Yugoslav destroyer Split

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For other ships with the same name, see Yugoslav frigate Split.

An early profile drawing of Split
History
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
NameSplit
NamesakeCity of Split
BuilderYarrow Shipbuilders, Split
Laid downJuly 1939
FateCaptured while under construction, 15 April 1941
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
NameSplit
LaunchedMarch 1950
Acquired27 October 1944
Commissioned4 July 1958
Decommissioned1980
Stricken2 February 1984
FateScrapped, 1986
General characteristics (as designed)[1]
TypeDestroyer
Displacement2,400 long tons (2,439 t) (Standard)
Length120 m (393 ft 8 in) (
o/a
)
Beam11.3 m (37 ft 1 in)
Draft3.48 m (11 ft 5 in)
Installed power
Propulsion2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbines
Speed38 knots (70 km/h; 44 mph)
Armament
General characteristics (as completed)[2]
Beam12 m (39 ft 4 in)
Draft3.7 m (12 ft 2 in)
Installed power
  • 2 ×
    Admiralty 3-drum boilers
  • 50,000 shp (37,000 kW)
Propulsion2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbines
Speed31.5 knots (58.3 km/h; 36.2 mph)
Complement240
Sensors and
processing systems
Armament
  • 4 × single
    127 mm (5 in)/38 naval guns
  • 1 × quad, 2 × twin, 2 × single
    40 mm guns
  • 1 × quintuple 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes
  • 2 ×
    spigot mortars
  • 6 × Depth charge throwers; 2 × depth charge racks
  • 40 × mines

The Yugoslav destroyer Split was a large

decommissioned in 1980, and scrapped
six years later.

Design

The Yugoslav Navy decided to order a single large destroyer rather than a repeat pair of smaller Beograd-class destroyers in the late 1930s because the Navy's planners didn't believe that the smaller ships could adequately support the raiding strategy that it intended to conduct in the event of a war with Italy. The staff decided on a much larger equivalent of the flotilla leader Dubrovnik that could out-gun any Italian destroyer and cover the escape and return to base of the raiding forces. The French company Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire was selected and based the new ship on their design for the 2,610-metric-ton (2,570-long-ton) Le Fantasque-class destroyer. She was built by Yarrow Shipbuilders at their shipyard in Split and was named after her place of construction.[3]

The Yugoslavs chose to buy the components from a variety of different nations. The pairs of geared

kW) and were purchased from Great Britain. The fire-control system, with two directors, and radios were French[4] while the armament was supplied by the Škoda Works of Czechoslovakia.[5]

The ship's designed armament was five 56-

anti-aircraft (AA) guns, eight 15-millimeter (0.6 in) ZB-60 AA guns in four twin-gun mounts,[6][7][5] and two triple mounts for 53.3-centimeter (21 in) torpedo tubes.[1]

The Yugoslav emphasis on anti-aircraft defense meant that Split could only have a single funnel to allow the guns as much freedom to fire as possible, which dictated that the boiler rooms were adjacent to the engine room. Which made the ship vulnerable to a single torpedo hit in the machinery spaces which could immobilize her.[8]

Construction

The ship was

launching scheduled for the following year and completion by the end of 1942. By the time the Italians joined the Germans in invading France in May 1940, only 600 metric tons (590 long tons) of the 1,100 metric tons (1,083 long tons) of material necessary to launch her had been delivered. The British government embargoed her machinery in 1940, despite French protests, when it discovered surreptitious contacts between the Yugoslav and Soviet governments. The Swedish government embargoed the Bofors guns due to the war and the German control of the Škoda Works meant that the Yugoslavs had to suspend construction of Split.[9]

When the city of Split was captured by the Italians on 14 April 1941, the hull remained undamaged and the Regia Marina decided to complete the ship after a delay of several months. They renamed the ship Spalato, the Italian name for the city of Split. New machinery was ordered from

Breda 20 mm (0.8 in) light AA guns replaced the Czech and Swedish weapons. One torpedo tube mount was removed and the Italians planned to add depth charge throwers and racks, the capacity for 40 mines and an EC-3 ter Gufo radar.[10]

The ship was lightly damaged by saboteurs in December which disrupted progress and the Regia Marina decided to suspend construction in April 1942 as she remained nearly two years from completion. By late 1942, the Regia Marina's shortage of destroyers had reached a point that every possible hull was needed and construction restarted at a high priority. This allowed her to be launched on 18 July 1943, but shortly afterwards a change in the Italian leadership caused any further work to be suspended in August and the resources used in her construction to be diverted to finish a large group of small wooden minesweepers. During the fighting between the Germans and the Italians after the Italian surrender on 9 September, Spalato was scuttled in Split harbor on 24 September. The Germans occupied Split three days later, refloated the ship several weeks later and stripped her of any valuable material. As part of their scorched-earth strategy as they abandoned Split, the Germans scuttled Spalato and wrecked the shipyard before the Yugoslav Partisans occupied the port on 27 October 1944.[11]

Postwar completion

The new

Kvarner Shipyard (formerly the Cantieri navali del Quarnaro) in Rijeka. Shortly afterwards, however, the Tito-Stalin split deprived the ship of her main armament and the technical assistance needed to complete her.[12]

The Yugoslavs re-launched Split in March 1950 to free up the slipway, but no other work was done. In 1953, there was a rapprochement between Yugoslavia and NATO, and the Americans and the British agreed to help complete the ship. The Tosi machinery ordered earlier had been used for other ships so the British agreed to furnish her propulsion machinery while the Americans provided the ship's armament, fire-control equipment and electronics.[2]

Description

Split had an

Admiralty 3-drum boilers. The turbines were designed to produce 50,000 shaft horsepower (37,000 kW), which would propel the ship at 31.5 knots (58.3 km/h; 36.2 mph). Split carried 590 metric tons (581 long tons) of fuel oil, although her range is unknown, and had a crew of 240.[7]

The main armament of Split consisted of four 38-caliber

search radars completed her radar suite.[2]

Service

Construction proceeded at a snail's pace and the ship was finally

navy list. In the late 1970s, an explosion of one of Split's main boiler steam lines killed all of the men standing watch in the boiler room. The boiler was not repaired and she was limited to a speed of 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph). The ship became a stationary training ship afterwards.[13] She was decommissioned in 1980, struck on 2 February 1984 and scrapped in 1986.[14]

Citations

  1. ^ a b Cernuschi & O'Hara, pp. 100–101
  2. ^ a b c Cernuschi & O'Hara, p. 107
  3. ^ Cernuschi & O'Hara, pp. 99–100
  4. ^ Cernuschi & O'Hara, p. 100
  5. ^ a b Freivogel & Grobmeier, p. 362
  6. ^ Whitley, p. 313
  7. ^ a b Gardiner, et al, p. 643
  8. ^ Cernuschi & O'Hara, p. 101
  9. ^ Cernuschi & O'Hara, pp. 101–102
  10. ^ Cernuschi & O'Hara, pp. 102–103
  11. ^ Cernuschi & O'Hara, pp. 103–106
  12. ^ Cernuschi & O'Hara, pp. 106–107
  13. ^ Cernuschi & O'Hara, pp. 107–108
  14. ^ Freivogel, pp. 428–429

Bibliography

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