Disposal of Princess Margaret
Princess Margaret was being built was a liner for the Canadian Pacific Railway Company in 1914, when she was requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted for use as a minelayer during World War I. On 27 April 1919 she was purchased outright for retention in the post-war fleet. In 1920 she was listed as carrying an armament of 2-4.7-in guns, 2-12pdr QF guns, 2-6pdr Hotchkiss AA guns, and 1-2pdr pom-pom, and she was reported to still have a similar armament in 1925. In 1928, after she had been replaced in RN service by the newly built Adventure, the Admiralty decided that she should be reconditioned by the removal of all guns and minelaying equipment, and such other alterations as required to ensure that when the work was completed she could properly be regarded as a merchant ship, so that she could be offered for sale as a going concern without restriction as to the nationality of the purchaser or the nature of the service intended. Britain informed the other signatories of the Washington Treaty in advance of these circumstances due to the possibility that such a transfer might possibly be regarded as coming within the scope of Article XVIII of the WNT.
But no such sale was to occur. Although Princess Margaret was offered for sale back to Canadian Pacific after her withdrawal from service, the costs of converting her back to passenger service were assessed as too high, and she was therefore sold for scrapping on 30 May 1929.