PS Ryde was commissioned by Southern Railway in 1936 as a sister ship for PS Sandown. Costing £46,000 she was built by William Denny and Brothers in Dumbarton on Clydeside. After her launch on 23 April 1937 she replaced the PS Duchess of Norfolk on the Portsmouth to Ryde Pier passenger ferry service.

In 1939 PS Ryde and PS Sandown were requisitioned by the Royal Navy. She was renamed as HMS Ryde and initially both were used as Minesweepers in the Dover Straits. After two years Ryde was converted to an anti-aircraft ship and served on the Thames Estuary and at Harwich. In May 1944 she travelled to Portsmouth from where she embarked to the Normandy coast to take part in the naval component of Operation Neptune on D-Day.

Reverting to her to her pre-war name on her return to Southern Railway in August 1945 PS Ryde worked on her former route and undertook a variety of chartered trips. However the nationalised British Railways begun to commission more modern motor vessels and in 1969 it was decided to retire her.

Avoiding the scrap yard PS Ryde was bought by two Isle of Wight entrepreneurs and in September 1970 she began a new career as a nightclub. Renamed as the Ryde Queen she replaced the smaller PS Medway Queen in moorings at Binfield Marina on the River Medina near Newport.[1] In 1977 she caught fire but was repaired. However by the late 1980s her popularity waned and the nightclub was closed.