HMS Africa was a 64-gun third rate Essex-class ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched in 1761 and in active service during the latter half of the Seven Years' War against France and Spain.

They were intended to be slightly larger versions of HMS Asia, also designed by Slade but still under construction at the time Africa was launched.

Admiralty orders for her construction were issued on 31 December 1758, as part of a general Royal Navy expansion following France's declaration of war earlier in that year.

[2][3] The new third-rate was commissioned in September 1761 under Captain Alexander Hood, and assigned to Britain's Mediterranean fleet under Admiral Edward Hawke.

She remained at this station for the remainder of the war, returning to England in April 1763 after the Treaty of Paris brought formal hostilities to a close.