THE LION IN THE NAVY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 138, 8 December 1938, Page 8

THE LION IN THE NAVY

The name of Lion chosen for one of our latest warships is a famous one in recent years, but it goes back 1o the earliest days of the Royal Navy and is one of the few names which have existed in identical form at the same time in the British and French Navies, says the "Manchester Guardian." A curious variant which was popular at one time was Lion's Whelp, and three hundred years ago ' there seem to have been (according to Clowes's "Royal Navy") no less than ten of these built about the same time. They were not expensive by modern standards, for they were of 185 tons and cost £3 5s a ton to build. But they were ill-fated in use, for only one survived into Commonwealth times. Sometimes the Lion was further named; there were Red Lions and Golden Lions at one time or another. Raleigh had a Lion of 100 tons in his second expedition under Grenville. One of the very first Lions in the Navy was taken from the Scots early in the sixteenth century. Just four hundred years ago, the Lion in the Navy was of 140 tons, carried 140 men, and had two iron cannon and 48 brass; she was rebuilt later on. In the reign of Elizabeth the size of the Lion had risen to 500 tons with 250 men, 36 heavy and 24 light guns.