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> HMS Terrible

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/terrible

3. exciting terror, awe, or great fear; dreadful; awful.

4. formidably great.

I think it's a perfectly suitable name for a warship. The notion of "terrible" describing the inferior quality of something is a much more recent meaning, I believe.






Yeah, but compare "HMS Fanny" to "HMS Indefatigable."

Especially considering the British colloquial usage of "fanny" I think someone was in a particularly good mood that day.


That one I have no explanation for.



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