HMS Princess Margaret

History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Princess Margaret
BuilderWilliam Denny, Dunbarton
Launched24 June 1914
AcquiredChartered 26 December 1914
FateSold May 1929
General characteristics
Tonnage5,934 GRT
Length395 ft 6 in (120.55 m) oa
Beam54 ft (16.46 m)
Draught16 ft 10 in (5.13 m)
Installed power15,000 shp (11,000 kW)
Propulsion
  • Steam turbines
  • 2 shafts
Speed22.5 kn (25.9 mph; 41.7 km/h)
Complement225
Armament
  • 2× 4.7-inch (120 mm) guns
  • 2 × 12-pounder (76 mm) guns
  • 2 × 6-pounder (57 mm) anti-aircraft guns
  • 1 × 2-pounder (40 mm) anti-aircraft gun
  • 500 mines

HMS Princess Margaret was a minelayer operated by the British Royal Navy during and after the First World War. She was built by the Scottish shipbuilder William Denny for the Canadian Pacific Railway as a liner to serve on the Pacific West Coast, and as such was powered by geared steam turbines, giving a speed of 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph).

The outbreak of war caused her to be taken over by the Royal Navy and to be converted to a minelayer, carrying as many as 500 mines. She was widely used for minelaying in the North Sea and English Channel during the war, which she survived, having laid the most mines of any Royal Navy ship during the war. She remained in Royal Navy service following the end of the war, taking part in the British intervention in the Russian Civil War. She was sold for scrap in 1929.