HMS Dryad
From Free net encyclopedia
Eight ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Dryad, after the dryads of Greek mythology.
- The first Dryad was a 36-gun fifth-rate launched in 1795, sent to harbour service in 1832, and broken up in 1860.
- The second Dryad was a screw frigate laid down in 1860 but cancelled in 1864.
- The third Dryad was a wooden screw sloop launched in 1866 and broken up twenty years later.
- The fourth Dryad was a torpedo gunboat launched in 1893 and renamed HMS Hamadryad in 1918 before being sold for scrapping in 1920.
- The fifth Dryad was a light cruiser ordered in 1918 but cancelled later that year before she had been launched.
- The current Dryad is part of the Royal Navy's Maritime Warfare School, and is a 300 acre (1.2 km²) stone frigate located at Southwick near to Portsmouth. As of late 2004 the land base HMS Dryad was closed. Its former site is now known as Southwick House and houses the Tri-Service police forces