Admiralty M-class destroyer

HMS Pasley
Class overview
Operators Royal Navy
Preceded byL class
Succeeded byR class
Subclasses
Built1914–1916
In commission1915–1923
Completed85
General characteristics
TypeDestroyer
Displacement
Length273 ft 4 in (83.3 m) (o/a)
Beam26 ft 8 in (8.1 m)
Draught8 ft 6 in (2.6 m)
Installed power
Propulsion3 shafts; 1 steam turbine set
Speed34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph)
Range3,710 nmi (6,870 km; 4,270 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement80
Armament

The M class, more properly known as the Admiralty M class, were a class of 85 destroyers built for the Royal Navy of United Kingdom that saw service during World War I. All ships were built to an identical – Admiralty – design, hence the class name. Eighteen other vessels which were officially included within the 'M' class were built to variant designs by three specialist builders – 10 by Yarrow, 6 by Thornycroft (who also built another 6 to the standard Admiralty design), and 2 by Hawthorn Leslie; these are covered in other articles.

The Admiralty design was based on the preceding L class but modified to produce an increase in speed by approximately 6 knots (11 km/h; 6.9 mph). All ships built to the Admiralty design had three identical narrow, circular funnels (this did not apply to the 18 ships built by the specialist yards).