The present HMS Sutherland is the third ship to be so named. The first ship to bear the name of HMS Sutherland was originally launched as HMS Reserve at Deptford in March 1704. She was a 4th rate, 54 gun vessel. Renamed HMS Sutherland on 2 January 1716 she was employed as a hospital ship on the Mediterranean Station from May 1741. Condemned at Port Mahon (Menorca) on 10 March 1754 she was ordered to be broken up on 15 November 1754.

The second ship to be named HMS Sutherland was a 4th rate, 50 gun vessel. She was 138 ft long with a 38 ft beam. Built by Taylors of Rotherhithe she was launched on 15 October 1741. In February 1758, Admiral Boscawen (HMS Namur) was appointed to command an expedition against Louisbourg. He left Halifax on 28 May 1758 with a formidable fleet, including HMS Sutherland, and laid siege to Louisbourg on 13 June. Three of the French ships in the harbour were set ablaze and a further two cut out. Louisbourg surrendered on 26 July 1758.

In 1759 HMS Sutherland was part of a British Fleet, under the command of Vice Admiral Charles Saunders (HMS Neptune), being assembled at Louisbourg for the expedition against Quebec. In 1761 HMS Sutherland was part of the reinforcements for the Leeward Islands Station. She participated in the capture of Dominica on 8 June 1761. On 5 January 1762 she was a member of a fleet that captured Martinique on 16 February. Later that year HMS Sutherland was part of a fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir George Pocock (HMS Namur), Admiral Kepple, and his brother the Earl of Albermarle, which attacked and captured Havana on 14 August 1762. HMS Sutherland was paid off and sold in 1770.

The present HMS Sutherland, built by Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited on the Clyde, was launched on 9 March 1996 by Lady Christina Walmsley, wife of Sir Robert Walmsley. She was commissioned on 4 July 1997, and after a period of sea trials and training, deployed to the Falkland Islands for 6 months over the Winter of 1998/9. She deployed in May 2000 as part of a global task force - NTG2000; the first time the UK has sent a group of ships to go round the world since 1986.