Seven vessels of the Royal Navy have borne the name 'Vengeance'. The first, a 6th Rate 28-gun frigate, was captured by HMS Hussar from the French, off the Lizard in February 1758. The ship fought in one of the most celebrated battles in naval history and which proved to be a key event in the 7 Years War with France. French forces planned to invade Ireland supported by a sizeable fleet commanded by Admiral the Comte de Conflans. The British fleet, under Admiral Sir Edward Hawke encountered his force at Quiberon Bay on the 20th November 1759. In bitter fighting, dreadful weather and treacherous waters, the French were roundly defeated and at a stroke, Hawke dispelled the French threat of invasion. She remained in service until 1766.

The Seventh HMS Vengeance undergoing sea trial, early 1945. The second HMS Vengeance, a 3rd Rate 74-gun frigate was commissioned at Rotherhithe in June 1774. Having survived the Great Storm of 1780, albeit dismasted, she saw distinguished service in the West Indies during the French Revolutionary War. The ship was part of the squadron under Vice Admiral Jervis, which captured the Bienvenue in Port Royal Harbour, Martinique on the 22 March 1794, and later assisted in the capture of St Lucia in May 1796. From 1808 she was used a prison ship before being broken up at Portsmouth in January 1816.

To confuse matters, three ships bore the great name at the same time! The third vessel, a Dutch hoy used as a tender, was purchased by the admiralty on the 21st November 1793 and remained in service until 1804. The fourth HMS Vengeance, a 4th Rate 50-gun, was another French capture, this time by Seine in the Mona Passage on the 20th August 1800. She was stranded in 1801 and subsequently used as a prison hulk in Jamaica, prior to disposal in 1814.

Longest serving of the forebearers was the fifth ship, a 2nd Rate 84-gun, which commissioned at Pembroke Dock on the 27th July 1824 and then remained in Service in various roles until 1897. She was awarded the Battle Honour "Crimea" in 1854 and from 1861 was a receiving ship at Portsmouth.

HMS Vengeance at speed.
A Barracuda is 'landing on'. 

The first ironclad HMS Vengeance was the Canopus class battleship built by Vickers in Barrow and commissioned July 25th, 1899. She saw service during WW I in the Mediterranean and for a time in 1915 was Vice Admiral de Robeck's flagship during the Dardanelles campaign. Battleship to carrier, the last ship a Colossus class light Fleet carrier, was built in 1944 at Swan Hunter and entered service shortly before the end of WW II. Stationed with the British Pacific Fleet and then as Admiral Harcourt's flagship, she witnessed the surrender of Hong Kong on the 5th September 1945. Transferred to the Royal Australian Navy between 1952 and 1955, she was eventually sold to the Brazilian Navy in 1956, re-commissioning in 1960 as Minas Gerais. She remains in service today, having recently completed a major refit.