Yugoslav destroyer Dubrovnik

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Yugoslav destroyer Dubrovnik
a black and white photograph of two ships moored side-by-side
Dubrovnik (left) and Beograd (right) photographed in the Bay of Kotor in 1941 after being captured by Italian forces.
History
Yugoslavia
NameDubrovnik
NamesakeCity of Dubrovnik
Ordered1929
BuilderYarrow Shipbuilders
Laid down10 June 1930
Launched11 October 1931
Sponsored byPrincess Olga
CommissionedMay 1932
FateCaptured by Italian forces on 17 April 1941
Italy
NamePremuda
NamesakeThe island of Premuda
Acquired17 April 1941
CommissionedFebruary 1942
FateCaptured by German forces on 9 September 1943
Germany
NameTA32
Acquired9 September 1943
Commissioned18 August 1944
FateScuttled on 24 April 1945
General characteristics
TypeFlotilla leader
Displacement
  • Standard: 1,880 long tons (1,910 t)
  • Full: 2,400 long tons (2,439 t)
Length113.2 m (371 ft 5 in)
Beam10.67 m (35 ft 0 in)
Draught3.58–4.1 m (11 ft 9 in – 13 ft 5 in)
Propulsion
  • Two shafts;
  • 2 × Parsons steam turbines (48,000 shp (36,000 kW))
  • 1 × Curtis steam turbine for cruising (900 shp (670 kW))
  • 3 ×
    Yarrow water-tube boilers
Speed
  • Maximum: 37 knots (69 km/h; 43 mph)
  • Cruising: 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Range7,000 nmi (13,000 km; 8,100 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement20 officers and 220 enlisted
Armament

Dubrovnik was a

his assassination in Marseille
.

During the

Italian service she was mainly used as an escort and troop transport. In June 1942, she was part of the Italian force that attacked the Allied Operation Harpoon convoy attempting to relieve the island of Malta. In July 1943, she broke down and was brought to Genoa for repair and a refit. Premuda was the most important and effective Italian war prize ship of World War II
.

At the time of the Italian surrender to the Allies in September 1943, Premuda was still docked in Genoa, and was seized by Germany. Plans to convert her into a radar picket for night fighters were abandoned. In August 1944, following the replacement of her armament, she was commissioned into the German Navy as a Torpedoboot Ausland (foreign torpedo boat) with the designation TA32. The ship saw action shelling Allied positions on the Italian coast and laying naval mines. In March 1945, she took part in the Battle of the Ligurian Sea against two Royal Navy destroyers, during which she was lightly damaged. She was scuttled the following month as the Germans retreated from Genoa.

Development

Following the demise of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire and the subsequent creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (KSCS), Austria-Hungary transferred the vessels of the former Austro-Hungarian Navy to the new nation. The Kingdom of Italy was unhappy with this, and convinced the Allies to share the Austro-Hungarian ships among the victorious powers. As a result, the only modern sea-going vessels left to the KSCS were 12 torpedo boats,[1] and they had to build their naval forces almost from scratch.[2]

During the 1920s, many navies were pursuing the

Mediterranean, where they would be able to operate alongside French and British warships.[5]

At the time the decision was made, French shipyards were heavily committed to producing vessels for the French Navy. So, despite its intention to develop a French concept, the KSCS engaged Yarrow Shipbuilders in Glasgow, Scotland, to build the ships. Unlike the French, who preferred to install guns of their own manufacture, Yarrow was happy to order the guns from the Czechoslovak firm Škoda. The initial Yarrow design was based on an enlarged version of the British Shakespeare class, with five Skoda 14 cm/56 naval guns. Excessive top weight resulted in the deletion of one of the guns, to be replaced with a seaplane mounting. The final version replaced the seaplane mounting with improved anti-aircraft armament.[5]

The intention to build three flotilla leaders was demonstrated by the fact that Yarrow ordered a total of 12 Škoda 140 mm (5.5 in) guns, four per ship.[5] In July or August 1929, the KSCS (which became the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on 3 October) signed a contract with Yarrow for a destroyer named Dubrovnik.[6] This was the only ship built; the Great Depression prevented the construction of the rest of the planned half-flotilla.[5]

Description and construction

Dubrovnik was similar in many respects to the British destroyers being manufactured at the same time, having a square box-like

draught of 3.58 m (11 ft 9 in), and a maximum draught of 4.1 m (13 ft 5 in). Her standard displacement was 1,880 long tons (1,910 t),[7] and 2,400 long tons (2,439 t) at full load.[8]

Dubrovnik had two

Curtis turbine, rated at 900 shp (670 kW), was installed for cruising, with which she could achieve a range of 7,000 nautical miles (13,000 km; 8,100 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).[9] She carried 470 tonnes (460 long tons) of fuel oil.[7]

The ship's main armament consisted of four Škoda 140 mm (5.5 in) L/56

machine guns and 40 mines. Her crew comprised 20 officers and 220 ratings.[11][12] She was laid down on 10 June 1930 and launched on 11 October 1931 by Princess Olga, the consort of the Prince Regent of Yugoslavia, Prince Paul. She was named after the former city-state and Yugoslav port of Dubrovnik.[11][13]

Service history

Dubrovnik

King Alexander on board Dubrovnik in October 1934 before his voyage to France.

Dubrovnik was completed at the Yarrow shipyards in Glasgow in 1932, by which time her main guns and light anti-aircraft guns had been installed. After sailing to the Bay of Kotor in the southern Adriatic, she was fitted with her heavy anti-aircraft guns.[9] She was commissioned with the Royal Yugoslav Navy in May 1932.[10] Her captain was Armin Pavić.[9]

In late September 1933, the ship left the Bay of Kotor and sailed through the

Turkish Straits to Constanța on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, where she embarked King Alexander and Queen Maria of Yugoslavia. She then visited Balcic in Romania and Varna in Bulgaria, before returning via Istanbul and the Greek island of Corfu in the Ionian Sea, arriving back at the Bay of Kotor on 8 October.[14] On 6 October 1934, King Alexander left the Bay of Kotor on board Dubrovnik for a state visit to France, arriving in Marseille on 9 October. He was killed the same day by a Bulgarian assassin, and Dubrovnik conveyed his body back to Yugoslavia, escorted by French, Italian[15] and British ships.[16] Soon after, Vladimir Šaškijević replaced Pavić as captain.[15] In August 1935, Dubrovnik visited Corfu and Bizerte in the French protectorate of Tunisia.[17] In August 1937, Dubrovnik visited Istanbul and the Greek ports of Mudros in the northern Aegean Sea and Piraeus near Athens.[18]

Despite trying to remain neutral in the early stages of the World War II, Yugoslavia was drawn into the conflict in April 1941, when it was invaded by the German-led Axis powers. At the time, Dubrovnik was still under Šaškijević's command and was assigned as the flagship of the 1st Torpedo Division, along with the smaller Beograd-class destroyers, Beograd and Zagreb.[15] On 6 April, the date the invasion began, Dubrovnik was in the Bay of Kotor.[19]

Premuda

The Italians captured Dubrovnik in the Bay of Kotor on 17 April 1941; she had been damaged by Yugoslav civilians prior to her seizure. Dubrovnik was sailed to

Breda Model 35 20 mm (0.79 in) L/65 machine guns in single mounts,[15] space for the latter being made available by removing her searchlights. A new director was also fitted to her bridge.[20] Later in her Italian service, the 120 mm (4.7 in) howitzer was replaced by a twin Breda 37 mm (1.5 in) L/54 anti-aircraft gun mount.[15] Under the Italian flag, her crew consisted of 13 officers and 191 enlisted ranks.[9]

Premuda was commissioned in the Italian Navy (Italian: Regia Marina) in February 1942.[15] Later that month she rescued British prisoners of war who survived the sinking of the SS Ariosto, an Italian ship ferrying them from Tripoli to Sicily.[21] In early June, the Italian submarine Alagi fired torpedos at Premuda, mistaking her for a British destroyer owing to her similarities with a British H-class destroyer. The attack missed Premuda and struck the Navigatori-class destroyer Antoniotto Usodimare, sinking her.[22] During 12–16 June 1942, Premuda took part in operations against the Allied Operation Harpoon convoy attempting to reach the beleaguered island of Malta from Gibraltar. As part of the 10th Destroyer Flotilla, Premuda supported the Italian 7th Cruiser Squadron, comprising the light cruisers Eugenio di Savoia and Raimondo Montecuccoli. The Allied naval force lost two destroyers and four merchant ships to a combination of naval gunfire, torpedoes, air attacks, and naval mines.[23] The Navigatori-class destroyer Ugolino Vivaldi was hit by a British destroyer, and Premuda was tasked to tow her to safety in the harbour of Pantelleria, an island in the Strait of Sicily, under escort from the destroyer Lanzerotto Malocello.[15]

On 6–7 January 1943, Premuda and 13 other Italian destroyers transported troops to the Axis-held port of Tunis in North Africa.[15] They completed two more such missions between 9 February and 22 March.[24] On 17 July, Premuda developed serious engine problems in the Ligurian Sea near La Spezia.[25] She was subsequently brought to Genoa for a major boiler and engine overhaul.[26] It was decided to rebuild her along the lines of the Navigatori-class, including a wider beam to improve her stability. As shells for her Škoda-built main guns were in short supply, the decision was made to replace them with Italian-made 135 mm (5.3 in) /L45 guns in single mounts.[25] The rebuild was also to have included augmented 37 mm and 20 mm armament, probably using space made available by removing her aft torpedo tubes.[20] The rebuild had not been completed when Italy surrendered to the Allies, and Premuda was seized by Germany at Genoa on 8 or 9 September 1943.[20][25] Premuda was the most important and effective Italian war prize ship of World War II.[26]

TA32

Premuda's new guns had not been completed when she was captured by the Germans. Their initial plans called for the ship to serve as a

20 mm (0.79 in) anti-aircraft guns in quadruple and twin mounts. The number of torpedo tubes was reduced from six to three. The number of 37 mm (1.5 in) anti-aircraft guns was later increased to ten, in four twin and two single mounts.[25] In German service, she had a total crew of 220 officers and men.[9]

a black-and-white photograph of a warship at sea
HMS Meteor (pictured) and HMS Lookout outgunned TA32 and her companions during the Battle of the Ligurian Sea in March 1945.

The ship was commissioned in the German Navy (German: Kriegsmarine) on 18 August 1944, as TA32, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Emil Kopka. She served in the Ligurian Sea with the 10th Torpedo Boat Flotilla, and was immediately committed to shelling Allied positions on the Italian coast, then scouting and minelaying tasks in the western Gulf of Genoa.[25] On 2 October 1944, TA32, along with TA24 and TA29, sailed towards Sanremo to lay mines, where they encountered the destroyer USS Gleaves. After exchanging fire, the three ships returned to Genoa without being hit.[27] By mid-March 1945, TA32, TA24 and TA29 were the only ships of the 10th Torpedo Boat Flotilla that remained operational.[25] On the night of 17/18 March 1945, TA32 placed 76 naval mines off Cap Corse, the northern tip of Corsica, in an offensive minelaying operation, along with TA24 and TA29.[28] After being detected by a shore-based radar, the ships were engaged by the destroyers HMS Lookout and HMS Meteor, in what would become known as the Battle of the Ligurian Sea.[28][29] Outgunned, TA24 and TA29 were sunk, while TA32 managed to escape with light damage to her rudder, after firing a few rounds and making an abortive torpedo attack.[25][28] TA32 was scuttled at Genoa on 24 April 1945 as the Germans retreated.[25] Her wreck was raised and broken up in 1950.[26]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ L/56 denotes the length of the gun. In this case, the L/56 gun is 56 calibre, meaning that the gun was 56 times as long as the diameter of its bore.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Chesneau 1980, p. 355.
  2. ^ Novak 2004, p. 234.
  3. ^ Freivogel 2014, p. 83.
  4. ^ Freivogel 2014, pp. 83–84.
  5. ^ a b c d e Freivogel 2014, p. 84.
  6. ^ Jarman 1997, p. 183.
  7. ^ a b c Chesneau 1980, p. 357.
  8. ^ Lenton 1975, p. 105.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Freivogel 2014, p. 85.
  10. ^ a b c d Whitley 1988, p. 313.
  11. ^ a b c Freivogel 2014, pp. 84–85.
  12. ^ a b Freivogel 2020, p. 44.
  13. ^ British Pathé 1931.
  14. ^ Jarman 1997, p. 453.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h Freivogel 2014, p. 86.
  16. ^ Nielsen 2014, p. 239.
  17. ^ Jarman 1997, p. 641.
  18. ^ Jarman 1997, p. 838.
  19. ^ Freivogel & Rastelli 2015, p. 93.
  20. ^ a b c Whitley 1988, p. 186.
  21. ^ Birmingham Post 14 May 2003.
  22. ^ Sadkovich 1994, p. 252.
  23. ^ Woodman 2003, p. 345-55.
  24. ^ Rohwer & Hümmelchen 1992, p. 193.
  25. ^ a b c d e f g h i Freivogel 2014, p. 87.
  26. ^ a b c d Brescia 2012, p. 134.
  27. ^ O'Hara 2013, p. 250.
  28. ^ a b c O'Hara 2011, pp. 245–246.
  29. ^ Tomblin 2004, p. 462.

References

Books

Periodicals and films

External links

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