HMS Warspite

Seven ships of the Royal Navy have been named Warspite. The origins of the name are unclear, although it is probably a pun on the word 'spite', in part embodying contempt for the Navy's enemies, but also the common name for the green woodpecker, suggesting the 'Warspite' would poke holes in enemy ships' (wooden) hulls. Until 1919 a woodpecker was used as the ships' crest; the official badge was a cannon, although the woodpecker continued to be used on the ships' tompions or gun muzzle plugs.

HMS Warspite (1758)

HMS Warspite was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line (a new class of two-decker that formed the backbone of British fleets) of the Royal Navy, launched on 8 April 1758 at Deptford.

Her first service in the Seven Years' War against France was as one of Admiral Edward Boscawen's 14 ships in the Mediterranean, and on 19 August 1759 she took part in the Battle of Lagos, where she captured the French Téméraire. Warspite also participated in the Battle of Quiberon Bay under Admiral Sir Edward Hawke.

After the signing of the Treaty of Paris she was paid off (5 May 1763), only appearing in the inglorious capacity of a hospital ship during the American Revolutionary War (1775–83).

She was employed on harbour service from 1778. She was renamed Arundel in March 1800, and was eventually broken up in 1802.

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English ship Warspite (1596)

Warspite was a great ship (later classed as a second rate) of the English Tudor navy, built at Deptford Dockyard by the master shipwright Edward Stevens, and launched about 1 March 1596. She carried a crew of 300 when at sea, of whom 190 where classed as "mariners", manning the guns and fighting the ship; 80 as "sailors", working the sails and ancestors of present-day seamen, and 30 "gunners", the armament specialists.

Following her launching, she was commissioned under Captain Sir Arthur Gorges, on 21 June she led as flagship of Raleigh's expedition one of the four squadrons to Cádiz, and in the same year fought in the Battle of Cádiz. In 1597 and three years later Warspite took part in expeditions which brought the indispensable wealth of the New World.

She took part in the failed Islands Voyage hoping to intercept the Spanish treasure fleet in which Walter Raleigh sailed as Vice Admiral and commanded by Gorges. On its return to England it faced the Spanish Armada of 1597 which failed due to storms and the safe passage of the English fleet. Warpsite leaking from the same storm captured two Spanish ships from the Armada off St Ives. The information given by the prisoners was vital on learning the Armada's objectives.