HMS Asp

Four vessels of Britain's Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Asp, named after the Asp, which in antiquity referred to any one of several venomous snake species found in the Nile region.


 * HMS Asp (1797) was an Acute-class gunbrig (ex-GB No.5), launched in 1797 and disposed of in 1803. In 1798 she participated in Sir Home Popham's failed attack on Ostend. Because Agincourt served in the navy's Egyptian campaign between 8 March 1801 and 2 September, her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants.
 * HMS Asp (1808) was the French navy's corvette Serpent, under the command of Lieutenant de vaisseau Paul de Lamanon, when HMS Acasta (1797) captured her in 1808 off La Guaira, Venezuela. Rear-Admiral the Honourable Sir Alexander Cochrane provisionally named her Pert, but as there was already a brig HMS Pert (1804), the Admiralty named her HMS Asp (1808). The Royal Navy commissioned her as 16-gun sloop and disposed of her in 1814.
 * HMS Asp (1826) was a cutter that the Royal Navy purchased in 1826 and sold in 1829.
 * HMS Asp (1837) was a paddle steamer packet of 112 tons that the Admiralty acquired from the Post Office in 1837 and disposed of in 1881.