HMS Sphinx

Six ships (and one shore establishment) of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Sphinx or HMS Sphynx, after the mythical creature, the Sphinx:

• HMS Sphinx (1748) was a 24-gun sixth rate launched in 1748 and sold in 1770.
• HMS Sphinx (1775) was a 20-gun sixth rate launched in 1775. The French captured her in September 1779,[1] but HMS Proserpine recaptured her on 29 November 1779.[2] She was broken up in 1811.
• HMS Sphynx (1815) was a 10-gun Cherokee-class brig-sloop launched in 1815 and sold in 1835.
• HMS Sphynx (1846) was a wooden paddle sloop launched in 1846 and broken up in 1881.
• HMS Sphinx (1882) was a composite paddle vessel launched in 1882 and sold in 1919.
• HMS Sphinx (J69) was an Halcyon-class minesweeper launched in 1939 that foundered in 1940 after an air attack.
• HMS Sphinx was the name given to an naval accommodation camp in Alexandria, Egypt, from April 1941.[3]

Citations

1. Demerliac (1996), p.69, #432.
2. "No. 12678". The London Gazette. 30 August 1785. p. 410.
3. Burn, Bill (2011). "HMS Sphinx, minesweeper". naval-history.net. Retrieved 2 March 2013.

References

• Demerliac, Alain (1996) La Marine De Louis XVI: Nomenclature Des Navires Français De 1774 À 1792. (Nice: Éditions OMEGA). ISBN 2-906381-23-3