HMS Monmouth was an Intrepid-class 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Israel Pownoll and launched on 18 April 1772 at Plymouth.

[3] She was initially in the Caribbean, where she fought at the Battle of Grenada, before returning to Britain to join a special expedition under Commodore George Johnstone, to capture the Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope.

Monmouth, under her Captain James Alms, was sent on with several other warships to reinforce the East Indies station, and she went on to fight in a number of actions under Sir Edward Hughes against French fleets under the Bailli de Suffren.

Monmouth was ordered on 10 September 1767, one of the first batch of four ships of the Intrepid class, built to a design drawn up by Sir John Williams in 1765.

[4] Her first commander, Captain Thomas Collingwood, commissioned her for service in January 1778, and after fitting out she sailed for the Leeward Islands in June 1778 with the squadron under Vice-Admiral John Byron.

[4] She recommissioned in late 1780 under the command of Captain James Alms, and was immediately assigned to the squadron under Commodore George Johnstone.

[6] Johnstone sailed on his expedition from Spithead on 13 March 1781 in command of 46 ships and 3,000 troops under General Sir William Medows.

[6][7] He was surprised at anchor on 16 April by the unexpected arrival of Suffren's squadron, which had also not anticipated finding an enemy force at Porto Praya.

[10] Alms struggled with adverse winds and high incidences of sickness, eventually forcing him to leave the troopships on the coast of Arabia to bring his warships to reach India in time for the campaigning season.