HMS Comet

The name HMS Comet, after the comet, has been used no less than sixteen times by the Royal Navy.

• The first Comet was a 4-gun bomb vessel built in 1695 and captured by the French in 1706.
• The second Comet was a 14-gun bomb vessel in use from 1742 to 1759.
• The third Comet was a galley used in 1756.
• The fourth Comet was a 10-gun brig-sloop in India in 1758.
• The fifth Comet was a 10-gun sloop purchased in 1777 and sold the following year.
• The sixth Comet was the 10-gun sloop Diligence converted to a fireship in 1779 but sold the following year.
• The seventh Comet was a fireship built in 1783 and used in 1800 at Dunkirk Roads.
• The eighth Comet was an 18-gun sloop launched in 1807 and sold 1815.
• The ninth Comet was launched in 1822, making her the first steam-powered vessel of the Royal Navy, although not added to the Navy List until 1831.
• The tenth Comet was an 18-gun sloop launched in 1828, renamed Comus in 1832, and broken up 1862.
• The eleventh Comet was the Thunderer (1831) renamed in 1869.
• The twelfth Comet was a 3rd class gunboat in service from 1870 to 1908.
• The thirteenth Comet was an Indian paddle boat in service in the 1880s.
• The fourteenth Comet was a destroyer launched in 1910 and sunk by an Austrian submarine in 1918.
• The fifteenth Comet was a destroyer launched in 1931, renamed Restigouche in 1938, and broken up in 1946.
• The sixteenth Comet was a destroyer in service from 1944 to 1962.