M15 class monitor

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Class overview
Name: M15
Operators: RN Ensign Royal Navy
Succeeded by: M29 class monitor
In service: 1915 - 1959
Completed: 14
Lost: 4
General characteristics
Type: monitor
Displacement: 540 tons
Length: 177 ft 3 in (54.0 m)
Beam: 31 ft (9.4 m)
Draught: 6 ft 9 in (2.1 m)
Propulsion: 2 shafts
Triple expansion
800 hp
4 shaft
Bolinder 4 cylinder semi-diesel
640 hp
4 shafts
Campbell 4 cylinder paraffin engines
560 bhp
Speed: 11 knots
Complement: 69
Armament: 1 x 9.2 inch (23.4 cm) gun; 1 x 12pdr (76mm) QF Mk 1 gun; 1 x 6 pdr (57mm) QF MK 1 AA gun

The M15-class comprised fourteen monitors of the Royal Navy, all built and launched during 1915.

Contents

[edit] Design

The ships of this class were ordered in March, 1915, as part of the Emergency War Programme of ship construction. They were designed to utilise the 9.2 inch Mk VI gun turrets removed from the Edgar Class and the Mk X turrets held in stock for the Drake class and Cressy class cruisers. This resulted in the first four of the class, which were built by William Gray and Company of Hartlepool, receiving the Mk X mounting. The remaining ten ships, all built by Sir Raylton Dixon & Co., Middlesborough, all received the Mk VI mounting. During September 1915, the 9.2 inch guns of HMS M24, M25, M26 and M27 were removed for use as artillery. These were replaced by 7.5 inch (M24 to M26) and 6 inch (M27) guns. HMS M21 and HMS M23 also had their 9.2 inch gun removed in 1917, receiving 7.5 inch guns.

The class also used a mixture of propulsion methods. HMS M21 and M22 were fitted with conventional Triple expansion steam engines, M24 was fitted with four cylinder paraffin engines, and the remainder received Bolinder four cylinder semi-diesel engines.

[edit] Service

HMS M25, M26, M27 and M28 served in the Dover Patrol from 1915 to 1918. The remainder served in the Mediterranean from 1915, with HMS M23 joining the Dover Patrol in June 1917 and HMS M21 in October 1917.

HMS M23, M24, M25 and M27 also served in support of British and White Russian forces in the White Sea in May to September 1919.

HMS M22 was converted to a minelayer in 1920, whilst HMS M23 became a drill ship, surviving until 1959.

[edit] Ships of the Class

[edit] References