HMS M31
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.jpg) HMS Menelaus ( ex.HMS M31 ) 1942 |
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| history | |
| Ship type : | monitor |
| Class: | M29 class |
| Shipyard: | Harland & Wolff , Belfast |
| Keel laying: | March 1915 |
| Launch: | June 24, 1915 |
| Commissioning: | July 1915 |
| Whereabouts: | scrapped in 1948 |
| Technical specifications | |
| Displacement : | 580 ts maximum |
| Length: | 52 m |
| Width: | 9.4 m |
| Draft : | 2.1 m |
| Drive : | Yarrow oil - fired steam boiler 3-way expansion steam engine 2 screws, 400 HP (300 kW ) |
| Fuel supply: | Heating oil |
| Speed : | 10 kn (19 km / h ) |
| Range : | 1,440 nm at 8 kn |
| Crew : | 72 |
| Armament: | 2 x 152-mm - gun (2 x 1) 1 × 6-pounder - Flak |
HMS M31 was a monitor of the M29 class of the British Royal Navy in the First World War .
The availability of ten 6-inch Mk XII guns that the battleships of the Queen Elizabeth class were provided prompted the Admiralty in 1915 for the purchase of five monitors a scaled M15 class . This was designed to accommodate 9.2-inch guns . The HMS M30 and her sister ships were ordered from Harland & Wolff in Belfast in March 1915 . The M31 was laid down in March, launched on June 24, 1915 and put into service in July of the same year.
After its commissioning, the HMS M31 was sent to the Mediterranean and remained in service there until March 1919. From May to September 1919 she supported British and White Army movements in the White Sea before returning to Great Britain.
In September 1923, the HMS M31 was converted into a mine-layer with a capacity of 52 mines . After completion of the renovation work, it was baptized in December 1925 with the name HMS Melpomene and placed under the Torpedo School in Devonport . In November 1939 she was converted for torpedo training and received a 21-inch (533-mm) torpedo tube on the forecastle for this purpose .
In 1941 she was renamed HMS Menelaus and finally retired in 1948, sold and scrapped in Llanelly, Wales .
literature
- Frederick J. Dittmar, James J. Colledge: British Warships. 1914-1919. Ian Allen, London 1972, ISBN 0-7110-0380-7 .
- Randal Gray (Ed.): Conway's All The Worlds Fighting Ships. 1906-1921. Conway Maritime Press, London 1985, ISBN 0-85177-245-5 .
- Henry T. Lenton, James J. Colledge: Warships of World War II. Ian Allan, London 1980, ISBN 0-7110-0403-X .
- John Young: A Dictionary of Ships of the Royal Navy of the Second World War. Patrick Stephens Ltd, Cambridge 1975, ISBN 0-85059-332-8 .