M15-class monitor
{{Use British English|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=HMS M21 WWI IWM SP 2030.jpg |Ship caption=HMS M21 }} {{Infobox ship class overview |Name=M15 class |Builders=
|Operators={{navy|United Kingdom}} |Class before={{sclass|Gorgon|monitor|4|warship}} |Class after={{sclass|M29|monitor|4|warship}} |Subclasses= |Cost= |Built range= |In service range= 1915–1959 |In commission range= |Total ships building= |Total ships planned= |Total ships completed=14 |Total ships cancelled= |Total ships active= |Total ships laid up= |Total ships lost=3 |Total ships retired= |Total ships preserved= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship type=Monitor |Ship displacement=540 tons |Ship length={{convert|177|ft|3|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|31|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught={{convert|6|ft|9|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship power= |Ship propulsion=*2 shafts
|Ship speed={{convert|11|kn|lk=in}} |Ship range= |Ship endurance= |Ship complement=69 |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=
|Ship armour= |Ship armor= |Ship notes= }} |
The M15 class comprised fourteen monitors of the Royal Navy, all built and launched during 1915.
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 use the 9.2 inch Mk VI gun turrets removed from the {{sclass|Edgar|cruiser|4}} and the Mk X turrets held in stock for the {{sclass|Drake|cruiser|0}} and {{sclass|Cressy|cruiser}}s. This resulted in the first four of the class, which were built by William Gray & Company of Hartlepool, receiving the Mk X mounting. The remaining ten ships, all built by Sir Raylton Dixon & Co., Middlesbrough, 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 guns. M24 and M25 received the spare guns reserved for the recently sunk pre-dreadnought battleship {{HMS|Triumph|1903|2}}, M26 received one of Swiftsure{{'}}s spare guns. M27 received 6-inch (M27) guns.
M21 and M23 also had their 9.2-inch gun removed in 1917, receiving 7.5-inch guns from the decommissioned pre-dreadnought {{HMS|Swiftsure|1903|2}}.
The class used a mixture of propulsion methods. 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.
Admiral Reginald Bacon, who had commanded several of the M15 class in the Dover Patrol, wrote about his experiences with the ships of the patrol in 1919. While generally positive about the performance of the design, he noted that they had a tendency to roll, using a specific occasion with M25 as an example;
:"The M25, while in the mouth of the Thames at anchor, rolled 180 degrees in ten seconds - that is, she made two complete rolls of 45 degrees each way, each occupying only five seconds."{{sfn|Bacon|1919|loc=vol 1, p. 67}}
Service
M25, M26, M27 and M28 served in the Dover Patrol from 1915 to 1918. The remainder served in the Mediterranean from 1915, with M23 joining the Dover Patrol in June 1917 and M21 in October 1917.
As part of the intervention into the Russian civil war M23, M24, M25 and M27 served in support of British and White Russian forces in the White Sea in May to September 1919.
M22 was converted to a minelayer in 1920, whilst M23 became a drill ship, surviving until 1959.
Ships of the class
- M15 - launched on 28 April 1915 and sunk by {{SMU|UC-38||2}} on 11 November 1917.
- M16 - launched on 3 May 1915 and sold 29 January 1920.
- M17 - launched on 12 May 1915 and sold 12 May 1920.
- M18 - launched on 15 May 1915 and sold 29 January 1920.
- M19 - launched on 4 May 1915 and sold 12 May 1920.
- M20 - launched on 11 May 1915 and sold 29 January 1920.
- M21 - launched on 27 May 1915 and mined 20 October 1918.
- M22 - launched on 10 June 1915, renamed Medea 1925 and sold December 1938
- M23 - launched on 17 June 1915, renamed Claverhouse 1922 and sold 1959
- M24 - launched on 9 August 1915 and sold 29 January 1920.
- M25 - launched on 24 July 1915 and scuttled 16 September 1919
- M26 - launched on 24 August 1915 and sold 29 January 1920.
- M27 - launched on 8 September 1915 and scuttled 16 September 1919
- M28 - launched on 28 June 1915 and sunk during the Battle of Imbros 20 January 1918
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book |last=Bacon |first=Reginald |author-link=Reginald Bacon |title=The Dover Patrol 1915-1917 |year=1919 |others=(2 vols.) |publisher=George H. Doran Co. |location=New York}} [https://archive.org/stream/doverpatrol01bacogoog#page/n6/mode/2up Vol. 1] • [https://archive.org/stream/doverpatrol00bacogoog#page/n10/mode/2up Vol. 2]
- {{cite book |last1=Buxton |first1=Ian |title=Big Gun Monitors: Design, Construction and Operations 1914–1945 |location=Barnsley, UK |publisher=Seaforth Publishing |year=2008 |orig-year=1978 |edition=2nd Revised |isbn=978-1-84415-719-8 }}
- {{cite book |last1=Crossley |first1=Jim |title=Monitors of the Royal Navy; How the Fleet Brought the Great Guns to Bear |location=Barnsley, UK |publisher=Pen & Sword |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-78383-004-6 }}
- Dittmar, F. J. & Colledge, J. J., "British Warships 1914-1919", (Ian Allan, London, 1972), {{ISBN|0-7110-0380-7}}
- {{cite book |last1=Dunn |first1=Steve R |title=Securing the Narrow Sea: The Dover Patrol 1914–1918 |location=Barnsley, UK |publisher=Seaforth Publishing |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-84832-251-6 }}
- {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=Naval Weapons of World War One: Guns, Torpedoes, Mines and ASW Weapons of All Nations; An Illustrated Directory|publisher= Seaforth Publishing|location=Barnsley|year=2011|isbn=978-1-84832-100-7 |author-link=Norman Friedman}}
- Gray, Randal (ed), "Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921", (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1985), {{ISBN|0-85177-245-5}}
- {{cite book |year=1969 |orig-year=First published 1919 |editor1-last=Parkes |editor1-first=Oscar |editor2-last=Prendergast |editor2-first=Maurice |title=Jane's Fighting Ships 1919 |journal=Fighting Ships |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/012202881 |location=New York |publisher=Arco Publishing Co |isbn=978-0-71534-716-4 |oclc=1902851 |access-date=23 December 2019 }}
External links
{{Commons category|M15 class monitor}}
{{M15 class monitors}}
{{WWI British ships}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:M15 Class Monitor}}