Medea-class destroyer

Class overview
Builders:	John Brown & Company Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company
Operators:	Royal Navy
Built:	1914–1915
In commission:	1915–1921
Completed:	4
Lost:	1
General characteristics
Type:	Destroyer
Displacement:	1,040 long tons (1,060 t)
Length:	273 ft 6 in (83.36 m)
Beam:	26 ft 6 in (8.08 m)
Draught:	10 ft 6 in (3.20 m)
Propulsion:	Yarrow-type water-tube boilers Brown-Curtis steam turbines 3 shafts 25,000 shp
Speed:	32 knots (37 mph; 59 km/h)
Endurance:	270 tons oil
Complement:	80
Armament:	3 × QF 4-inch (101.6 mm) Mark IV guns, single mounting P Mk. IX 1 × QF 2 pdr Mk.II, single mounting HA Mk.I 2 × twin 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes

The Medea class were a class of destroyers that were being built for the Greek Navy at the outbreak of World War I but were taken over and completed for the Royal Navy for wartime service. All were named after characters from Greek mythology as result of their Greek heritage.

The Medeas were a private design roughly similar to their various Royal Navy M-class contemporaries. They had three funnels, the foremost of which was taller, and unusually, the mainmast was taller than the foremast, giving rise to a distinctive appearance. They shipped three single QF 4 inch guns, one on the forecastle, one between the first two funnels and the third on the quarterdeck.

Ships

Bibliography

• Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893-1981, Maurice Cocker, 1983, Ian Allan ISBN 0-7110-1075-7
• Jane's Fighting Ships, 1919, Jane's Publishing