BRITISH MONITOR M.18 AND DUTCH/GERMAN TANKER DELAPAN

Delapan (M.18) was originally a British monitor, and later a German tanker from the interwar period and both world wars. At the time of launching, the unit, called M.18, was approx. 52 m long and 9.5 m wide. Full displacement reached approx. 650 tons and maximum speed approx. 11 knots. The armament at the time of launching consisted of, among other things, three single guns with the following calibers: 234 mm, 76 mm and 57 mm. The M.18 monitor was designed and built for the British Royal Navy at the William Gray and Company Limited shipyard. The unit was launched in 1915 and entered service the same year. She took an active part in the Dardanel campaign, in which she participated almost immediately after her entry into service. After the end of World War I, M.18 was decommissioned, and in the period 1920-1921 it was converted into a tanker. In this role it was purchased by a German shipowner, when it changed its name to Delapan. Shortly after the start of World War II, Delapan was commandeered by the Kriegsmarine, but did not change his role. The unit took a limited part in operations in the Baltic and the North Sea, and in April 1945 it was thrown ashore by its own crew on the Hel Peninsula.