Intended as a shore bombardment vessel, M24's primary armament was a single 9.2 inch Mk VI gun removed from the Edgar-classcruiserHMS Endymion.[1] In addition to her 9.2-inch gun, she also possessed one 12 pounder and one six pound anti-aircraft gun. Due to the shortage of diesel engines, she was instead equipped with four-cylinder paraffin engines from the Campbell Gas Co. Producing 640 horsepower, these allowed a top speed of eleven knots. The monitor's crew consisted of sixty-nine officers and men.
HMS M24 ordered in March, 1915, as part of the War Emergency Programme of ship construction. She was laid down at the Sir Raylton Dixon & Co. Ltd shipyard at Govan in March 1915, launched on 9 August 1915, and completed in October 1915.