HMS Ruby was a 40-gun frigate of the Commonwealth of England, built by Peter Pett at Deptford.

She later served in the West Indies, and in 1683 was sent to the Leeward Islands to protect British settlements against Caribbean pirate raids.

In 1687, the English pirate Joseph Bannister was captured by the crew of Ruby and brought to Port Royal for trial.

The English Ruby was ordered by the Rump Parliament in May 1651, to be built at Deptford Dockyard under the guidance of Peter Pett.

The 1696 Survey listed her armament as twenty-two 12-pounder guns on the lower deck (instead of culverins), and only nineteen demi-culverins and no sakers.

Ruby was part of Robert Blake's squadron in Rye Bay that participated in the Battle of Dover on 19 May 1652.

[8] On 18 February 1653 she was with Blake's fleet during the Battle of Portland,[9] when her commander, Captain Houlding, was killed during the fight.

Ruby was a member of White Squadron, Centre Division at the Battle of the Gabbard on 2–3 June 1653.

[10] She was under the command of Captain Edmund Curtis prior to the Battle of Scheveningen off Texel on 31 July 1653.

[2] On 27 May 1661 she was under the command of Captain Robert Robinson with the Earl of Sandwich's Squadron at Tangier and Lisbon in 1662.

On 11 October 1664 she was under the command of Captain Sir William Jennings for the start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.

She was at the Battle of Lowestoft as a member of White Squadron, Center Division on 2 June 1665.

Captain Robinson took command again on 21 May 1668 to sail with Sir Thomas Allin's Squadron to the Mediterranean.

[24][21] She was commissioned in August 1688 under Captain Frederick Froud to sail with Dartmouth's Fleet in October 1688.

[25] In 1691 she came under Captain George Mees for cruising, then sailed with a convoy to the North Coast in April 1692.

In 1693 She came under the command of Captain Robert Dean and she sailed with Wheeler's Squadron in the West Indies.

She sailed with Mee's Squadron to the West indies where Captain Holmes died in July 1697.

She recommissioned in 1701 under Captain Richard Kirby and sailed with Admiral John Benbow's Squadron to the West Indies.

She was ordered to be rebuilt on 29 February 1704 At Deptford Dockyard under the guidance of Master Shipwright Joseph Allin.

[24] She was commissioned in 1706 under the command of Peregrine Bertie (5th son of Earl of Abingdon) to sail with Whitaker's Squadron.