HMS Gnat
Four ships of the British
Royal Navy
have been named
HMS
Gnat
after the
insect
.
The first
HMS
Gnat
(1856)
was a
Cheerful
-class
gunboat
built at Laird's shipyard and launched on 10 May 1856. She was broken up in August 1864.
The second
HMS
Gnat
(1867)
was a composite screw gunvessel launched at
Pembroke Dockyard
on 26 November 1867. She was wrecked on
Balabac Island
in the
South China Sea
on 11 November 1868.
The third
HMS
Gnat
(1906)
was a small coastal
destroyer
launched by
Thornycroft
at
Chiswick
on 1 December 1906 and sold for scrapping on 9 May 1921.
The most recent
HMS
Gnat
(T60)
was an
Insect-class
gunboat launched by
Lobnitz and Co. Shipyard
at
Renfrew
in
Scotland
on 3 December 1915. She was
torpedoed
by a
submarine
on 21 October 1941 and beached at
Alexandria
, where she was converted to a fixed
anti-aircraft
platform. She was broken up in 1945.