Six ships 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 Griffon, an alternative spelling of the legendary creature

Legendary creature

A legendary creature is a mythological or folkloric creature.-Origin:Some mythical creatures have their origin in traditional mythology and have been believed to be real creatures, for example the dragon, the unicorn, and griffin...

, the Griffin

Griffin

The griffin, griffon, or gryphon is a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle...

. Another ship was planned, but later cancelled and reordered from a different dockyard:
was a 28-gun sixth rate launched in 1758 and wrecked in 1761. was a 16-gun brig-sloop, previously a French ship. She was captured in 1808 and sold in 1819.

• HMS Griffon was to have been a 10-gun Cherokee-class
  Cherokee class brig-sloop
  The Cherokee class was a 10-gun class of brig-sloops of the Royal Navy. Brig-sloops are sloops-of-war with two masts rather than the three masts of ship-sloops...
  
   brig-sloop, ordered in 1820 but cancelled in 1828 and reordered, this time from Chatham Dockyard
  Chatham Dockyard
  Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...
  
  . was a 10-gun Cherokee-class brig-sloop launched in 1832. She was on harbour service from 1854, was used as a coal hulk from 1857 and was broken up in 1869. She was listed as HMS Griffin from 1858. was a wooden screw gunvessel
  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 1860 and stranded after a collision in 1866. was a composite screw gunvessel launched in 1876 and sold to the Board of Trade
  Board of Trade
  The Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...
  
   in 1891 as the hulk Richmond. was an Earnest-class
  Earnest class destroyer
  Six Earnest-class destroyers served with the Royal Navy: Earnest, Griffon, Locust, Panther, Seal and Wolf. These ships were all built by Cammell Laird and were part of the class of 'thirty knotters'....
  
   destroyer
  Destroyer
  In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
  
   launched in 1896, reclassified as a B-class
  B class destroyer (1913)
  The B class as designated in 1913 was a heterogeneous group of torpedo boat destroyers built for the Royal Navy in the late 1890s. They were constructed to the individual designs of their builders to meet Admiralty specifications, the uniting feature being a specified top speed of and 4 funnels,...
  
  destroyer in 1913 and sold in 1920.