HMS Resolution

Resolution in a gale by Willem van de Velde, the younger depicts the second HMS Resolution c. 1678

Several ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Resolution. However, the first English warship to bear the name Resolution was actually the First rate Prince Royal (built in 1610 and rebuilt in 1641), which was renamed Resolution in 1650 following the inauguration of the Commonwealth, and continued to bear that name until 1660, when the name Prince Royal was restored, and instead the name Resolution was bestowed on the first of the vessels listed below:

• HMS Resolution, a 50-gun Speaker-class frigate launched in 1654 as the Tredagh, was renamed Resolution in 1660 and destroyed after grounding by a Dutch fireship in the St James's Day Battle on 4 August 1666.
• HMS Resolution, a 70-gun third rate ship of the line launched in 1667, rebuilt 1698, and foundered in 1703.
• HMS Resolution, a 70-gun third rate launched in 1705 but run ashore to avoid capture in 1707.
• HMS Resolution, a 70-gun third rate launched in 1708 and wrecked 1711.
• HMS Resolution, a 74-gun third rate launched in 1758 but run aground and lost a year later at the Battle of Quiberon Bay.
• HMS Resolution, a 74-gun third rate launched in 1770 and broken up in 1813.
• HMS Resolution, the vessel of Captain James Cook in his explorations.
• HMS Resolution, a cutter purchased in 1779 and foundered 1797.
• HMS Resolution, a battleship in service from 1893 to 1914.
• HMS Resolution, a battleship in service from 1915 to 1944.
• , the lead ship of the Resolution-class ballistic missile submarines in service from 1966-1994.
• HMNZS Resolution (A-14), a United States Navy survey ship transferred to the Royal New Zealand Navy in 1996.

The very first warship however to bear the name Resolution — though not HMS Resolution — was HMS Prince Royal that was renamed Resolution during the Commonwealth period.

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.