HMS Porcupine
Nine vessels of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy have been named HMS Porcupine, after the porcupine, a rodent belonging to the families Erethizontidae or Hystricidae.

 was a 16-gun sloop launched in 1743, purchased in 1746, and sold in 1763. She became the mercantile Minerva, which in 1768 traded between London and Africa.
 was a 24-gun post ship launched in 1777 and broken up in 1805. 
HMS Porcupine was a 16-gun sloop purchased in Jamaica in 1777 and sold in 1788.
 was a 22-gun post ship launched in 1807 and sold in 1816. 
HMS Porcupine was to have been a 28-gun sixth rate; ordered in 1819, she was canceled in 1832.
 was a wooden paddle wheel surveying vessel built at Deptford and sold in 1883.
 was a  launched by Palmers in 1895 that served in home waters and was sold in 1920.
 was a P-class destroyer launched in 1941 and torpedoed by  in the Mediterranean Sea in 1942. 
HMS Porcupine was to have been a survey ship, renamed in 1967 as HMS Barracouta, but the order was cancelled in 1967.

Citations

References

Royal Navy ship names