Primrose 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 , and ). She was built under contract at Captain John Taylor's shipyard at Wapping, and was launched in July 1651. Her length on the keel was for tonnage calculation. The breadth was with a depth in hold of . The tonnage was thus 287<small></small> bm tons. She was completed at an initial contract cost of ã1,865.10.0d (or ã6.10.0d per ton for the 287 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 in the English Channel, searching for Spanish frigates. On 13 March 1656 the Primrose grounded on the Seven Stones Reef off Land's End and foundered.