Five ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Mersey after the River Mersey in the north-west of England that has become synonymous with Liverpool.
The first HMS Mersey was a 'Conway' Class 26-gun Sixth-rate, launched in 1814. It was too late to see action in the Napoleonic War, though it nevertheless had a long and distinguished career that took it to Halifax Station in 1818, then joining the South American station in 1824 till its departure in 1827, when it was then deployed to the Caribbean station from that year until 1831. It was eventually broken up in 1852.
The second HMS Mersey was commissioned just six years after the first Mersey in 1858. Her and her sister ship HMS Orlando were the longest wooden warships built for the Royal Navy. At 336 feet in length, the HMS Mersey was nearly twice the size of HMS Victory, the flagship of Admiral Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar.
The third HMS Mersey was the name ship of her class of protected cruiser. They were relatively modern, in that they were the first cruisers that had discarded their sailing rigs in the design, that was synonymous with the old wooden warships, and were now solely steam powered warships. She was launched at Chatham, United Kingdom in March 1885, but had a relatively mundane career and was sold for breaking in 1905.
HMS Mersey was a Humber-class monitor of the Royal Navy. Originally built by Vickers for Brazil, she was purchased by the Royal Navy in 1914 on the outbreak of World War I along with her sister ships Humber and Severn. The three ships were the first of a new type of specialised shore-bombardment warships.
The fifth and current HMS Mersey is a River class offshore patrol vessel of the British Royal Navy. Named after the River Mersey, the ship is the first to bear the name in 84-years.