HMS ''M27'' was a

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, Wes ...

. She was also served in the British intervention in Russia in 1919, and was

scuttled Scuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull, typically by its crew opening holes in its hull. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vesse ...

in the Dvina River on 16 September 1919.

Design

Intended as a shore bombardment vessel, ''M27''s primary armament was a single 9.2 inch Mk VI gun removed from the HMS ''Theseus''. In addition to her 9.2 inch gun she also possessed one 12 pounder and one six pound anti-aircraft gun. She was equipped with a four shaft Bolinder two cylinder semi-diesel engine with 560 horse power that allowed a top speed of eleven knots. The monitor's crew consisted of sixty nine officers and men.

Construction

HMS ''M27'' ordered in March, 1915, as part of the

War Emergency Programme War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of State (polity), states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or betwe ...

of ship construction. She was laid down at the Sir Raylton Dixon & Co. Ltd shipyard in March 1915, launched on 8 September 1915, and completed in November 1915.

World War 1

''M27'' served with the

Dover Patrol The Dover Patrol and later known as the Dover Patrol Force was a Royal Navy command of the First World War, notable for its involvement in the Zeebrugge Raid on 22 April 1918. The Dover Patrol formed a discrete unit of the Royal Navy based at Dov ...

from December 1915 to December 1918. In early 1916, ''M27'' had her main 9.2 in gun removed, as it was required for artillery use on the Western Front, and a QF MK I/II gun from HMS ''Redoubtable'' was fitted in lieu. This was later replaced by a MK VII gun.

Russia

''M27'' next saw service, along with five other monitors ( ''M23'', ''M25'', ''M31'', ''M33'' and HMS ''Humber''), which were sent to

Murmansk Murmansk () is a port city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast in the far Far North (Russia), northwest part of Russia. It is the world's largest city north of the Arctic Circle and sits on both slopes and banks of a modest fjord, Ko ...

in May 1919 to relieve the

North Russian Expeditionary Force The North Russia intervention, also known as the Northern Russian expedition, the Archangel campaign, and the Murman deployment, was part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War after the October Revolution. The intervention brought a ...

. Prior to departure to Russia, ''M27'' had her main armament replaced by a BL triple Mk IX gun, and her 12-pdr (76 mm) QF Mk 1 gun replaced by a QF AA gun. In June, 1919, ''M27'' moved to

Archangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the Catholic hierarchy of angels, based on and put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the 5th or 6th century in his book ''De Coelesti Hierarchia'' (''On the Celestial Hierarchy'') ...

and her shallow draught enabled her to travel up the Dvina River to cover the withdrawal of British and White Russian forces. ''M27'' and her sister ship ''M25'' were unable to be recovered when the river level fell and were scuttled on 16 September 1919 after running aground.

Citations

References

* *Dittmar, F. J. & Colledge, J. J., "British Warships 1914-1919", (Ian Allan, London, 1972), {{DEFAULTSORT:M27 M15-class monitors 1915 ships World War I monitors of the United Kingdom Royal Navy ship names Shipwrecks in rivers Shipwrecks of Russia Scuttled vessels Maritime incidents in 1919