Orders for Fame's construction were issued by Admiralty in April 1756, in the months before the outbreak of the Seven Years' War against France.

She was designed by naval architect William Bately, newly appointed as co-Surveyor of the Navy alongside his more senior colleague Sir Thomas Slade.

It was Bately's first design for a vessel of this size, and borrowed heavily from Slade's specifications for the older 74-gun Dublin-class ships which were then under construction at England's Royal Dockyards.

Bately's drawings also drew inspiration from the dimensions and sailing qualities of the King's yacht Royal Caroline.

Consequently, despite some Navy Board misgivings regarding quality and cost, contracts for her construction were issued to a private shipwright, Henry Bird of Rotherhithe, for £17.2s per ton burthen and with an emphasis on completion and launch by May 1758.

[citation needed] On 6 July 1779, commanded by Captain John Butchart, Fame took part in the Battle of Grenada against the French.

[citation needed] In 1782, commanded by Captain Robert Barbor, she was one of a fleet of 36 ships of the line under Admiral Sir George Rodney, who flew his flag in Formidable.