HMS Seahorse was a 24-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1748. She is perhaps most famous as the ship on which a young Horatio Nelson served as a midshipman. She also participated in four battles off the coast of India between 1781 and 1783. The Royal Navy sold her in 1784 and she then became a merchantman. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1786 and 1788. she then traded locally until 1793-94, when she disappears from the lists.
Seahorse was ordered on 4 February 1748, with the contract being awarded to John Barnard, of Harwich, on 23 February 1748. Barnard laid her keel that very day and built her to a design by the Surveyor of the Navy Jacob Acworth. She was named Seahorse on 23 August, launched on 13 September 1748 and commissioned in November. She was completed on 17 February 1749 at Sheerness Dockyard, having cost £4,063.10.0d to build, and with a further £1,264.14.8d spent on fitting her out.
Numerous ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Seahorse, after the marine creature, the Seahorse:
HMS Seahorse was a small Royal Navy ship used as a fleet tug and a survey ship. She was based at Portsmouth during the First World War where she was used as a fleet tug, and later a rescue tug.
Seahorse served as a service vessel in 1902, under the command of Staff Commander F. W. E. H. Smith.
HMS Seahorse was a first-batch S-class submarine (often called the Swordfish class) built for the Royal Navy during the 1930s. She lost at sea with all hands in 1940.
The S-class submarines were designed as successors to the L class and were intended to operate in the North and Baltic Seas. The submarines had a length of 202 feet 6 inches (61.7 m) overall, a beam of 24 feet (7.3 m) and a mean draft of 11 feet 11 inches (3.6 m). They displaced 730 long tons (740 t) on the surface and 927 long tons (942 t) submerged. The S-class submarines had a crew of 38 officers and ratings. They had a diving depth of 300 feet (91.4 m).
For surface running, the boats were powered by two 775-brake-horsepower (578 kW) diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a 650-horsepower (485 kW) electric motor. They could reach 13.75 knots (25.47 km/h; 15.82 mph) on the surface and 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) underwater. On the surface, the first-batch boats had a range of 3,700 nautical miles (6,900 km; 4,300 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) and 64 nmi (119 km; 74 mi) at 2 knots (3.7 km/h; 2.3 mph) submerged.