The list of ship launches in 1976 includes a chronological list of ships launched in 1976. In cases where no official launching ceremony was held, the date built or completed may be used instead.

Date	Country	Builder	Location	Ship	Class and type	Notes
6 January	United States	Ingalls Shipbuilding	Pascagoula, Mississippi	John Young	Spruance-class destroyer	For United States Navy.
27 January	United Kingdom	Harland & Wolff	Belfast	Lepeta	Supertanker	For Shell Tanker Ltd.[1]
1 February	United States		San Diego, California	Rose City	San Clemente-class oil tanker
21 February	United States	Electric Boat	Groton, Connecticut	Omaha	Los Angeles-class submarine	For United States Navy.
1 March	United Kingdom	Vosper Thornycroft	Portsmouth	Ghanadhah	Ardhana-class patrol craft	For United Arab Emirates Navy.[2]
26 March	United States	Ingalls Shipbuilding	Pascagoula, Mississippi	Comte de Grasse	Spruance-class destroyer	For United States Navy.
28 March	Finland	Wärtsilä Helsinki Shipyard	Helsinki	Finnjet	Cruiseferry	For Finnlines.
3 April	United States	Newport News Shipbuilding	Newport News, Virginia	Memphis	Los Angeles-class submarine	For United States Navy.
14 April	United Kingdom	Swan Hunter	Wallsend	Glasgow	Type 42 destroyer	For Royal Navy.
12 May	United Kingdom	Yarrow Shipbuilders	Scotstoun	Broadsword	Type 22 frigate	For Royal Navy.
26 May	West Germany		Bremen	Bonn	Type "Europatanker" Ultra Large Crude Carrier	For Kosmos Bulkschiffahrt
25 June	France	Chantiers de l'Atlantique	Nantes	Batillus	Batillus-class supertanker
2 July	United Kingdom	Harland & Wolff	Belfast	Leonia	Supertanker	For Shell Tankers Ltd.[3]
8 July	United States	Ingalls Shipbuilding	Pascagoula, Mississippi	O'Brien	Spruance-class destroyer	For United States Navy.
9 July	United Kingdom	Charles Hill & Sons Ltd.	Bristol	Miranda Guinness	Tanker	For Arthur Guinness & Sons (Dublin) Ltd.[4]
31 July	United States	Newport News Shipbuilding	Newport News, Virginia	Mississippi	Virginia-class cruiser	For United States Navy.
14 August	Soviet Union	Severnaya Verf	Leningrad	Retivyy	Project 1135 large anti-submarine ship	For Soviet Navy.
27 August	West Germany	J. J. Sietas	Hamburg	Transgermania	Ferry	Poseidon Schiffahrts OHG.[5]
1 September	United States	Ingalls Shipbuilding	Pascagoula, Mississippi	Merrill	Spruance-class destroyer	For United States Navy.
25 September	United States	Bath Iron Works	Bath, Maine	Oliver Hazard Perry	Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate	For United States Navy.
28 September	West Germany	Nobiskrug	Rendsburg	Lunni	Product tanker
6 October	West Germany	Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft	Kiel	Shyri	Type 209 submarine	For Ecuadorian Navy.
9 October	United States	Electric Boat	Groton, Connecticut	Groton	Los Angeles-class submarine	For United States Navy.
13 November	Peru	Servicio Industrial de la Marina	Callao	Carvajal	Lupo-class frigate	For Peruvian Navy.
19 November	West Germany	Lürssen	Bremen	Meerkatze	Fishery protection vessel	For Bundesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Ernährung.
20 November	United Kingdom	Vickers Limited Shipbuilding Group	Barrow-in-Furness	Sceptre	Swiftsure-class submarine	For Royal Navy.
4 December	West Germany	AG Weser	Bremen	Wahran	Type "Europatanker" Ultra Large Crude Carrier	For Arab Maritime Petroleum Transport Company
11 December	United Kingdom	Harland & Wolff	Belfast	Lima	Supertanker	For Shell Tankers Ltd.[6]
17 December	France			Georges Leygues	Georges Leygues-class frigate	For French Navy.
18 December	Netherlands	Rijn-Schelde Machinefabrieken en Scheepswerven	Vlissingen	Kortenaer	Kortenaer-class frigate	For Royal Netherlands Navy.
23 December	Japan			Noshiro	Chikugo-class destroyer escort	For Japanese Navy.
28 December	United States	Ingalls Shipbuilding	Pascagoula, Mississippi	Briscoe	Spruance-class destroyer	For United States Navy.
Unknown date	United States			Cross Rip	Ferry	For Hy-Line.
Unknown date	Japan	Hitachi Zosen Corporation	Osaka	Esso Japan	Supertanker	For Esso
Unknown date	Norway			Thalassa Desgagnes	Double-hulled tanker	For Groupe Desgagné.