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The seventh H.M.S. Thunderer was a steam picket boat which, in 1947, gave her name to the Royal Naval Engineering College at Manadon in Plymouth. The College was founded in 1876 and continued in existence until 1995 when it was closed by the Ministry of Defence. When memorabilia from the college were being distributed among other institutions and sites connected with the work of the college or affiliated to it, the Senior Inspecting Officer, a Times reader for many years, offered the newspaper the Thunderer crest which had been used by the band of the college as its front piece. A place for it was found in the paper’s archives.

There is no direct connection between the various H.M.S. Thunderers and The Times, but there have been points in history where the two names have been linked.

 The third H.M.S. Thunderer, a 74-gun third-rate, was launched on November 13, 1783. She took part in the Battle of Trafalgar, being stationed towards the rear of Admiral Collingwood’s squadron, and saw action in the battle. The ship was listed in Collingwood’s report of the battle, published in The Times on November 7, 1805. She was later in Duckworth’s squadron when the passage of the Dardanelles was forced in 1807 under fire from Turkish batteries. This H.M.S. Thunderer was broken up at Chatham in 1814.

In 1999 the name was revived when Southampton University successfully applied to use it when they created Thunderer Squadron, the home of the Engineering Sponsorship Scheme in the Royal Navy