Admiralty M-class destroyer

HMS Pasley
Class overview
Operators:  Royal Navy
Preceded by: L-class destroyer
Succeeded by: R-class destroyer
Subclasses:
Built: 1914–1916
In commission: 1915–1923
Completed: 85
General characteristics
Displacement:
  • 994 long tons (1,010 t) standard
  • 1,042 long tons (1,059 t) full load
Length: 269 ft (82 m)
Beam: 27 ft 6 in (8.38 m)
Draught:
  • 8 ft 8 in (2.64 m) mean
  • 10 ft 6 in (3.20 m) maximum
Propulsion: 3 shafts, steam turbines, 25,000 shp (18,642 kW)
Speed: 34 knots (39.1 mph; 63.0 km/h)
Range: 237–298 tons fuel oil
Complement: 80
Armament:

The M class, more properly known as the Admiralty M class, were a class of 85 destroyers built for the Royal Navy that saw service during World War I. All ships were built to an identical - Admiralty - design, hence the class name (25 other vessels of the 'M' class were built to variant designs by three specialist builders Thornycroft, Yarrow, and Hawthorn Leslie).

The Admiralty design was based on the preceding L class and all ships had three identical narrow, circular funnels.

Ships of the pre-war (1913-14) Programme

Six vessels were built under the 1913-14 Naval Programme. These differed from the wartime vessels by being 1,010 tons full load, with slightly smaller dimensions.

Besides the above six vessels, three destroyers already under construction were purchased from Yarrow, two from Thornycroft and two from Hawthorn Leslie to these builders' individual designs, and these are listed in separate articles. Three further ships were projected under the 1914-15 Naval Programme - and named Marksman, Menace and Monitor; however these three ships were cancelled before being contracted to any specific builder, in favour of two Marksman-class leaders.

Ships of the Emergency War Construction Programme

All the following vessels were ordered in five batches as part of the War Emergency Programme. Wartime builds omitted the cruising turbines originally specified and carried by the pre-war sub-group. The funnel heights were also raised compared with the pre-war vessels, and the second 4 in gun was mounted on a bandstand, as with the earlier L-class destroyers. Partridge, Norman, Maenad, Ophelia and Observer were later fitted to carry a kite balloon.

Sixteen vessels were ordered in September 1914 (as well as four of the Yarrow M class), but part of their cost was met by the provision in the 1914-15 Programme for ten destroyers.

Nine further vessels were ordered in early November 1914 (as well as one further Yarrow M class).

Twenty-two further vessels were ordered in late November 1914.

Sixteen further vessels were ordered in February 1915 (as well as two more of the Thornycroft M class). The eight last-named below of these were of the Repeat M subgroup with raking stems compared with the straight stems of the previous sub-group, and the bows were moved flared to improve seakeeping qualities.

Sixteen final vessels were ordered in May 1915 (as well as two of the Thornycroft M class and two of the Yarrow M class). All to the Admiralty design were of the Repeat M subgroup with raking stems.

See also

Media related to Admiralty M class destroyer at Wikimedia Commons

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ https://books.google.ca/books?id=V2r_TBjR2TYC&pg=PA78&lpg=PA78&dq=admiralty+m+class+armament&source=bl&ots=wUu6GyfDLA&sig=2pZwu1iyfTNaDDrTP3SbTKpIwaM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZSr-VMDEF8XdsATKoYCQBQ&ved=0CDYQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=admiralty%20m%20class%20armament&f=false
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