One of the shortest names ever assigned to a ship, ironically she operated before the days of radar, the animal equivalent of which is a feature of the flying mammals after which she was named. Built at the end of the 1800s she became the first destroyer in the Royal Navy to receive a torpedo fitted for a gyroscope and was broken up after the First World War.
HMS Beaver
HMS Beaver, pictured, was commissioned in December 1984. Her name might have raised a few eyebrows but at least it gave the Royal Navy a chance to offer honorary crew membership to any Beaver Scout who cared to apply. She was decommissioned in 1999.
HMS Black Joke
This bizarre name was given to anti slave trade vessel, captured by the Royal Navy from Brazil. Detail on forcesreunited.co.uk says that after commissioning into the Royal Navy, she went on to capture 13 slave vessels and free over 4080 slaves.
HMS Camel
It’s called ‘the ship of the desert’ so perhaps it’s appropriate that seven Royal Navy vessels have borne the name HMS Camel. It’s a name that has fallen out of favour though - the last HMS Camel was an Albacore-class wooden screw gunboat launched in 1856 and broken up in 1864.
HMS Spanker
We have no idea who devised this name for the Algerine Class Minesweeper launched in 1943 or indeed what sort of punishment they received as a result.
