The Medea class were a class of destroyers that were being built for the Greek Navy at the outbreak of World War I but were taken over and completed for the Royal Navy for wartime service. All were named after characters from Greek mythology as result of their Greek heritage.
The Medeas were a private design roughly similar to their various Royal Navy M-class contemporaries. They had three funnels, the foremost of which was taller, and unusually, the mainmast was taller than the foremast, giving rise to a distinctive appearance. They shipped three single QF 4 inch guns, one on the forecastle, one between the first two funnels and the third on the quarterdeck.
Ships
NameShip BuilderLaid downLaunchedCompletedFate (ex-Kriti)John Brown & Company, Clydebank8 April 191430 January 1915May 1915Sold for breaking up, 9 May 1921 (ex-Lesbos)John Brown, Clydebank191427 March 19151915Rammed and sunk by off of Schleswig, 25 March 1916 (ex-Chios)Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan191416 December 191429 June 1915Sold for breaking up, 22 September 1921 (ex-Samos)Fairfield, Govan19141 February 1915 16 August 1915,Sold for breaking up, 9 May 1921
Bibliography
Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893-1981, Maurice Cocker, 1983, Ian Allan Jane's Fighting Ships, 1919, Jane's Publishing