This page is a list of famous ships and sailors of the Royal Navy. The list is composed of famous sailors of the Royal Navy e.g. Horatio Nelson. The list also includes people who are famous and have served with the Royal Navy at some point e.g. Alec Guinness. This list also includes ships that have become famous in their own right, e.g. Mary Rose. Notable ships Mary Rose: sank in 1545 off Portsmouth, in the Battle of the Solent. Golden Hind: flagship of Sir Francis Drake's circumnavigation and raid on Spanish shipping. Ark Royal: flagship of English Fleet against the Spanish Armada. The last was an that saw action in the 2003 Iraq conflict. Revenge: actively engaged Spanish Armada; later became the subject of a poem by Lord Tennyson detailing her heroic fight against a large Spanish force in 1591. : Royal Navy research vessel commanded by Lieutenant James Cook on his first voyage of discovery. : scene of the famous mutiny. : Nelson's flagship. This ship is still officially in service and is the world's oldest commissioned warship and the flagship of the Second Sea Lord. : carried Charles Darwin on his voyage. : Britain's first iron hulled, armoured battleship. : first "all big-gun" battleship. : fought at Jutland and through the Second World War. : battlecruiser destroyed by the . : last battleship built for the Royal Navy & also ran aground in Portsmouth Harbour. : first British nuclear-powered submarine. : first British strategic ballistic missile submarine. : light aircraft carrier. : end of the Falklands War signed aboard. : The only nuclear-powered submarine to sink an enemy ship. Notable sailors In approximate chronological order. Sir Humphrey Gilbert Sir Martin Frobisher Sir Francis Drake Robert Blake George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle James, Duke of York (later James II) William Penn Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich George Anson, 1st Baron Anson Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke John Benbow Edward Boscawen George Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe Samuel Barrington Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood Richard Kempenfelt John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent James Cook Erasmus Gower James Saumarez, 1st Baron de Saumarez Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson The Prince William (later William IV) Sir Thomas Hardy, 1st Baronet Sir George Cockburn, 10th Baronet Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood Admiral Sir James Stirling Sir Sidney Smith Thomas Cochrane,