HMS Hermes

There have been two ships in the Royal Navy that have borne the name HMS Hermes, after Hermes, the messenger god of Greek mythology.

• The first Hermes was the first purpose built fleet aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy, built just after the First World War.

• The second Hermes (R12) was the last of the postwar conventional aircraft carriers commissioned into the Royal Navy (1959), later serving in the Falklands War, then sold to the Indian Navy and recommissioned as INS Viraat.