HMS Atheling (D51) was a Royal Navy Ruler-class escort carrier of the Second World War. She was a US built ship provided under lend lease and returned to the US at the end of hostilities.

The Ruler-class of escort aircraft carriers served with the Royal Navy during the Second World War. All twenty-three ships were built by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation in the United States as Bogue-class escort carriers, supplied under Lend-Lease to the United Kingdom. They were the most numerous single class of aircraft carriers in service with the Royal Navy.