Sir John Munden (c. 1645 – 13 March 1719) was a rear-admiral in the Royal Navy who was dismissed from the service for having failed to engage a French fleet, despite having been acquitted by a court-martial of any misconduct in the matter.

[6] Early in the reign of Queen Anne, in April 1702, it was learned that the French were planning to send a convoy from Corunna to the West Indies and Mexico, carrying the Duke of Alburquerque and a number of troops.

Learning soon after of the expected approach of thirteen French men-of-war from La Rochelle, he positioned his fleet to intercept and sighted them off Cape Ortegal on 28 May.

Consequently, having cruised the area until running short of provisions, the British fleet headed home on 20 June, with nothing to show for the expedition but two captured merchantmen from Martinique.

In what John Knox Laughton describes as "a singular and harsh exercise of the prerogative,"[3] he was "discharged from his post and command in the royal navy" on 10 August 1702.

[8] This decision was justified in the Annals of Queen Anne thus: For though Sir John behaved himself worthily on all other occasions, and even acted to the best of his knowledge on this, yet the least appearance of misconduct deserves censure in the beginning of a new reign; for a vigorous inflicting of punishments contributes no less to the establishment of a throne than an equal and generous dispensation of rewards.