HMS M25 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, M25s primary armament was a single 9.2 inch Mk VI gun

BL 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 Endymion

HMS Endymion (1891)

HMS Endymion was a first class cruiser of the Edgar class. She was launched on 22 July 1891. She took part in suppressing the Boxer Rebellion in China, during which time future rear admiral and VC recipient Eric Gascoigne Robinson served aboard her...

. 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 four cylinder semi-diesel engine with 640 horse power 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 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 24 July 1915, and completed in September 1915.

World War 1

M25 served with the Dover Patrol

Dover 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 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

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 BL 7.5 inches (190.5 mm) MK III gun from HMS Swiftsure

HMS Swiftsure (1903)

HMS Swiftsure was the lead ship of the Swiftsure class of British predreadnought battleships.-Technical Characteristics:HMS Swiftsure was ordered by Chile as Constitución and laid down by Armstrong Whitworth at Elswick...

 was fitted in lieu.

Russia

M25 next saw service, along with five other monitors (M23

HMS 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...

, M27

HMS M27

HMS M27 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.

In June, 1919, M25 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. 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.