The National Museum of the Royal Navy appointed ML (UK) Ltd to undertake the restoration of HMS M.33, the only surviving ship from the World War One Gallipoli campaign. This exciting National Lottery funded heritage project conserved and restored M.33 in time for her centenary in 2015.

HMS M.33 was built in 1915 on the orders of the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill. She was a floating gun platform designed to bombard coastal positions from the sea. Her first active operation was the support of the British landings at Suvla during the Battle of Gallipoli in August 1915. She remained stationed at Gallipoli until the evacuation in January 1916. She served in the Mediterranean for the remainder of the War and was involved in the seizure of the Greek fleet at Salamis Bay in 1916. After the War, M.33 was sent to Murmansk in Russia to relieve the North Russian Expeditionary Force before returning to Portsmouth to become a mine-laying training ship.

ML (UK) who have already completed successful restoration of HMS Alliance, undertook structural steelwork repairs and preservation works as well as installing an access walkways system allowing the public onboard for the very first time, making HMS M.33 the only warship from WWI open to visitors.

M.33 was unveiled in August 2015 as part of a day of commemorations at Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard and is already proving to be a highly popular public attraction. ML (UK) is delighted to have played a key role in restoring HMS M.33 to her former glory.