HMS Rippon was a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, designed by Sir Joseph Allin and built by Israel Pownoll at Woolwich Dockyard to the draught specified by the 1745 Establishment as amended in 1752, and launched on 20 January 1758.

[1] Under Captain Edward Jekyll, Rippon took part in the unsuccessful attack on Martinique in January 1759.

[2] While patrolling off Brest on 10 March 1761, Rippon chased and engaged the French ship of the line Achille, suffering heavy losses when a gun exploded during the action.

Early on the morning of 10 August 1778, Sir Edward Vernon's squadron, consisting of Rippon (Vernon's flagship), Coventry, Seahorse, Cormorant, and the East India Company's ship Valentine, encountered a French squadron under Admiral François l'Ollivier de Tronjoly which consisted of the 64-gun ship of the line Brillant, the frigate Pourvoyeuse and three smaller ships, Sartine, Lawriston, and Brisson.

Sartine had been patrolling off Pondichery with Pourvoyeuse when they sighted two East Indiamen, which were sailing blithely along, unaware of the outbreak of war.