HMS M27
Encyclopedia
HMS M27 was a First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
M15-class
M15 class monitor
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...
monitor. She was also served in the British intervention in Russia in 1919, and was scuttled
Scuttling
Scuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull.This can be achieved in several ways—valves or hatches can be opened to the sea, or holes may be ripped into the hull with brute force or with explosives...
in the Dvina River on the 16th September, 1919.
Design
Intended as a shore bombardment vessel, M27s primary armament was a single 9.2 inch Mk VI gunBL 9.2 inch gun Mk I - VII
The BL 9.2 inch guns Mk I - Mk VII were a family of early British heavy breechloading naval and coast defence guns in service from 1881 to the end of World War I...
removed from the HMS Theseus
HMS Theseus (1892)
HMS Theseus was an Edgar-class protected cruiser of the Royal Navy. The Edgars were basically smaller versions of the Blake class. Theseus was launched at Leamouth, London in 1892 and commissioned on 14 January 1896....
. In addition to her 9.2 inch gun she also possessed one 12 pounder
QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval gun
The QF 12 pounder 12 cwt gun was a common calibre naval gun introduced in 1894 and used until the middle of the 20th century. It was produced by Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick and used on Royal Navy warships, and exported to allied countries...
and one six pound anti-aircraft gun
QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss
The QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss was a light 57 mm naval gun and coast defence gun of the late 19th century used by many countries, and was adapted for use in the early British tanks in World War I.- Canada History :...
. 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 Emergency War Programme of ship construction. She was laid down at the Sir Raylton Dixon & Co.Sir Raylton Dixon
Sir Raylton Dixon , was a shipbuilder at Middlesbrough on the River Tees. He was one of the seven children of Jeremiah Dixon and Mary Frank of Cockfield, County Durham who were married on 21 July 1833 in St. Cuthberts, Darlington...
Ltd shipyard in March 1915, launched on 8 September 1915, and completed in November 1915.
World War 1
M27 served with the Dover PatrolDover Patrol
The Dover Patrol 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 Dover and Dunkirk for the duration of the First World War...
from December 1915 to December 1918. In early 1916, M27 had her main 9.2in gun removed, as it was required for artillery use on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
, and a QF 6 inches (152.4 mm) MK I/II gun from HMS Redoubtable was fitted in lieu. This was later replaced by a 6 inches (152.4 mm) MK VII gun
BL 6 inch Mk VII naval gun
The BL 6 inch Gun Mark VII was a British naval gun dating from 1899, which was mounted on a heavy traveling carriage in 1915 for British Army service to become one of the main heavy field guns in the First World War, and also served as one of the main coast defence guns throughout the British...
.
Russia
M27 next saw service, along with five other monitors (M23HMS M23
HMS M23 was a First World War Royal Navy M15-class monitor. After service in the Mediterranean and the Dover Patrol, she was also served in the British intervention in Russia in 1919...
, M25
HMS M25
HMS M25 was a First World War Royal Navy M15-class monitor. She was also served in the British intervention in Russia in 1919, and was scuttled in the Dvina River on the 16th September, 1919.-Design:...
, M31
HMS M31
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...
, M33
HMS M33
HMS M33 is an M29-class monitor of the Royal Navy built in 1915. She saw active service in the Mediterranean during World War I and in Russia during the Allied Intervention in 1919...
and HMS Humber
HMS Humber (1914)
HMS Humber was a Humber-class monitor of the Royal Navy. Originally built by Vickers for Brazil as the Javary, she was purchased by the Royal Navy in 1914 on the outbreak of the First World War along with her sister ships and ....
), which were sent to Murmansk
Murmansk
Murmansk is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland...
in May 1919 to relieve the North Russian Expeditionary Force. Prior to departure to Russia, M27 had her main armament replaced by a BL 4 inches (101.6 mm) triple Mk IX gun
BL 4 inch Mk IX naval gun
The BL 4-inch gun Mk IX was a British medium-velocity naval gun introduced in 1916 as secondary armament on the Renown class battlecruisers and Glorious class "large light cruisers", but which served most notably as the main armament on Flower class corvettes throughout World War II.-History:The...
, and her 12pdr (76mm) QF Mk 1 gun
QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval gun
The QF 12 pounder 12 cwt gun was a common calibre naval gun introduced in 1894 and used until the middle of the 20th century. It was produced by Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick and used on Royal Navy warships, and exported to allied countries...
replaced by a QF 3 inches (76.2 mm) AA gun
QF 3 inch 20 cwt
The QF 3 inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft gun became the standard anti-aircraft gun used in the home defence of the United Kingdom against German airships and bombers and on the Western Front in World War I. It was also common on British warships in World War I and submarines in World War II...
.
In June, 1919, M27 moved to Archangel
Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk , formerly known as Archangel in English, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea in the north of European Russia. The city spreads for over along the banks of the river...
and her shallow draught enabled her to travel up the Dvina River
Northern Dvina
The Northern Dvina is a river in Northern Russia flowing through the Vologda Oblast and Arkhangelsk Oblast into the Dvina Bay of the White Sea. Along with the Pechora River to the east, it drains most of Northwest Russia into the Arctic Ocean...
to cover the withdrawal of British and White Russian
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
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.