HMS Precept (Z266) was a net laying ship for the Royal Navy during the Second World War acquired from the United States Navy in October 1944 via Lend-Lease.

The ship was laid down as Precept (YN-79), a net tender of the Ailanthus class, on 5 August 1943 at Barbour Boat Works in New Bern, North Carolina.

Precept was launched on 11 April and completed on 13 October.

After delivery to the U.S. Navy on 14 October, she was transferred to the United Kingdom under Lend-Lease the same day and commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Precept (Z266).

Upon completion of wartime duty with the United Kingdom, she arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, on 22 October 1945, and was returned to the U.S. Navy on 4 January 1946.