HMS Maidstone was a member of the standardized 20-gun sixth rates built at the end of the 17th century.

After commissioning she spent her career between Home Waters and North America with junkets to the West Indies and once to the Mediterranean.

Maidstone was the second named vessel since it was used for a 40-gun ship launched by Mundy at Woodbridge in 1545, renamed Mary Rose in 1660 during the restoration of the Monarchy, she was captured by the French in the Atlantic on 12 July 1691.

[1] She was ordered in the First Batch of four ships from Chatham Dockyard to be built under the guidance of their Master Shipwright, Robert Lee.

[2] She was commissioned on 1 January 1694 under the command of Captain John Tuckey, RN for service in the English Channel.