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

After commissioning she spent her career escorting convoys of merchant ships, participated with the fleet, including the Battle Velez-Malaga in 1704.

[2] Newport was the second named vessel since its use for a 24-gun sixth rate launched at Portsmouth in 1694 and captured by the French on 5 July 1696 in the Bay of Fundy.

[3] She was ordered in the third batch of two ships to be built under contract by Thomas Ellis of Shoreham.

[5] She was commissioned as HMS Newport in 1699 under the command of Captain Salmon Morricw, RN for the North America and West Indies station through 1701; by 1702 she had been assigned to the fleet.