HMS Cardigan Bay was a Bay-class anti-aircraft frigate of the British Royal Navy, named after Cardigan Bay, off the coast of Ceredigion, Wales. The ship was originally ordered from Henry Robb of Leith in 1943 as the Loch Laxford, and laid down on 14 April 1944 as Admiralty Job No. J11861. However the contract was then changed, and the ship was completed to a revised design as a Bay-class anti-aircraft frigate, and launched on 28 December 1944 as Cardigan Bay the first Royal Navy ship to carry the name. She was completed on 15 June 1945.