HMS Norfolk was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, and the second ship to bear the name. She was launched on 8 December 1757 at Deptford Dockyard. Her first commander was Captain Robert Hughes and she flew the broad pennant of Commodore Sir Peircy Brett. Norfolk emulated her predecessor (HMS Norfolk of 1693) by reinforcing the West Indies, where she escorted a fleet that was transporting vital stores and six infantry regiments to that region.