The two Marshal Ney class monitors

Monitor (warship)

A monitor was a class of relatively small warship which was neither fast nor strongly armoured but carried disproportionately large guns. They were used by some navies from the 1860s until the end of World War II, and saw their final use by the United States Navy during the Vietnam War.The monitors...

 were built for the 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...

 during the 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...

Design and development

The need for monitors for shelling enemy positions from the English Channel

English Channel

The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...

 had become apparent only at the start of the war and they were designed with some haste. The design of monitors had been given by the Director of Naval Construction

Director of Naval Construction

The Director of Naval Construction was a senior British civil servant post in the Admiralty, that part of the British Civil Service that oversaw the Royal Navy. The post existed from 1860 to 1966....

 (DNC), Eustace Tennyson d'Eyncourt

Eustace Tennyson d'Eyncourt

Sir Eustace Henry William Tennyson-d'Eyncourt, 1st Baronet, KCB, FRS was a British naval architect and engineer. As Director of Naval Construction for the Royal Navy, 1912-24, he was responsible for the design and construction of some of the most famous British warships...

, to the Assistant Constructor, Charles S. Lillicrap (later himself to become DNC). By the time the Marshal Neys came about some 33 monitors of various sorts had already been ordered. The redesign of HMS Renown

HMS Renown (1916)

HMS Renown was the lead ship of her class of battlecruisers of the Royal Navy built during the First World War. She was originally laid down as an improved version of the s. Her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war on the grounds she would not be ready in a timely manner...

 and Repulse

HMS Repulse (1916)

HMS Repulse was a Renown-class battlecruiser of the Royal Navy built during the First World War. She was originally laid down as an improved version of the s. Her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war on the grounds she would not be ready in a timely manner...

 meant that there were now two modern 15-inch turrets available. The First Sea Lord

First Sea Lord

The First Sea Lord is the professional head of the Royal Navy and the whole Naval Service; it was formerly known as First Naval Lord. He also holds the title of Chief of Naval Staff, and is known by the abbreviations 1SL/CNS...

 Jackie Fisher and Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

, First Lord of the Admiralty decided these should be used for two more monitors, initially M 13 and M 14, but then renamed after the French Napoleonic War marshal

Marshal of France

The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...

s Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult

Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult

Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult, 1st Duke of Dalmatia , the Hand of Iron, was a French general and statesman, named Marshal of the Empire in 1804. He was one of only six officers in French history to receive the distinction of Marshal General of France...

 and Michel Ney

Michel Ney

Michel Ney , 1st Duc d'Elchingen, 1st Prince de la Moskowa was a French soldier and military commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was one of the original 18 Marshals of France created by Napoleon I...

.

For machinery the two monitors received diesel engine

Diesel engine

A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...

s, which were then a novelty - the majority of ships being steam powered. The use of diesels meant that they had no need of boiler rooms which went well with a low draught nor large funnels which reduced the amount of superstructure. These engines were originally designed for much smaller freighters and therefore they proved particularly slow and unreliable.

The turret was on multi-sided barbette

Barbette

A barbette is a protective circular armour feature around a cannon or heavy artillery gun. The name comes from the French phrase en barbette referring to the practice of firing a field gun over a parapet rather than through an opening . The former gives better angles of fire but less protection...

 made of individual flat plates, cutting down on the build time. The 4 inches (102 mm) guns were disposed along her sides for protection from smaller vessels, the 3 inches (76 mm) guns being for anti-aircraft use.

Ships

• Marshal Soult
  HMS Marshal Soult
  HMS Marshal Soult was a Royal Navy Marshal Ney class monitor constructed in the opening years of the First World War. Laid down as M14, she was named for the French general of the Napoleonic Wars Marshal Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult....
  
  

built by Palmers, Newcastle

Launched June 1915

Completed August 1915

Served with the Dover Monitor Squadron, after the war became a gunnery training ship. At the start of the Second World War she was considered for recommissioning but instead her turret was removed for a new monitor, Abercrombie

HMS Abercrombie (F109)

HMS Abercrombie was a Royal Navy Roberts class monitor of the Second World War. She was the second monitor to be named after General Sir Ralph Abercrombie....

and she became a headquarters ship. She was paid off and scrapped in 1946

• Marshal Ney
  HMS Marshal Ney
  HMS Marshal Ney was a Royal Navy Marshal Ney class monitor constructed in the opening years of the First World War. Laid down as M13, she was named for the French general of the Napoleonic Wars Marshal Michel Ney....
  
  

Built by Palmers, Newcastle

Launched August 1915

Completed November 1915

After trials the turret was removed for HMS Erebus

HMS Erebus (I02)

HMS Erebus was a World War I monitor launched on 19 June 1916 and served in both world wars. She and her sister HMS Terror are known as the Erebus class...

and she was regunned with 6- and 4 inches (102 mm) guns and acted as a guardship until the end of the war. She later acted as a depot ship gaining onshore buildings, and was renamed Alaunia II and was only finally scrapped in 1957