HMS Rattler

Eight ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Rattler:

• HMS Rattler (1783) was a 16-gun sloop launched in 1783 and sold in 1792. She then made two voyages as a whaler and two voyages as a slave ship before she was condemned as unseaworthy in 1802.
• HMS Rattler (1793) was a hired cutter serving from 1793 until 1796 until the Navy purchased her and renamed her HMS Sparrow. Sparrow was broken up in 1805.
• HMS Rattler (1795) was a 16-gun sloop launched in 1795 and sold in 1815.
• HMS Rattler (1797) was a 12-gun gunvessel purchased from civilian service in 1797, where she was known as Hope. She was alternatively known as 'Gunboat No. 41', and was sold in 1802.
• HMS Rattler (1843) was a wood screw sloop launched in 1843. It had been planned to name her HMS Ardent, but this was dropped in 1842. She was broken up in 1856.
• HMS Rattler (1862) was a wood screw sloop launched in 1862 and wrecked in 1868.
• HMS Rattler (1886) was a composite screw gunboat launched in 1886. She was used for harbour service from 1910, and as a training ship from 1919, when she was renamed HMS Dryad. She was sold in 1924.
• HMS Rattler (J217) was an Algerine-class minesweeper launched in 1942 and was renamed HMS Loyalty in 1943; a German submarine sank her in 1944.