M29-class monitor

The M29 class comprised five monitors of the Royal Navy, all built and launched during 1915.

Class overview
Name	M29-class monitor
Operators	Royal Navy
Preceded by	M15 class
Succeeded by	Erebus class
Completed	5
Lost	1
Preserved	1
General characteristics
Class and type	Monitor
Displacement	535 tons
Length	170 ft (52 m)
Beam	31 ft (9.4 m)
Draught	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Propulsion	Triple expansion Twin screw propellers Yarrow oil fuel 45 tons boilers 400 hp (300 kW)
Speed	10 knots (19 km/h)
Complement	75
Armament	2 × BL 6-inch (152.4 mm) Mk XII guns 1 × 6-pounder AA 1 × 3-inch (76 mm) AA gun for M31 and M33
Armour	1–3 in magazine box protection 2.25 in belt 1 in deck, turrets and bulkheads

The ships of this class were ordered in March, 1915, as part of the Emergency War Programme of ship construction. The contract for construction was granted to Harland & Wolff, Belfast, who sub-contracted the construction of M32 and M33 to Workman, Clark and Company.

The main armament of the ships, two 6-inch Mk XII guns, came from guns originally intended for the five Queen Elizabeth-class battleships which became surplus when their aft casemate mountings turned out to be unworkable and were dispensed with.

Ships of the class

• HMS M29 – launched on 22 May 1915 and later renamed Medusa and Talbot, she was sold in 1946.
• HMS M30 – launched on 23 June 1915, and sunk on 14 May 1916.
• HMS M31 – launched on 24 June 1915, and broken up for scrap in 1948.
• HMS M32 – launched on 22 May 1915, and sold in January 1920.
• HMS M33 – launched on 22 May 1915, is one of a number of World War I-era warships in existence today and is located in dry-dock near HMS Victory at Portsmouth Naval Base. It has been restored and is open to public.

References

Bibliography

• Bacon, Reginald (1919). The Dover Patrol 1915-1917. (2 vols.). New York: George H. Doran Co. Vol. 1 • Vol. 2
• Buxton, Ian (2008) [1978]. Big Gun Monitors: Design, Construction and Operations 1914–1945 (2nd Revised ed.). Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84415-719-8.
• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• Crossley, Jim (2013). Monitors of the Royal Navy; How the Fleet Brought the Great Guns to Bear. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword. 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
• Dunn, Steve R (2017). Securing the Narrow Sea: The Dover Patrol 1914–1918. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-251-6.
• Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One: Guns, Torpedoes, Mines and ASW Weapons of All Nations; An Illustrated Directory. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
• Gray, Randal (ed), "Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921", (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1985), ISBN 0-85177-245-5
• Parkes, Oscar; Prendergast, Maurice, eds. (1969) [First published 1919]. Jane's Fighting Ships 1919. New York: Arco Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0-71534-716-4. OCLC 1902851. Retrieved 23 December 2019. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)