Four ships and two shore establishments of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 have borne the name HMS Forward:

Ships was a 12-gun gun-brig

Brig

A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...

 launched in 1805 and sold in 1815. was an Albacore class wooden screw gunboat

Gunboat

A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...

 launched in 1855 and sold in 1869. was a composite screw gunboat launched in 1877. She became a coal hulk in 1892 and was sold in 1904. was a Forward class

Forward class cruiser

The Forward class was a two ship class of scout cruiser serving with the Royal Navy in World War I, and consisting of the ships HMS Forward and HMS Foresight.-Design:...

 scout cruiser

Scout cruiser

A scout cruiser was a type of warship of the early 20th Century, which were smaller, faster, more lightly armed and armoured than protected cruisers or light cruisers, but larger than contemporary destroyers...

 launched in 1904 and sold in 1921.

Shore establishments was the name given to the Navy's base at Newhaven

Newhaven, East Sussex

Newhaven is a town in the Lewes District of East Sussex in England. It lies at the mouth of the River Ouse, on the English Channel coast, and is a ferry port for services to France.-Origins:...

. It was commissioned on 25 August 1939 and paid off in 1945.

• • HMS Forward II was the Coastal Forces base at Newhaven between 1941 and 1942, when it was renamed . is a Royal Naval Reserve
    Royal Naval Reserve
    The Royal Naval Reserve is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. The present Royal Naval Reserve was formed in 1958 by merging the original Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve , a reserve of civilian volunteers founded in 1903...
    
     unit and communications training centre in Birmingham
    Birmingham
    Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
    
    . It was commissioned in 1984 and is currently active.