Ships Crests of the Royal Navy in World War 2

Click on any image to see full sized version. If you have a picture of a ships crest not shown here,
please send it to me for inclusion. Only WW2 ships please.

Today, every ship, submarine, shore establishment and Naval Air Squadron has its own unique badge. A ship's badge, not crest as they are often incorrectly referred to, and their name represents a piece of history in that it is not the first time that the badge or name would have appeared on a Royal Navy ship or submarine. For as long as there has been a navy ships have been named after other ships that previously existed. The Trafalgar class submarine HMS Turbulent for instance is the fifth unit to bear the name Turbulent. Ships names are usually allocated to the same class of ship, a good example of this is the name HMS Ark Royal that apart from the first that was 690 tonne 38 gun ship built for Sir Walter Raleigh all of the subsequent five have been aircraft carriers.

The first HMS Ark Royal did not have a Badge like the present Ark Royal but was identified by its figurehead as almost all ships were until the creation of steam powered ships. Although HMS Warrior, the first steam powered iron-clad warship that was launched in 1860, had a figurehead the new advancement in propulsion and protection forced a change that was soon to see the abandonment of the figurehead in warship design. The disappearance of the figurehead caused ships to find a new way of uniquely identifying themselves and soon all sorts of designs of badges proliferated. The adoption of badges by ships was done without direction from the Admiralty and thus there was no uniformity in the design of badges. Many Captains would fund the creation and design of their ship's badge with mixed results. Captains who had their own family Coat of Arms would assign this as the badge for the ship that they commanded and take the badge away from the ship when their command ended, causing the ship to create a new badge with which to identify herself. Extract from: http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.3650 The Navy say its a badge, not a crest! Well, as 99% of the planet call them crests, then I suppose they win the vote ?

*HMS Magpie*	*HMS Magpie (Unofficial)*	*HMS Woodpecker*	*HMS Kite*	*HMS Wild Goose*
*HMS Starling*	*HMS Starling (Unofficial)*	*HMS Wren*	*HMS Hood*	HMS Barbestel
*HMS Excellence (old)*	*HMS Excellent*	*HMS Liverpool*	*HMS Ocean*	*HMS Scorpion*
*HMS Sheffield*	*HMS Vanguard*	*HMS Victory*	*HMS Zest*	*HMS Charity*
*HMS Chequers*	*HMS Cheviot*	*HMS Chieftain*	*HMS Chivalrous*	*HMS Chevron*
HMS Campbell	HMS Gambia	HMS Tumult	HMS Keppel	HMS Fleetwood
HMS Whimbrel	HMS Sirius	HMS Biter	HMS Warspite	HMS Illustrious
HMS Implacable	HMS Greenwich	*HMS Nelson*	*HMS Wishart*	HMS Malaya
*HMS Termagant*	HMS Barfleur	HMS Apollo	HMS Colombo	HMS Marne
HMS Oswald	*HMS Thetis*	HMS Indomitable	HMS United	*HMS Belfast*
HMS Hermoine	HMS Tracker	HMS London	HMS Kent	HMS Waddon

Normally this page is just for Crests but Rose Kendall, Australia, sent me this photo of a model of HMS Implacable.
She also sent the crest above. The model was built by her father, ships joiner, and is 5 foot long, a masterpiece of modelling.