HMS Swan was the lead ship in the 14-gun Swan class of ship sloops, to which design 25 vessels were built in the 1760s and 1770s; she was launched on 21 November 1767. She bore the name HMS Explosion between 1779 and 1783 whilst being used as a fireship. She served during both the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolutionary War before being laid up in 1801; she was sold for disposal in 1814.