Several ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Defence:
, launched in 1763, fought in many battles in the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. was a 74-gun ship of the line, built in 1815 and broken up in 1857. , launched in 1861, was an ironclad scrapped in 1935. , launched in 1907, was an armoured cruiser sunk at the Battle of Jutland. Defence, a Minotaur-class cruiser was launched in 1945 but work on her was suspended until 1954. In 1957 she was renamed .