HMS ''M25'' was a

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, West ...

. She was also served in the British intervention in Russia in 1919, and was

scuttled Scuttling is the deliberate sinking of a ship. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vessel from becoming a navigation hazard; as an act of self-destruction to prevent the ship from being ...

in the Dvina River on 16 September 1919.

Design

Intended as a shore bombardment vessel, ''M25''s primary armament was a single 9.2 inch Mk VI gun removed from the HMS ''Endymion''. In addition to her 9.2-inch gun she also possessed one 12 pounder and one six-pounder anti-aircraft gun. She was equipped with a four-shaft Bolinder four-cylinder semi-diesel engine with 640 horsepower that allowed a top speed of eleven knots. The monitor's crew consisted of sixty-nine officers and men.

Construction

HMS ''M25'' ordered in March, 1915, as part of the War Emergency Programme of ship construction. She was laid down at the Sir Raylton Dixon & Co. Ltd shipyard in March 1915, launched on 24 July 1915, and completed in September 1915.

World War 1

''M25'' served with the

Dover Patrol The Dover Patrol and later known as the Dover Patrol Force 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 Dove ...

from September 1915 to June 1918. In early 1916, ''M25'' had her main 9.2in gun removed, as it was required for artillery use on the Western Front, and a BL MK III gun from HMS ''Swiftsure'' was fitted in lieu.

Russia

''M25'' next saw service, along with five other monitors ( ''M23'', ''M27'', ''M31'', ''M33'' and HMS ''Humber''), which were sent to

Murmansk Murmansk (Russian: ''Мурманск'' lit. "Norwegian coast"; Finnish: ''Murmansk'', sometimes ''Muurmanski'', previously ''Muurmanni''; Norwegian: ''Norskekysten;'' Northern Sámi: ''Murmánska;'' Kildin Sámi: ''Мурман ланнҍ'') ...

in May 1919 to relieve the

North Russian Expeditionary Force The North Russia intervention, also known as the Northern Russian expedition, the Archangel campaign, and the Murman deployment, was part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War after the October Revolution. The intervention brought ...

. In June 1919, ''M25'' moved to

Archangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the hierarchy of angels. The word ''archangel'' itself is usually associated with the Abrahamic religions, but beings that are very similar to archangels are found in a number of other relig ...

and her shallow draught enabled her to travel up the Dvina River to cover the withdrawal of British and White Russian forces. ''M25'' and her sister ship ''M27'' were unable to be recovered when the river level fell and were scuttled on 16 September 1919 after running aground.

References

* *Dittmar, F. J. & Colledge, J. J., "British Warships 1914–1919", (Ian Allan, London, 1972), {{DEFAULTSORT:M25 M15-class monitors 1915 ships World War I monitors of the United Kingdom Royal Navy ship names Shipwrecks in rivers Shipwrecks of Russia Scuttled vessels Maritime incidents in 1919