HMS M31

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'M.31' in the Mediterranean RMG PU6337.jpg
Painting of M31 in 1916
History
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameHMS M31
Ordered15 March 1915
Builder Harland & Wolff, Belfast
Yard number487
Laid downMarch 1915
Launched24 June 1915
Completed9 July 1915
FateSold 1948 and broken up at Llanelly
General characteristics
Class and type M29-class monitor
Displacement580 tons deep load
Length177 ft 3 in (54.03 m)
Beam31 ft (9.4 m)
Draught5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
PropulsionTriple expansion. Twin screws. Yarrow oil fuel 45 tons boilers. 400 hp (300 kW)
Speed10 knots (19 km/h)
Complement72
Armament
Armour6 inches on gun shield

HMS M31 was an M29-class monitor of the Royal Navy.

The availability of ten 6 inch Mk XII guns from the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships in 1915 prompted the Admiralty to order five scaled down versions of the M15-class monitors, which had been designed to utilise 9.2 inch guns. HMS M31 and her sisters were ordered from Harland & Wolff, Belfast in March 1915. Launched on 24 June 1915, she was completed in July 1915. Upon completion, HMS M31 was sent to the Mediterranean, and remained there until March, 1919.

In 1916, she defended the port city of Yanbo, in Saudi Arabia, against the Turkish army by providing artillery cover for the Arab rebels. [1] She served from May to September 1919 in support of British and White Russian forces in the White Sea, before returning to England.

In September 1923, HMS M31 was taken in hand for conversion to a minelayer. Equipped to carry 52 mines, she was renamed HMS Melpomene in December 1925. She was assigned to HMS Defiance the Torpedo School at Devonport. In September, 1939 she was converted to a torpedo training vessel, fitted with one 21 inch torpedo tube on the forecastle.

She was renamed HMS Menelaus in 1941, and was finally sold in 1948 and broken up at Llanelly.

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HMS M20 was a First World War Royal Navy M15-class monitor.

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HMS M22 was a First World War Royal Navy M15-class monitor. Later converted to a minelayer and renamed HMS Medea, she was wrecked whilst being towed for breaking up on 2 January 1939.

HMS M24 was a First World War Royal Navy M15-class monitor. After service in the Dover Patrol, she was also served in the British intervention in Russia in 1919. She was sold in mercantile service in 1920.

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References

  1. ↑ Lawrence, T.E. (1935). Seven Pillars of Wisdom . Garden City: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc. pp.  129-130.
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