798|''Santa Dorotea'']], 1798
*[[Action of 31 March 1800|''Guillaume Tell'']], 1800
*[[Invasion of Java (1811)|Java]], 1811
*[[Battle of Heligoland Bight (1914)|Heligoland]], 1914
*[[Battle of Dogger Bank (1915)|Dogger Bank]], 1915
*[[Battle of Jutland|Jutland]], 1916
{{div col end}}

==See also==
* {{HMS|Lioness}}
* ''[[Lyon's Whelp]]''
* {{HMS|Two Lions}}
* HM [[Hired armed vessels|Hired armed]] [[Cutter (ship)|cutter]] {{ship|Hired armed cutter|Lion||2}}

==Citations==
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
* {{Cite Colledge2006}}
*{{cite book|last=Hepper|first=David J.|year=1994|title=British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650–1859|publisher=Jean Boudriot|location=Rotherfield|isbn=0-948864-30-3}}
* {{cite book |first=Rif|last=Winfield|title=British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714&ndash;1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates|publisher=Seaforth|year=2007|isbn=978-1844157006}}

{{Ship index}}

{{DISPLAYTITLE:HMS ''Lion''}}

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[[Category:Royal Navy ship names]]