HMS Kentish was a 40-gun fourth-rate frigate of the Commonwealth of England Navy, built by contract at Deptford (not in the Dockyard) and launched in November 1652. She was commissioned in early 1653 under Captain Jacob Reynolds and saw active service in the Battle of Portland on 18 February, and the Battle of the Gabbard from 2 June. Command was then passed to Captain Edward Witheridge, with Kentish returned to Chatham for the winter. In early 1654 she was assigned to the British squadron in the Mediterranean, where she remained until mid-1655. Her most famous action was on 4 April 1655 when she attacked a squadron of Tunisian warships lying in Porto Farina, on the Barbary Coast. She defeated both the ships and the on-shore fort to win her third battle honour.