HMS Magpie

Nine ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Magpie, after the bird, the magpie:

• The first HMS Magpie (1806) was a 4-gun schooner launched in 1806 and captured by the French in 1807.
• The second HMS Magpie (1826) was a 5-gun schooner launched in 1826 and wrecked off Cuba two months later.
• The third HMS Magpie (1830) was a 4-gun cutter launched in 1830, used for dockyard service after 1845, being renamed YC6. She was in service until at least 1880, and was possibly sold in 1908.
• The fourth HMS Magpie (1855) was a Dapper-class screw gunboat launched in 1855 and wrecked in 1864.
• The fifth HMS Magpie (1868) was a Plover-class screw gunboat launched in 1868, used as a survey vessel after 1878, and sold in 1885.
• The sixth HMS Magpie (1889) was a Redbreast-class screw gunboat launched in 1889. She was used as a boom defence vessel from 1902, reverting to a gunboat in 1915, before being transferred for use as a depot ship later that year. She was sold in 1921.
• The seventh HMS Magpie (U82) was a Modified Black Swan-class sloop launched in 1943 and broken up after 1959.
• The eighth HMS Magpie (1982) was the trawler Hondo purchased in 1982 and used until 1996 for target practice.
• The ninth HMS Magpie (H130) is an inshore survey vessel, commissioned on 28 June 2018.

Battle honours

• Baltic 1855
• Benin 1897
• Atlantic 1943–1944
• Normandy 1944
• Arctic 1944