Three ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Tartarus, after Tartarus, from Greek mythology. A fourth was laid down, but never completed:
HMS Tartarus was an 8-gun bomb vessel, formerly the civilian Charles Jackson. She was purchased in 1797 and wrecked in 1804. Because Tartarus served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (8 March to 2 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal, which the Admiralty issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants.
HMS Tartarus was a 16-gun fireship launched in 1806. She was reclassified as a sloop from 1808 and was sold in 1816.
HMS Tartarus was a Tartarus-class paddle gunvessel launched in 1834 and broken up in 1860.
HMS Tartarus was to have been a Cormorant-class wooden screw gunvessel, laid down in 1860 and cancelled in 1864.
