HMS M33 is one of the last surviving British warships from the First World War. M33 was the last of the five small 6-inch gun monitors built in 1915, sometimes referred to as the M29 class. These small shallow-draft monitors were designed for operating close to coastlines, rivers, and harbors, where they could support land operations with heavy artillery fire. M33 has been preserved as a museum ship in Portsmouth.

M33 was constructed at Workman, Clark & Company in Belfast, under subcontract from Harland & Wolff also in Belfast. The latter had space for only three monitors, so M32 and M33 were built at Workman, Clark. She was launched in May 1915, just months after her keel was laid. She measures 177 ft 3 in (54.0 m) with a beam of 31 ft (9.4 m) and a draught of 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) and displacing 580 tons deep load. Her primary armament was two 6-inch Mk XII guns in single shielded mounts. Additional armament consisted of a single 6pdr Hotchkiss gun and a pair of 0.0303-inch Maxim guns’

M33 immediately saw action during the ill-fated Gallipoli Campaign of 1915–1916. The campaign aimed to secure the Dardanelles Strait, knock the Ottoman Empire out of the conflict, and open a sea route to Russia. As part of the British naval forces supporting the landings, M33 was tasked with bombarding Ottoman positions along the Gallipoli peninsula. She provided crucial artillery support to troops ashore, targeting enemy fortifications, supply lines, and troop concentrations. M33 remained stationed at Gallipoli until the January 1916 evacuation. She sustained no damage during the campaign. After Gallipoli, M33 remained in the Mediterranean. She was later deployed to support operations in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean, continuing her role as a bombardment vessel.

Following the end of the First World War in 1918, M33 did not immediately leave service. Instead, she became involved in the British intervention in the Russian Civil War. In 1919, she was sent to North Russia, specifically the White Sea region, where British and Allied forces supported anti-Bolshevik elements against the Red Army. Her shallow draft allowed her to travel up the Dvina River to cover the withdrawal of British and White Russian forces.

In 1925, M33 was converted into a mine-laying training ship and renamed HMS Minerva. Later on, she served in various capacities, including a floating staff office and a floating boom defense workshop. During these last conversions, M33/HMS Minerva had not only her armament removed, but also her engines, boilers, funnel and mast.

Recognition of her historical value grew in the late 20th century. As one of only three surviving British warships from the First World War, and the only surviving British naval vessel from the Gallipoli Campaign, preservation efforts were eventually undertaken to restore M33 to her wartime appearance. The major restoration project was completed in 2015, coinciding with the centenary of the Gallipoli Campaign. The ship is carefully conserved and open to the public as part of the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth.

Starling Models 1/350 Scale HMS M33

Mike McCabe of Starling Models recently made the decision to focus new production primarily on 1/700 scale kits with only a small number of 1/350 scale kits in the mix. HMS M33 is one of those few 1/350 scale kits that have been thankfully released by Starling Models. The kit parts are fully 3D printed, with a relatively small photoetch fret and several lengths of brass rod for the masts and yardarms. The kit comes in a sturdy flip-top box with the hull print raft wrapped in a foam sheet and the deckhouse and smaller parts in separate plastic bags, all nestled in Styrofoam packing noodles. The packaging is so well done that only one mushroom vent broke off during shipment from Wales to Long Island, New York’ The print rafts for the smaller parts all have protective barriers on either end.

The one-piece full hull is very nicely done and sits on a print raft with a number of printing supports. The hull has a good amount of detail incorporated, such as mooring bits, fairleads, mushroom vents, deck hatches, breakwater and portholes. There is some very subtle hull plating present which is very well done. It doesn’t overpower the hull as found on some newer injection-molded plastic kits. The locations of other parts are denoted by slightly raised disks on the deck’ Underneath at the stern, there are shallow recesses to accommodate the propeller shaft parts. The hull measures of to just 6 inches long and slightly more than 1 inch wide, which is spot on in 1/350 scale

The deckhouse comes as one part with the wheelhouse incorporated. The part sits on a raft with a framework of print supports that will require careful removal. Along the bottom edge of the deckhouse there is a thin film of material that will also need to be removed for the part to sit correctly and flush with the main deck’ The deckhouse is well detailed, with several doors, portholes and j-vents along the walls and skylights and a small housing on the upper deck. The wheelhouse has windows, doors and running lights. There is a square opening to fit the funnel, small holes to fit the masts and slightly raised disks to mark the locations of smaller parts’

Raft A contains the funnel, 6-inch gun shields, cowl vents, boats, boat davits, an exhaust vent pipe and a covering for the top of the wheelhouse.

Raft B contains the largest number of small parts. These include the 6pdf Hotchkiss gun, propeller/propeller shaft assembly, rudder, a pair of watertight doors, large deck hatches/coamings, life rings, anchors, anchor winch, davits in two sizes, crow’s nest, inclined ladders, searchlight, binnacle and ship’s bell. Some of the parts have one or more spares in case of damage or loss,

Raft C contains the 6-inch gun mounts and a pair of the twin 0.0303-inch Maxim guns. Only one is needed for the 1915 fit, so the other is a spare just in case.

Raft D contains spare mooring bits, fairleads and mushroom vents in case some were broken off during shipping or fall victim to the dreaded fat finger syndrome (I have suffered from it on many occasions). I find the inclusion of these parts a very nice and well thought out gesture by Mike McCabe, recognizing the potential for the breakage of these small delicate parts. If not needed, these will make a good addition to the spares box.

Though not specifically labeled as Raft E, this small extra raft contains four of the larger inclined ladders, presumably just in case the ones on Raft B are somehow damaged while removing them. Again, this is nice bonus.

The photoetch fret provided with the kit includes all of the needed railings in premeasured lengths, along with vertical ladders and a few detail parts. The photoetch does not include any anchor chain, so you will need to get it from another source. The photoetch is thin and nicely done. Two lengths of brass rod, in different diameters, are also provided for the masts and yardarms.

No decals are provided, though none are really needed. If you wish to add a White Ensign, there are plenty of sources for one, including a decal sheet produced by Starling Models.

The instructions come in a full-color 8-page booklet. The cover page has a render of M33 in her dazzle camouflage scheme and some general instructions on handling 3D parts’ The next page and a half have images of the 3D parts with part numbers within boxes and the photoetch fret with part numbers within circles. Beginning with the bottom of page 2, a series of clear and well laid out assembly diagrams are presented. For the brass rod assemblies, lengths to cut the different sections are provided in millimeters. The back cover page provides painting instructions for her 1915 appearance and the dazzle camouflage M33 wears as a museum ship. One source I found on the Internet stated that she was painted in this scheme at the end of 1918. The color callouts appear to be standard Royal Navy paints and are probably tied to the Colourcoats line from Resolution Hobbies.

This kit is available directly from Starling Models, which is where I purchased mine.