HMS Ready was a destroyer of the M class that served with the Royal Navy during First World War. Launched by Thornycroft in 1916, the vessel was the one of two similar ships ordered as part of the Fifth War Construction Programme. They differed from the remainder of the M class in having more powerful engines. The design was used as the basis for the subsequent five ships of the also built by the yard. Ready operated within the Grand Fleet until it was disbanded at the end of the war. The vessel was credited with helping to sink a German Q-ship in 1917. After the war, the destroyer was initially transferred to HMNB Portsmouth, but was retired and sold to be broken up in 1926 after almost a decade of service as part of a preparation for a fleet of new destroyers. Design and development Ready was one of two destroyers ordered by the British Admiralty from John I. Thornycroft & Company in May 1915 as part of the Fifth War Construction Programme. Ready and differed from the Admiralty design in having more powerful engines, which gave them a higher potential speed. The speed increase was to combat a rumoured German design that was capable of . Thornycroft had previously delivered four other M-class destroyers to the Admiralty to slightly different specifications, and together they are considered to be a single class. Ready was long overall and long between perpendiculars, with a beam of and a draught of . Displacement was normal and full load. Three Yarrow boilers fed steam to Brown-Curtis steam turbines rated at which drove three shafts, giving a design speed of , although the ship reached during trials. Three funnels were fitted, the centre one being wider than the others, a feature shared with the R-class destroyers designed by Thornycroft. A total of of fuel oil was carried, giving a design range of at . Armament consisted of three single QF Mk IV guns on the ship's centreline, with one on the forecastle, one aft and one between the second and third funnels. Four torpedoes torpedoes were carried in two twin rotating mounts. By 1920, the ship was equipped with a single QF 2-pounder "pom-pom" anti-aircraft gun. The vessel had a complement of 82 officers and ratings. Construction and service Ready was laid down on 2 September 1915 and launched on 26 August 1916. Once