Yugoslav torpedo boat T5
T5's sister ship, T3, the only significant external difference was that T5 had two funnels
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History | |
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Austria-Hungary | |
Name | 87 F then 87 |
Builder | Ganz & Danubius |
Laid down | 5 March 1914 |
Launched | 20 March 1915 |
Commissioned | 28 September 1915 |
Out of service | November 1918 |
Fate | Assigned to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes |
Kingdom of Yugoslavia | |
Name | T5 |
Acquired | March 1921 |
Out of service | April 1941 |
Fate | Captured by Italy |
Italy | |
Name | T5 |
Acquired | April 1941 |
Out of service | September 1943 |
Fate | Returned to Yugoslavia |
Kingdom of Yugoslavia | |
Name | T5 |
Acquired | December 1943 |
Out of service | May 1945 |
Yugoslavia | |
Name | Cer (Цер) |
Namesake | Battle of Cer (1914) |
Acquired | May 1945 |
Out of service | 1963 |
Fate | Broken up |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | 250t-class, F-group sea-going torpedo boat |
Displacement |
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Length | 58.76 m (192 ft 9 in) |
Beam | 5.84 m (19 ft 2 in) |
Draught | 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 28–29 kn (52–54 km/h; 32–33 mph) |
Range | 1,200 nmi (2,200 km; 1,400 mi) at 16 kn (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
Complement | 41 |
Armament |
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T5 was a sea-going
Following
Background
In 1910, the
Description and construction
The
The boats were armed with two Škoda 66 mm (2.6 in) L/30[a] guns, with the forward gun mounted on the forecastle, and the aft gun on the quarterdeck.[7] A 40 cm (16 in) searchlight was mounted above the bridge.[12] They were also armed with four 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes mounted in pairs, with one pair mounted between the forecastle and bridge, and the other aft of the mainmast.[7] They could also carry 10–12 naval mines.[4]
The first of the F-group to be completed at Ganz-Danubius' main shipyard at Fiume,[13] 87 F was laid down on 5 March 1914, launched on 20 March 1915, and commissioned on 28 September.[13][14] Prior to her commissioning, one 8 mm (0.31 in) Schwarzlose M.7/12 machine gun was included in the armament of all boats of the class for anti-aircraft work. Four mounting points were installed so that the machine gun could be mounted in the most effective position depending on the expected direction of attack.[15]
Career
World War I
The original concept of operation for the 250t-class boats was that they would sail in a flotilla at the rear of a cruising battle formation, and were to intervene in fighting only if the battleships around which the formation was established were disabled, or in order to attack damaged enemy battleships.[16] When a torpedo attack was ordered, it was to be led by a scout cruiser, supported by two destroyers to repel any enemy torpedo boats. A group of four to six torpedo boats would deliver the attack under the direction of the flotilla commander.[17] On 9 December 1915, 87 F, two other 250t-class boats, two Kaiman-class torpedo boats and three destroyers accompanied the protected cruiser Szigetvár to escort Austro-Hungarian seaplanes attacking Ancona. Five days later, Szigetvár led a similar seaplane raid on Rimini, escorted by two destroyers, two Kaiman-class boats, and three 250t-class boats including 87 F.[18]
On 14 January 1916, 87 F laid mines in the
On 4/5 July 1916, Helgoland led an unproductive raid on the
In 1917, one of 87 F's 66 mm guns may have been placed on an anti-aircraft mount. According to the naval historian Zvonimir Freivogel, sources vary on whether these mounts were added to all boats of the class, and on whether these mounts were added to the forward or aft gun.
On 4 February 1918, 87 and two of her sisters accompanied four destroyers on a mission supporting seaplanes attacking the air station at Venice.
On 18 July, conducted an anti-submarine mission near the islet of Porer south of the Istrian peninsula, and on 12 August she was sent south to the Bocche.
Interwar period
87 survived the war intact.
In 1925, exercises were conducted off the Dalmatian coast, involving the majority of the navy.[49] In May and June 1929, six of the eight 250t-class torpedo boats – including T5 – accompanied the light cruiser Dalmacija, the submarine tender Hvar and the submarines Hrabri and Nebojša, on a cruise to Malta, the Greek island of Corfu in the Ionian Sea, and Bizerte in the French protectorate of Tunisia.[50] The ships and crews made a very good impression while visiting Malta.[51] In 1932, the British naval attaché reported that Yugoslav ships engaged in few exercises, manoeuvres or gunnery training due to reduced budgets.[52] By 1939, the maximum speed achieved by the 250t class in Yugoslav service had declined to 24 kn (44 km/h; 28 mph).[9]
World War II and post-war service
In April 1941, Yugoslavia entered World War II when it was invaded by the German-led Axis powers. At the time of the invasion, T5 was assigned to the 3rd Torpedo Division located at Šibenik, which also included her sisters T3, T6 and T7. On the first day of the invasion, 6 April, they were anchored across the entrance of the St. Anthony Channel that links Šibenik Bay to the Adriatic, on a line between Jadrija on the northern side of the channel and Zablaće on the southern side, when aircraft of the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) attacked Šibenik.[48] On the same day, Kapetan bojnog broda[c] Ivan Kern arrived to take command of the division, and the four boats sailed up the channel towards Šibenik then north to Zaton where they were again attacked unsuccessfully by Italian bombers.[31] T3 incurred boiler damage and was sent south to Primošten for repairs to be undertaken.[48]
On 8 April more unsuccessful Italian air attacks on the three boats occurred, and the only effective anti-aircraft gun between them – the 40 mm (1.6 in) gun on T6 – malfunctioned. The three vessels then sailed east across
T5 was then operated by the Italians under her Yugoslav designation, conducting coastal, second-line escort, and anti-
About 18:00 on 10 September 1943, at the time of the Italian
T5 was commissioned as Cer by the new Yugoslav Navy after the war, initially as a stražarski brod (guard ship) with the designation SBR 92. She was later reclassified as a patrolni brod (patrol ship) with the designation PBR 92. Her post-war fit-out included replacing her guns with two semi-automatic Škoda 40 mm L/67 anti-aircraft guns on single mounts, one quadruple and one twin mount of Flakvierling 38 20 mm (0.79 in) guns, and one set of torpedo tubes were removed. She was fitted with two depth charge racks. In JRM service her maximum speed was 22 kn (41 km/h; 25 mph), her range amounted to 1,100 nmi (2,000 km; 1,300 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph), and she had a crew of 52. Cer was allocated to the JRM's 6th Division, which largely consisted of escort destroyers, and was also employed in a training role,[70] until she was stricken off the naval register in 1963.[35] She was then towed to the Brodospas scrapyard at Split to be broken up.[70]
See also
Notes
- ^ L/30 denotes the length of the gun's barrel. In this case, the L/30 gun is 30 calibre, meaning that the barrel was 30 times as long as the diameter of its bore.[11]
- ^ Sources differ on what the exact time was when the attack took place. Sieche states that the time was 3:15 am when the Szent István was hit,[39] while Sokol claims that the time was 3:30 am.[38]
- ^ Kapetan bojnog broda in the KM was equivalent to a contemporary British Royal Navy captain.[53]
- ^ Ammiraglio di divisione in the Regia Marina was equivalent to a contemporary British Royal Navy vice admiral.[53]
Footnotes
- ^ a b c d Freivogel 2022, p. 60.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Gardiner 1985, p. 339.
- ^ Freivogel 2022, p. 59.
- ^ a b c d Greger 1976, p. 58.
- ^ a b c Freivogel 2020, p. 102.
- ^ a b Freivogel 2022, p. 70.
- ^ a b c d e f Freivogel 2020, p. 115.
- ^ O'Hara, Worth & Dickson 2013, pp. 26–27.
- ^ a b c d Freivogel 2020, p. 103.
- ^ Freivogel 2022, p. 65.
- ^ Friedman 2011, p. 294.
- ^ Freivogel 2022, pp. 64–65.
- ^ a b Freivogel 2022, p. 63.
- ^ Greger 1976, p. 60.
- ^ Freivogel 2022, p. 67.
- ^ Freivogel 2019, p. 68.
- ^ Freivogel 2019, p. 69.
- ^ Freivogel 2019, p. 206.
- ^ a b c d Freivogel 2019, p. 221.
- ^ a b c d e Freivogel 2022, p. 94.
- ^ Cernuschi & O'Hara 2015, p. 169.
- ^ a b Cernuschi & O'Hara 2015, p. 170.
- ^ a b Freivogel 2022, p. 88.
- ^ Freivogel 2019, p. 238.
- ^ Freivogel 2019, p. 255.
- ^ Freivogel 2022, p. 100.
- ^ Freivogel 2019, p. 256.
- ^ Cernuschi & O'Hara 2015, p. 171.
- ^ Freivogel 2022, p. 66.
- ^ Freivogel 2019, p. 324.
- ^ a b c d e Freivogel 2020, p. 116.
- ^ Freivogel 2022, pp. 94–95.
- ^ Freivogel 2019, pp. 341–342.
- ^ Cernuschi & O'Hara 2016, p. 68.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Freivogel 2022, p. 95.
- ^ Freivogel 2019, p. 368.
- ^ Sokol 1968, pp. 133–134.
- ^ a b Sokol 1968, p. 134.
- ^ a b Sieche 1991, pp. 127, 131.
- ^ Sokol 1968, p. 135.
- ^ Cernuschi & O'Hara 2016, p. 75.
- ^ Freivogel 2019, p. 386.
- ^ Freivogel 2022, p. 93.
- ^ Freivogel 2019, pp. 386–387.
- ^ a b Halpern 2012, pp. 259–261.
- ^ Vego 1982, p. 345.
- ^ Chesneau 1980, p. 355.
- ^ a b c Freivogel 2020, p. 104.
- ^ Jarman 1997a, p. 733.
- ^ Adriatic Guard 1930.
- ^ Jarman 1997b, p. 183.
- ^ Jarman 1997b, p. 451.
- ^ a b Freivogel 2020, p. 348.
- ^ Freivogel & Rastelli 2015, p. 97.
- ^ a b c Freivogel & Rastelli 2015, p. 98.
- ^ Terzić 1982, p. 333.
- ^ Freivogel 2020, p. 25.
- ^ Terzić 1982, p. 404.
- ^ Freivogel & Rastelli 2015, pp. 100–101.
- ^ Greger 1976, pp. 58 & 60.
- ^ Brescia 2012, p. 151.
- ^ Freivogel 2020, pp. 116 & 119.
- ^ Freivogel 2020, p. 119.
- ^ Freivogel 2020, p. 123.
- ^ a b Freivogel & Rastelli 2015, p. 142.
- ^ Freivogel & Rastelli 2015, pp. 128–129.
- ^ a b Freivogel & Rastelli 2015, p. 164.
- ^ Freivogel 2020, pp. 116–117.
- ^ Freivogel 2020, p. 117.
- ^ a b Freivogel 2021, pp. 107–108.
References
- Brescia, Maurizio (2012). Mussolini's Navy. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-59114-544-8.
- Cernuschi, Enrico & O'Hara, Vincent P. (2015). "The Naval War in the Adriatic Part I: 1914–1916". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2015. London: Bloomsbury. pp. 161–173. ISBN 978-1-84486-295-5.
- Cernuschi, Enrico & O'Hara, Vincent P. (2016). "The Naval War in the Adriatic Part II: 1917–1918". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2016. London: Bloomsbury. pp. 62–75. ISBN 978-1-84486-438-6.
- Chesneau, Roger, ed. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-146-5.
- Freivogel, Zvonimir & Rastelli, Achille (2015). Adriatic Naval War 1940-1945. Zagreb: Despot Infinitus. ISBN 978-953-7892-44-9.
- Freivogel, Zvonimir (2019). The Great War in the Adriatic Sea 1914–1918. Zagreb, Croatia: Despot Infinitus. ISBN 978-953-8218-40-8.
- Freivogel, Zvonimir (2020). Warships of the Royal Yugoslav Navy 1918-1945. Zagreb, Croatia: Despot Infinitus. ISBN 978-953-8218-72-9.
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- Freivogel, Zvonimir (2022). Austro-Hungarian Torpedo-Boats in World War One. Zagreb, Croatia: Despot Infinitus. ISBN 978-953-366-036-9.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: ignored ISBN errors (link - ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
- Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-245-5.
- Greger, René (1976). Austro-Hungarian Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0-7110-0623-2.
- Halpern, Paul G. (2012). A Naval History of World War I. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-266-6.
- 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.
- O'Hara, Vincent; Worth, Richard & Dickson, W. (2013). To Crown the Waves: The Great Navies of the First World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-61251-269-3.
- Sieche, Erwin F. (1991). "S.M.S. Szent István: Hungaria's Only and Ill-Fated Dreadnought". Warship International. XXVII (2): 112–146. ISSN 0043-0374.
- Sokol, Anthony Eugene (1968). The Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Navy. Annapolis, Maryland: U.S. Naval Institute. OCLC 1912.
- Spomenica prvog putovanja kr. mornarice u inostrane vode : Krf-Malta-Bizerta: Maj, 1929 [The Account of the First Voyage of the Royal Navy to Foreign Waters: Corfu–Malta-Bizerte: May 1929] (in Serbo-Croatian). Split, Yugoslavia: Izvršni odbor Jadranske straže [Executive Board of the Adriatic Guard]. 1930. OCLC 442500742.
- Terzić, Velimir (1982). Slom Kraljevine Jugoslavije 1941: Uzroci i posledice poraza [The Collapse of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1941: Causes and Consequences of Defeat] (in Serbo-Croatian). Vol. 2. Belgrade, Yugoslavia: Narodna knjiga. OCLC 10276738.
- Vego, Milan (1982). "The Yugoslav Navy 1918–1941". Warship International. XIX (4): 342–361. ISSN 0043-0374.