HMS Castor
Encyclopedia
Four ships of the Royal Navy
have borne the name HMS Castor. Named after one of the Gemini twins
in Greek mythology
. Castor also means "he who excels".
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
have borne the name HMS Castor. Named after one of the Gemini twins
Castor and Pollux
In Greek and Roman mythology, Castor and Pollux or Polydeuces were twin brothers, together known as the Dioscuri . Their mother was Leda, but Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, king of Sparta, and Pollux the divine son of Zeus, who visited Leda in the guise of a swan...
in Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
. Castor also means "he who excels".
- HMS Castor was a 36-gun fifth-rateFifth-rateIn Britain's Royal Navy during the classic age of fighting sail, a fifth rate was the penultimate class of warships in a hierarchal system of six "ratings" based on size and firepower.-Rating:...
captured from the DutchNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
in 1781 by HMS Flora. One month later she was captured by the French Frippone off Cadiz. - HMS CastorHMS Castor (1785)HMS Castor was a 32-gun Amazon-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. The French briefly captured her during the Atlantic Campaign of May 1794 but she spent just 20 days in French hands as a British ship retook her before her...
was a 32-gun fifth-rate launched in 1785. She was briefly in French hands in 1794, but was recaptured. She was sold in 1819. - HMS CastorHMS Castor (1832)HMS Castor was a 36-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. .Castor was built at Chatham Dockyard and launched on 2 May 1832. She was one of a two ship class of frigates, built to an 1828 design by Sir Robert Seppings, and derived from the earlier Stag class. The Castor class had a further of...
was a 36-gun fifth-rate launched in 1832. In 1860 she became a training ship. She was sold in 1902. - HMS CastorHMS Castor (1915)HMS Castor was one of the Cambrian subclass of the C-class of light cruisers. Her sister ships were HMS Cambrian, HMS Canterbury, and HMS Constance...
was a C-classC class cruiserThe C class was a group of twenty-eight light cruisers of the Royal Navy, and were built in a sequence of seven classes known as the Caroline , Calliope , Cambrian , Centaur , Caledon , Ceres and Carlisle classes...
light cruiserLight cruiserA light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...
launched in 1915. She was sold in 1936.