Intended as a shore bombardment vessel, M26's primary armament was a single 9.2 inch Mk VI gun removed from the Edgar-class cruiser HMS Edgar.

She was equipped with a four shaft Bolinder two cylinder semi-diesel engine with 480 horse power that allowed a top speed of eleven knots.

HMS M26 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 24 August 1915, and completed in October 1915.

M26 was sold on 29 January 1920 for conversion to a mercantile oil tanker and renamed 'Doewa'.