HMS M33 is a former Royal Navy monitor - a small, shallow-draught gunboat with two oversize 6-inch guns, designed for coastal bombardment. Built in just seven weeks, she is one of only three British warships that survive from the First World War.

In 1915 she was despatched to the Mediterranean where she was used in support of the bloody Gallipoli Campaign. She and five sister-ships were later involved in the Russian Civil War in 1919.

Following a period as a mine-laying training ship, for which she was renamed HMS Minerva, she spent the remainder of her active life in Portsmouth Harbour in various support guises, such as a floating fuel bowser, workshop and offices. These unglamorous roles helped ensure her survival and listing as part of the National Historic Fleet.

Now restored and painted in the dazzle colours from her war years, she is now located in No.1 Dock at the Historic Dockyard in Portsmouth, adjacent to HMS Victory.

http://www.nmrn.org.uk

http://www.historicdockyard.co.uk