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HMS Galatea

HMS Galatea has been used for at least six ships in the Royal Navy. They were named after a sea-nymph from Greek mythology.

One HMS Galatea was a sail-powered wooden frigate which was part of the Royal Navy during the American Revolution and the Napoleonic wars. Under Captain Sayer, she captured a French 10 gun schooner off Guadelope on November 12, 1806. Both ships had become becalmed, and Galatea dispatched her boats to row over and capture the other ship.

Another HMS Galatea was a wooden steam-powered frigate. In 1866 she went on a World cruise, under the command of the Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh.

Table of contents
1 first-class cruiser HMS Galatea (1887)
2 Arethusa class light cruiser HMS Galatea (1914)
3 light cruiser HMS Galatea (1934)
4 Leander class frigate HMS Galatea (1963)

first-class cruiser HMS Galatea (1887)

The next HMS Galatea was an Orlando Class first-class cruiser built in Glasgow, and launched on March 10, 1887 and sold for scrapping on April 5, 1905.

General Characteristics

Arethusa class light cruiser HMS Galatea (1914)

The following HMS Galatea was an Arethusa Class light cruiser launched on May 14, 1914 at Beardmore shipyard.

At the Battle of Jutland, she was the flagship of the First Light Cruiser Squadron under Commodore E.S. Alexander-Sinclair. She was the first ship to report the presence of German ships, triggering the battle.

Galatea was part of the screen around the Battle Cruiser Force under Admiral Beatty which was on a sweep across the North Sea on May 31, 1916. She was sent in company with HMS Phaeton to investigate a stopped merchant vessel, the Danish N J Fiord. At the same time, two destroyers B-109 and B-110 from the German battlecruiser and cruiser Scouting Groups under Admiral Hipper were sent to investigate the ship. The two fleets were previously unaware that they were less than 50 miles apart.

She was sold for scrapping in October, 1921.

General Characteristics

light cruiser HMS Galatea (1934)

The next HMS Galatea was a light cruiser of (another) Arethusa Class, launched on August 9, 1934 at Scotts shipyard in Greenock, Scotland.

She was sunk by a German submarine, U-557 on December 15, 1941 near Alexandria in the Mediterranean Sea with the loss of 470 lives.

General Characteristics

Leander class frigate HMS Galatea (1963)

The most recent HMS Galatea (F18) was a Leander class anti-submarine frigate built by Swan Hunter shipyards, launched May 23, 1963 and commissioned on April 25, 1964. She was rammed in the bow and damaged by an Icelandic Coast Guard ship, Baldur during the Cod War on March 26, 1976. She was decommissioned on January 31, 1987 and sunk as a target during exercises in the North Sea on June 21, 1988.

General Characteristics