English ship Mermaid (1651)

Mermaid was a fifth-rate warship of the Commonwealth of England's naval forces, one of four such ships built under the 1651 Programme (the other three were Pearl, Primrose and Nightingale). Mermaid was the second vessel in the English Navy to bear this name, since it had been used for a galley captured in 1545 and listed until 1563. She was built under contract at Mathew Graves' shipyard at Limehouse, and was launched in July 1651. Her length on the gundeck was 105 feet 0 inches (32.0 metres) with a keel length of 86 feet 0 inches (26.2 metres) for tonnage calculation. The breadth was 25 feet 0 inches (7.6 metres) with a depth in hold of 10 ft 0 in (3.0 m). The tonnage was thus 28585⁄94 bm tons. She was completed at an initial contract cost of £1,852.10.0d (or £6.10.0d per ton for the anticipated 280 tons bm) per ton.

She was originally armed with 22 guns, comprising 18 demi-culverins on the single gundeck and 4 sakers on the quarterdeck, but by 1653 she had 26 guns (seemingly 4 more sakers added). After commissioning she spent her early career with Robert Blake's Fleet in action off Dover, at the Gabbard and at Scheveningen, and later in the Mediterranean.

After the Stuart Restoration in 1660 she was taken into the new English Royal Navy, becoming HMS Mermaid. she served mainly in Home Waters. After her first rebuild she served in Home Waters, North America, Mediterranean and the West Indies. After her second rebuild she served in Home Waters and the West Indies. Her break-up was completed at Deptford on 26 June 1734

Under the 1666 Establishment she carried twenty demi-culverins and eight sakers for 28 guns, she actually carried twenty-two demi-culverins, nine sakers and 2 3-pounders. Under the 1677 Establishment as a 32-gun vessel she carried eighteen demi-culverins, ten sakers and four minions. She was a 30-gun vessel under the 1685 Establishment with twelve demi-culverins, ten sakers, four saker cutts and four minions.