Yugoslav submarine Nebojša
Nebojša's sister submarine Hrabri underway in 1934
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History | |
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Kingdom of Yugoslavia | |
Name | Nebojša |
Namesake | Fearless |
Builder | Vickers-Armstrong Naval Yard, River Tyne, United Kingdom |
Launched | 1927 |
In service | 1927–1945 |
Out of service | 1945 |
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia | |
Name | Tara |
Acquired | 1945 |
Out of service | 1954 |
Fate | Scrapped in 1958 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | diesel-electric submarine |
Displacement | |
Length | 72.1 m (236 ft 7 in) (oa) |
Beam | 7.31 m (24 ft) |
Draught | 4 m (13 ft) |
Propulsion |
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Speed |
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Range | 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) (surfaced) |
Test depth | 60 m (200 ft) |
Complement | 47 |
Armament |
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Nebojša was the second of the
Prior to
Immediately before the April 1941
Background
The naval policy of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (the Kingdom of Yugoslavia from 1929) lacked direction until the mid-1920s,[1] although it was generally accepted by the armed forces that the Adriatic coastline was effectively a sea frontier that the naval arm was responsible for securing with the limited resources made available to it.[2] In 1926, a modest ten-year construction program was initiated to build up a force of submarines, coastal torpedo boats, and torpedo and conventional bomber aircraft to perform this role. The Hrabri-class submarines were one of the first new acquisitions aimed at developing a naval force capable of meeting this challenge.[2]
Nebojša (Fearless) was built for the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes by the Vickers-Armstrong Naval Yard, on the River Tyne, in the United Kingdom.[3] Her design was based on the British L-class submarine of World War I, and she was built using parts originally assembled for HMS L68, which was not completed due to the end of World War I.[4] The British Royal Navy (RN) cancelled the order for L68 in March 1919, and the partially constructed hull was launched on 2 July to free up the slipways on which it was being built. In November the hull was sold by the RN to the shipyard, and once the contract with the Yugoslavs was signed she was brought back onto the slipway and completed to a modified design. The British boats were chosen for two reasons: a visit to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes by HMS L53 in 1926, and a British credit for naval purchases which included spending some of the funds in British shipyards.[5]
The L-class boats were an improved version of the British E class and achieved a better relationship between displacement, propulsion, speed and armament than their predecessors, including a powerful armament of both torpedoes and guns. The class was designed for operations in the North Sea in World War I, but due to their considerable range they were deployed around the world during the interwar period by the RN, including in the Mediterranean,[6] and three were still in service at the outbreak of World War II.[5]
Description and construction
General
Like her
Internally, transverse bulkheads divided the hull into seven watertight compartments. The first two compartments housed the torpedo tubes and reserve torpedoes, respectively, along with sleeping accommodation for some of the crew. The forward trim tanks were located underneath these two compartments. The upper levels of the third and fourth compartments contained accommodations for the officers and additional crew, respectively, and the lower levels each contained 112-cell electric batteries. In the middle of the boat, underneath the conning tower, was the control room. Aft of that, the fifth compartment was taken up by the machinery room, containing two diesel engines for surface running. Underneath that were diesel fuel tanks. The sixth compartment contained two electric motors on the upper level and an electric battery compartment with another 112 cells on the lower level. At the stern, the seventh compartment contained the steering machinery on the upper level and the aft trim tanks on the lower level.[8]
Several innovations distinguished Nebojša and her sister boat from the original L-class design. At the suggestion of Yugoslav naval officers, gyrocompasses salvaged from former Austro-Hungarian Navy ships were fitted. A central pumping station was also installed, allowing for all ballast tanks to be blown at once from a single position. This enhancement saved the boats from sinking at least twice during their service. The final difference was that one of the three periscopes was modified to enable observation of the skies to warn of impending air attacks.[9]
Nebojša had an overall length of 72.1 metres (236 ft 7 in), a beam of 7.31 m (24 ft), and a surfaced draught of 4 m (13 ft).[10] Her surfaced displacement was 975 long tons (991 t) or 1,164 long tons (1,183 t) submerged.[11] Her crew initially consisted of five officers and 42 enlisted men, but by 1941 this had increased to six officers and 47 enlisted men.[12] She had a diving depth of 50–70 m (160–230 ft), but Yugoslav naval regulations restricted her to a maximum depth of 55 m (180 ft). Nebojša was expected to dive to periscope depth in 70 seconds, but at one point the crew of her sister boat Hrabri achieved this in 52 seconds.[13]
Propulsion
For surface running, Nebojša was powered by two
A total of 76 t (75 long tons; 84 short tons) of fuel was carried, 15 t (15 long tons; 17 short tons) in each of the saddle tanks and the rest inside the hull. As the fuel in the saddle tanks was used it was replaced with sea water to maintain displacement, buoyancy and trim. Nebojša could reach a top speed of 15.7 knots (29.1 km/h; 18.1 mph) on the surface, less than the contract speed of 17.5 kn (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph). On the surface using the diesel engines, she had a range of 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph).[13]
When submerged, the two propeller shafts were driven by two electric motors generating a total of 1,600 shaft horsepower (1,200 kW) at 300 rpm. Nebojša also had a small 20 bhp (15 kW) electric motor for silent underwater running. The battery storage consisted of three hundred and thirty-six 3820 LS Exide cells, which had a combined weight of 138 t (136 long tons; 152 short tons).[13] She could reach 10 kn (18.5 km/h; 11.5 mph) on her electric motors when submerged,[14] again less than the contract speed of 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph). With the silent running motor, she could achieve a nominal speed of 1.7 to 1.8 kn (3.1 to 3.3 km/h; 2.0 to 2.1 mph) underwater. Underwater, Nebojša had a range of 200 nmi (370 km; 230 mi) at 2 kn (3.7 km/h; 2.3 mph).[13]
Armament
Nebojša was fitted with six bow-mounted
Modifications in Yugoslav service
On arrival in the Adriatic, Nebojša was fitted with a single Vickers
Service history
Nebojša was launched on 16 June 1927 with the tactical number 2, which was painted centrally on each side of the conning tower.[17] Nebojša was completed first. During her sea trials Nebojša suffered several mishaps and difficulties. In an incident between mid-September and mid-December 1927, she began to sink quickly at the bow. Her crew reacted quickly and blew all ballast tanks, thereby avoiding the bow striking the seafloor. Many of Nebojša's external details were modified by Vickers in an attempt to achieve the contract speeds. These modifications included closing and remodelling of hull openings and flood slits and using thinner hydroplanes. These changes were to no avail, and by way of compensation Vickers installed a battery charger in the submarine tender Hvar at their own expense. The trial and training phase was extensive, and once it was completed, Nebojša and Hrabri sailed to Portland where they took onboard their complement of torpedoes, before returning to Newcastle.[18]
Interwar period
The two boats left the Tyne on 11 March 1928 in company with Hvar.[19] En route one of the submarines suffered from engine trouble and the group had a five-day stopover at Gibraltar for repairs. They then had a five-day visit to Algiers in French Algeria and a brief stop at Malta before arriving at Tivat in the Bay of Kotor on the southern Adriatic coast on 5 April. Torpedo exercises for the two boats followed, and then a cruise along the Adriatic coast. In May and June 1929, Nebojša, Hrabri, Hvar and six 250t class torpedo boats accompanied the light cruiser Dalmacija on a cruise to Malta, the Greek island of Corfu in the Ionian Sea, and Bizerte in the French protectorate of Tunisia. According to the British naval attaché, the ships and crews made a very good impression while visiting Malta.[20] On 9 December 1929, the two Osvetnik-class submarines joined the KM, completing the submarine flotilla. In early June 1930, Nebojša was exercising her crew at periscope depth "targeting" the Sitnica between Dubrovnik and the Bay of Kotor when she collided with the 2,324-gross register ton (GRT) Yugoslav steamship Pracat. Nebojša's forward gun was lost and her conning tower was damaged, but neither her saddle tanks or hull were breached, so she was able to safely surface.[21] There were no injuries to the crew members of either vessel.[22] After immediate repairs her forward gun was replaced by a wooden replica, and later the aft gun was moved forward and the aft gun mount was left empty. She was not fully re-armed until the 1933–1934 refit.[21]
In mid-1930, Nebojša, Hrabri and Sitnica cruised the Mediterranean, visiting Alexandria in Egypt and Beirut in Lebanon.[21][23] Over the next several years, the submarines engaged in a cycle of summer cruises followed by repairs and refits in the winter months.[21] In 1932, the British naval attaché reported that Yugoslav ships engaged in few exercises, manoeuvres or gunnery training due to reduced budgets.[24] In 1933, the attaché reported that the naval policy of Yugoslavia was strictly defensive, aimed at protecting her more than 600 km (370 mi) of coastline.[25] In September 1933, Nebojša and the submarine Osvetnik cruised the southern part of the central Mediterranean.[25] In August 1936, Nebojša and Osvetnik visited the Greek island of Corfu.[26]
By 1938, the KM had determined that the Hrabri-class boats were worn out and obsolete and needed replacement. In October two German Type IIB coastal submarines were ordered to replace them. The outbreak of World War II less than a year later meant that the ordered boats were never delivered and the Hrabri class had to continue in service.[27] During the interwar period, Yugoslavia was a divided country dominated by Serb elites who essentially disregarded the rights and needs of the other constituent nations, and most Yugoslavs lacked a sense of having a share in the country's future. The Yugoslav military largely reflected this division, few considering interwar Yugoslavia worth fighting or dying for.[28]
World War II
When the
On 9 April, Nebojša and Smeli were sent to the southern Adriatic to attack Italian maritime traffic between Bari in Italy and the Italian protectorate of Albania. Despite the large amount of traffic in the area, Nebojša did not engage any targets. She returned to the Bay of Kotor on 10 or 11 April, where the fleet had begun to break up and some ships' crews were deserting. On 14 April the pending Yugoslav unconditional surrender was announced, and two days later the crew were advised by their commanding officer, Anton Javoršek, that they would be surrendering the following day. Aware that some of the crew wished to escape to the Allies, he tried to dissuade them from doing so. While he was ashore at a conference, his second-in-command, Đorđe Đorđević, contacted a submarine officer he knew who was attached to the defence headquarters of the Bay of Kotor, Đorđe Mitrović, and offered him the command of the submarine if he would lead the crew that wished to escape to Greece. Mitrović readily agreed and took command. Of the six officers and 46 sailors that normally comprised the crew, three officers and 28 sailors chose to escape. Some of this shortfall was made up by eleven sailors from the submarine reserve pool. That evening she sailed to Kumbor, also in the Bay of Kotor, and took onboard three naval officers, one sailor, nine army officers and six civilians.[27]
Nebojša left the Bay of Kotor on 17 April, and sailed submerged until 20:20 when she surfaced to recharge her batteries during the night. Submerging again, she passed through the Strait of Otranto between Italy and Albania on 18 April. The following day her gyrocompass malfunctioned, and her crew were forced to use an unreliable magnetic compass to navigate. To conduct repairs on the gyrocompass, Nebojša stopped at Argostoli on the island of Cephalonia in the Ionian Islands of western Greece on 20 April, and the army and civilian passengers were put ashore. Resupplied, she left Argostoli on 22 April and headed for the Greek island of Crete. A storm on 23 April near the island of Antikythera tore off some deck plating and two doors from the conning tower, but she made it to Souda Bay on the northwest coast of Crete on the following day. One or two days later she resumed her voyage to Egypt accompanied by the British steamship Destro and the Papanikolis, and escorted by the Orjen-class torpedo boats Durmitor and Kajmakčalan. The latter were German-made Yugoslav vessels that had also escaped at the time of the surrender. At 02:45 on 26 April, the group of vessels was met by a British warship and escorted towards Alexandria. At 12:20 on 27 April, Nebojša's diesel engines broke down and she completed the voyage to Alexandria on her electric motors alone, arriving at 14:20 the same day. Along with other vessels and crews that had escaped during the invasion, Nebojša formed part of the KM-in-exile, which operated out of eastern Mediterranean ports under the operational command of the RN.[29]
In May and June 1941, the British overhauled Nebojša at Alexandria and retrained her crew for operations alongside the RN. During her first test dive, water leaked into the officers' quarters and sent the boat into a 25
In January 1943, Nebojša was sent to Beirut for training purposes. Two months later there was an explosion in one of her battery compartments, and she returned to Port Said where 48 of her battery cells were replaced. In April she returned to Alexandria and in May or June she was officially transferred to the KM-in-exile and a Yugoslav crew came aboard. On Nebojša's first sea trial after her transfer both her air compressors failed and the port electric motor burned out. Repairs and overhauling of her engines and motors was undertaken between June and November, and in January 1944 she sailed to Alexandria, before returning to Port Said in October for electric motor repairs. In December Nebojša was ordered to sail to Malta, where the headquarters of the KM-in-exile was located. En route she had to put in to Tobruk in British-administered Libya for repairs to her hydraulic system. She finally arrived in Valletta on 12 January 1945, having been towed and escorted to Malta by British warships.[30]
Post-war
In August 1945 Nebojša was transferred to the new
Legacy
In 2011, to mark the 70th anniversary of the invasion of Yugoslavia, the
See also
Notes
- ^ This translates to Serbo-Croatian Latin: Kraljevska mornarica; Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic: Краљевска морнарица. The navy's "KM" initialism is derived from these.
Footnotes
- ^ Jarman 1997a, p. 732.
- ^ a b Jarman 1997a, p. 779.
- ^ a b c Twardowski 1980, p. 358.
- ^ Akermann 2002, p. 168.
- ^ a b Freivogel 2020, p. 149.
- ^ Akermann 2002, pp. 168–169.
- ^ Freivogel 2020, pp. 149–150.
- ^ Freivogel 2020, p. 150.
- ^ Freivogel 2020, pp. 150–151.
- ^ Freivogel 2020, p. 157.
- ^ Bagnasco 1977, p. 171.
- ^ a b c d Freivogel 2020, p. 152.
- ^ a b c d e f Freivogel 2020, p. 151.
- ^ a b c Fontenoy 2007, p. 148.
- ^ Freivogel 2020, pp. 152 & 344.
- ^ Freivogel 2020, pp. 152–153 & 344.
- ^ Freivogel 2020, pp. 156 & 158.
- ^ Freivogel 2020, pp. 151–152.
- ^ Freivogel 2020, pp. 152–153.
- ^ Jarman 1997b, p. 183.
- ^ a b c d Freivogel 2020, p. 153.
- ^ Jarman 1997b, p. 247.
- ^ Radio Tivat 9 July 2014.
- ^ Jarman 1997b, p. 451.
- ^ a b Jarman 1997b, p. 453.
- ^ Jarman 1997b, p. 738.
- ^ a b c Freivogel 2020, p. 154.
- ^ Tomasevich 1975, pp. 85–86.
- ^ a b Freivogel 2020, pp. 155–156.
- ^ a b c d e Freivogel 2020, p. 156.
- ^ Novosti 2011.
- ^ Blic online 6 April 2011.
- ^ Luković 6 April 2013.
References
Books
- Akermann, Paul (2002). Encyclopedia of British Submarines 1901–1955. Penzance, Cornwall: Periscope Publishing. ISBN 978-0-907771-42-5.
- Bagnasco, Erminio (1977). Submarines of World War Two. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-962-7.
- Fontenoy, Paul E. (2007). Submarines: An Illustrated History of Their Impact. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-85109-563-6.
- Freivogel, Zvonimir (2020). Warships of the Royal Yugoslav Navy 1918–1945. Vol. 1. Zagreb, Croatia: Despot Infinitus. ISBN 978-953-8218-72-9.
- Jarman, Robert L., ed. (1997a). Yugoslavia Political Diaries 1918–1965. Vol. 1. Slough, Berkshire: Archives Edition. ISBN 978-1-85207-950-5.
- Jarman, Robert L., ed. (1997b). Yugoslavia Political Diaries 1918–1965. Vol. 2. Slough, Berkshire: Archives Edition. ISBN 978-1-85207-950-5.
- ISBN 978-0-8047-0857-9.
- Twardowski, Marek (1980). "Yugoslavia". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 355–359. ISBN 978-0-85177-146-5.
Websites
- Blic online (6 April 2011). "Deo "štuke" i zastava sa podmornice "Nebojša" u Vojnom muzeju" [Part of a Stuka and the flag of the submarine Nebojsa in the Military Museum]. Blic online (in Serbo-Croatian). Archived from the original on 8 October 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
- Luković, Siniša (6 April 2013). "85 godina od dolaska prvih jugoslovenskih podmornica" [85 years since the arrival of the first Yugoslav submarines]. Vijesti online (in Serbo-Croatian). Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
- Novosti (21 March 2011). "Preminuo poslednji čuvar srpske podmornice" [The Last Guardian of a Serbian Submarine Has Died]. Novosti online (in Serbian). Archived from the original on 8 October 2015. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
- Radio Tivat (9 July 2014). "Tivat kroz novinsku građu – 9.jul" [Tivat in newspapers – 9 July]. Radio Tivat (in Serbo-Croatian). Archived from the original on 8 October 2015. Retrieved 3 October 2015.