Tribal-class frigate HMS Zulu conducting RAS. Source: militaryimages.net (user: zulu1224)

Quiz time. Can you identify this light cruiser from the Second World War?

Flower-class corvette HMCS Sackville. Source: Canadian Naval Memorial Trust

HMS Defender conducting joint military training with the French ship FS Provence, February 2016. MOD (ID: 45159479)

Beginning of Knowles' action off Havana, 1 October 1748. Painting by Samuel Scott (1702-1772) NMM (ID: BHC0373)

The largest and fastest battleship ever built by the navy: HMS Vanguard. Source: Reddit (user: Freefight)

Corsairs and Barracudas ranged on the flight deck of HMS Formidable, off Norway, July 1944. A County-class cruiser is in the background. Source: Reddit (user: Mattzo12)

On this day in 1779: HMS Serapis (Captain Pearson) was taken by USS Bonhomme Richard, commanded by John Paul Jones, in the North Sea in Flamborough Head. The Americans transferred her to the French, who commissioned her as a privateer. She was lost off Madagascar in 1781 to a fire.

HMS Ark Royal (R09) and USS Nimitz (CVN-68) berthed at Norfolk Naval Base in April 1976.

A Hawker Sea Hawk landing on the Colossus-class HNLMS Karel Doorman, the former HMS Venerable (in service with the RN between 1945 and 1947).

Battle between Citoyenne Française and HMS Iris on 13 May 1793, by Thomas Luny.

The newly transferred HMS Campbeltown (right) alongside her sister HMS Castleton. IWM (ID: A 952)

Shipping in the Downs. Painting by Charles Martin Powell (1775-1824)

Abdiel class minelayer HMS Apollo alongside the depot ship HMS Tyne. IWM (ID: HU 129725)

Frigate HMCS Winnipeg (FFH 338) departing from Pearl Harbor for the at-sea phase of Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2022. Source: MilitaryLeak.com

Relief of Gibraltar by Admiral George Rodney, 1780, by Dominic Serres.

HMS Prince of Wales in dry dock, Rosyth, 1940. Source: Reddit (user: frostedcat_74)

The destroyer HMS Jaguar manoeuvring at sea as seen from on board HMS Kelvin. IWM (ID: A 880)

HMS Brilliant (F90), HMS Broadsword (F88), HMS Sheffield (D80) and HMS Coventry (D118) during Exercise Springtrain in 1982. Tragically, the latter two would meet their end only months later in the Falklands conflict. Source: Reddit (user: Freefight)

A Yacht Becalmed. Painting by Peter Monamy (1681-1749). NMM (ID: BHC1013)

HMNZS Achilles photographed from an Allied transport ship off New Zealand in 1942.

HMS Hood in the Firth of Forth during the 1920s. Source: Mediumimages (User: DanielKnowles)

Three battlecruisers docked at the mole of Gibraltar. From left to right: HMS Renown, Repulse, and Tiger, c. 1930. Source: reddit.com (user: dantooine327)

A batman uses signal bats to guide the landing of a rocket-firing Fairey Swordfish of No 816 Squadron Fleet Air Arm on board HMS Tracker in the North Atlantic. IWM (ID: A 19718)

County-class guided missile destroyer HMS Glamorgan. Source: shipspotting.com

Type 42 HMS Manchester in rough seas. Source: shipsnostalgia.com

Aerial view of HMS Hawkins after her refit, June 1942. IWM (ID: FL 10158)

HMS Eagle making ready to sail from her offshore anchorage in the Nore, by Peter Monamy (1681-1749).

Bridge view of Prince of Wales's forecastle while the ship is under way. IWM (ID: A 3905)

County-class guided missile destroyers HMS Glamorgan and HMS Fife. Source: Hampshire Prints

Study of HMS Revenge by William Lionel Wyllie, c. 1916-17. NMM (ID: PAF1825)

"An English Man o' War Firing a Salute," by Peter Monamy (1681–1749), who is considered the first true British maritime painter. A self-taught artist, he drew significant inspiration from the Dutch painter Willem van de Velde the Younger.

Swordfish of 819 squadron landing on in sequence off Machrihanish aboard HMS Archer, April 1943. Source: royalnavyresearcharchive.co.uk

Guess the submarine! Can you identify the class of Cold War-era submarines to which this vessel belongs?

HMS Jaguar leaving Amsterdam, 11 September 1968. Source: Anefo (ID: 921-6704)

"Over an hour later, at 8:40 a.m., the battlecruisers caught sight of each other. Hipper, completely surprised by the British presence, immediately turned for home." -O. Goossens, The First Clash of Battlecruisers: The Battle of Dogger Bank (1915) heart-of-oak.org/2025/02/12/t...

The Battle of Jutland, 31 May 1916. Painting by Charles Dixon (1872–1934), 1916. Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery (ID: 243)

"This often-overlooked arm, largely comprised of commandeered merchant vessels, formed the silent lifeline that sustained the Allied war effort" -Hangar 401, The Silent Lifeline- heart-of-oak.org/2025/04/07/t...

Eclipse-class protected cruiser HMS Dido, launched in 1896, scrapped in 1926. Painting by Alma Claude Burlton Cull (1880-1931), 1900. Maritime Originals

"The Seven Years’ War finally came to an end in February 1763 with the Treaty of Paris. Britain had emerged as a true world empire, with sovereignty over the seas. Hawke’s leadership throughout the war had been instrumental" heart-of-oak.org/2025/07/23/u...

"Admiral King repaired aboard the hulk where he beheld a shocking tableau of bloodied and burned timbers, distorted lifeless limbs, and wreckage ... lying under her pendant and the web of her rigging." -R. Hiscocks, The Tragic loss of the Amphion heart-of-oak.org/2025/05/04/t...

"The total weight of firepower Victory unleashed at Trafalgar exceeded the entire artillery strength available to Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815." -O. Goossens, The Birth of a Legend: The Construction of HMS Victory heart-of-oak.org/2025/04/20/t...

"By 8 PM, the British found themselves surrounded by the rocks southwest of St. Agnes Island. A cataclysmic disaster of unseen proportions ensued, shocking Britain to its core." -One of Britain’s Worst Maritime Disasters Ever: The Scilly Disaster of 1707 heart-of-oak.org/2025/04/04/o...

HMS Sutherland leaving New York for Halifax 1757. Painting by Robert Wilkins (c.1740–after 1799). Government Art Collection

“Due to the lack of naval assistance, it dawned on Marshal Tessé that the siege of Gibraltar was a lost cause. “ Holding ‘the Rock’: The Siege of Gibraltar (September 1704-May 1705) heart-of-oak.org/2025/03/24/h...

Type 23 HMS Portland in South Georgia, 2010. Photo: LA(Phot) Ian Simpson/MOD

Stern view of the carrier HMS Ark Royal with Swordfish on the flight deck. Source: naviearmatori.net

Retreat into a safer zone seemed the rational choice, but admiral Hawke would simply not have it: “You have done your duty in showing me the danger! You are now to comply with my orders and lay me alongside the Soleil Royal.” -excerpt from my upcoming article about the Battle of Quiberon Bay-

Craving more naval history? Set sail for our website 👉 heart-of-oak.org/2025/04/27/c...

Leander-class frigate HMS Dido. Source: Hampshire Prints