Beograd class Destroyer (1937)

As far as the Royal yugoslavian Navy in 1939 is concerned, if the talk in town is all about the formidable Dubrovnik, world’s largest destroyer when commissioned, but this leave in the shadow, the three more conventional Beograd class, led by Dubrovnik. They had a very interesting story of their own, but arrived late. Beograd was built in France and delivered in April 1939 but the remainder two, Zagreb and Ljubljana, were to be built at Jadranska brodogradilišta, Split (now Croatia) with French assistance. Zagreb was properly scuttled in 1941 and never repaired, but the second was captured by Italy, repaired, recommissioned as Lubiana and lost in April 1943. Beograd was also captured in April 1941, saw service as Sebenico until captured in turn by the Germans and used as TA43, until scuttled a second time in May 1945.

Design development:

After the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (KSCS) was created and the former Empire formally transferred some of its vessels to the new nation, other nations like France, Italy, or Romania obtaining more “juicy” war reparations. The Kingdom of Italy convinced the Allies to share the largest Austro-Hungarian ships, leaving indeed the KSCS with just 12 torpedo boats and six minelayers. Naval forces barely sufficient to protect its shores, but not for a true naval forces compared to others in the Mediterranean. Finances was lacking, the country was young and shipyards limited in their capabilities, so the only option was to order new assets abroad. At the time, deterrence went through submarines and CMBs, and that was the first step.

The original naval plan that later saw the construction of Dubrovnik, imagined as a flotilla leader and substitute for a light cruiser with her 14 cm main guns, also planned for destroyers and submarines. In 1925, Yugoslavia ordered four submarines (2 British Hrabi class, two French Osvetnik class), two British-designed 55ft CMBs and a few auxiliaries, and later a destroyer (Dubrovnik) in Britain, to add to its legacy ex-Austrian fleet of minemayers (Galeb class) and T-1 to T-12 ex-Austro-Hungarian torpedo boats. However in 1930 the US econonomic crash hit home, and hit hard. No funding was available for further orders, that were delayed for years. In between, the Navy did received Dubrovnik, now alone and repurposed as a flotilla leader without flotilla, and four submarines.

The first inspiration: Simoun of the Bourrasque class (1924)

In between the country became the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the Yugoslav Royal Navy pursued the the flotilla leader concept, looking at British RN V and W-class destroyers, also looking at the experience of the French Navy in the Adriatic in the last war. They also looked at the interwar French Navy split between “torpilleurs” that were standard destroyers and large “flotilla leaders” of some sort called the “contre-torpilleurs”. They looked at tests made with half-flotillas of three ships. In 1929 already, before the crisis, it was decided to create three such flotilla leaders, with heavy armament, high speed, long endurance for deployments to the central Mediterranean, and to be useful to French and British units in case of war. The prototype built in Britain was Dubrovnik in 1930–1931, but after she was ordered, the Great Depression cut that project to a single half-flotilla of one leader and three standard destroyers.

Even the latter could not be funded right away and were delayed. In 1934, at last, a special credit of 500 million dinars was voted for a modernisation program of the the Kraljevska mornarica (KM). It was decided to order three destroyers with Dubrovnik, names being given after major cities. The Beograd class was seen essentially as a derivative of the French Bourrasque class, but they rejected a copy of the design outright, criticizing the slow-firing main battery and weak ASW suite. Engineers also saw the ships as top-heavy, with a wet forecastle in heavy weather, all obtained by reports. They juged the hull too narrow, and also criticized their limited endurance. All this led to a complete revision of the design by the Ygoslav design team, and a plan to build the first ship in France, looking for the suitable yard. A tender was submitted to all French yards in 1935, won by Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire at Nantes on the Atlantic coast.

This was to be the lead ship of the new class, Beograd, with the remaining ships, Zagreb and Ljubljana, to be built, with assistance by AC de la loire, by Jadranska brodogradilišta at Split, now Croatia. This was the largest and most capable shipyard by then and received some extension and modernization. Two more ships were later planned to round up the flotilla to five ships, but funds were lacking and they were never ordered. Jadranska brodogradilišta shipyard at Kraljevica also took part in the effort, tasked to build boilers and turbines. For the country this was a considerable endeavour.

These were the largest ships ever ordered in Yugoslavia so far. However when the whole plan started, with the laying down of Beograd in France and prepararations made in Jadranska brodogradilišta (Now brodosplit), the calendar started to conspire against the whole enterprise: The three ships were launched in 1937 (Beograd) and 1938 (Zagreb, Ljubjana), adnd commissioned before and after the war broke (April, August and December 1939) and the crews had little experience with their ships. This was compensated by active service in 1940, but their fate was dictated by the events of April 1941…

Design of the Beograd class

From the Blueprints.com (origin, Delphis model kit)

As seen above, Yugoslavian engineers and staff were not impressed by the Bourrasque class and wanted better ships in many areas. The Loire shipyard was tasked to create a hybrid, using the Simoun sub-class as a starting point in dimensions and tonnage, but other sources point out instead the more recent destroyer L’Adroit. In any case, this was with many modifications, starting with the hull shape itself. The Simoun at the time was the last brand or “torpilleurs” and already improved on many aspects in 1936. Among other things it was decided to lenghten the forecastle and make for fuller hull lines to create extra buoyancy, curing the foredeck “wetness” problem. The Yugoslavians had reservation about French powerplants and armaments and ordered the whole panoply in Czechoslovakia and Sweden, Parsons and later Curtis turbines, Yarrow boilers (giving them their two-funnel appareance). Reservations for larger fuel tanks were made for extra range, the hull was strenghtened and more weight added in the deep to improve stability.

The final design made the ship shorter than French destroyers at 98 m (321 ft 6 in) but slighlty narrower at 9.45 m (31 ft) versus 106 x 9.64 meters. Normal draught was also reduced, to 3.18 m (10 ft 5 in) versus 4.3 meters (14 ft 1 in) on the Bourrasque, mean. This made for ships noticeably lighter than the Simoun, at 1,210 tonnes (1,190 long tons) standard and 1,655 tonnes (1,629 long tons) on full load versus 1,298/1,968 long tons FL for the French ships, yet they were considered better armed. Speed however, suffered. Crews comprised a total of 145 personnel, officers NCOs and enlisted men. For them, the ship had four service boats located along the funnels: Two cutters, plus a whaler port aft and a yawl starboard aft.

Museum Model

Now the ships were conventional looking, but diverged very significantly from their French cousins. The prow was not clipper-like but more straight, the forward flare was greater, the forecastle longer and the bridge design, even if the main armament looked the same in superfiring positions fore and aft, was also significantly different. There was a small radio room, followed by the enclosed bridge, with a slightly rounded face and windows closed by shutters, two generous wings supported by lattice, an open bridge protected by a tall bulwark, an enclosed access with windows, a main fire control post tower, and two pole masts (not tripods like on French vessels), one just aft of the bridge and another aft of the second funnels.

These two diverged from the “three pipe” French design, and were raked, looking the same from a profile view but in reality the after one was larger, with trucated exhausts from two boilers. The aft mast was right aft of thhis funnel and not on the quarterdeck further aft as most destroyers of the time, giving them a very unique appearance. There was another fire control post on the quartedeck, and a projector on the platform located between the torpedo tubes. Blueprints reconstructions showed the prow was reinforced and the forecastle had a constant slope about it from the stem to the cut. The ships also reached their greatest beam short of the cut already. The poop was rounded, far less sloped at the waterline as French vessels. But it had drops for the mine rails that constrained the depht charge rack to a single system in between. The ship had two long counter-keels for stability. The hull was NOT painted with a red primer as seen in some renditions, but the usual green, of Adriatic waters as shown by the yard’s model.

Propulsion

Beograd diverged from her sisters by the installation of Curtis steam turbines. Zagreb and Ljubljana opted for standard Parsons steam turbines. They had two, 3-bladed bronze fixed pitch propellers, and steam came from the same three Yarrow water-tube boilers. These turbines had an output of 40,000–44,000 shp (30,000–33,000 kW) together, for a top speed of 38–39 knots (70–72 km/h; 44–45 mph), a bit optimistic. In reality they achieved 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph) in practical service. Beograd however managed on light at forced draft to reach 39 knots on trials. Based on 120 tonnes (120 long tons) of fuel oil (confirmed by most sources) their range was estimated to be around 1,000 nautical miles (1,900 km; 1,200 mi) at 16 knots nominal. The was one boiler in the fore room, two in the aft one, and the turbines in two engine rooms arranged en echelon. That’s the Italian trials when recommissioned later in 1941 that showed a range of 1,200 nm at 16 knots.

Armament of the Beograd class

Beograd in Kotor 1937, just arrived from France (src history.navy.mil).

Main Guns: 120mm/50 Škoda

Unlike Dubrovnik, which had massive Czech 14 cm guns, stablity and just engineering good sense disctated the adoption of more standard guns. Instead of the powerful, but slow firing French 130 mm, the Yugoslavian team advised for Czech guns again, this time the 120mm/50 (not 43 caliber as seen in some sources..) Škoda which mittored the British 4.7-in QF standard guns on British Destroyers. They were located in superfiring pairs for and aft, so twelve were ordered in all, plus twelve spare barrels and ammunitions. Navweaps fortunately covered them.

The 12 cm/46 (4.7″) Škoda of 1939 weighted 3.8 tons (3.74 mt) for a barrel 217 in (5.52 m) long.
Rate Of Fire was 10 rounds per minute using an HE 52.9 lbs. (24 kg) shell with 17.3 lbs. (7.85 kg) propellant charge
Muzzle Velocity was 2,789 fps (850 mps) for a Range at 35° of c18,000 yards (16,500 m).
These Single Mountings had a -10/+35° elevation and +150/-150° traverse.

AA Guns

Air defence was not Czech in origin (for Dubrovnik these were semi-automatic Škoda 40 mm (1.6 in) L/67 anti-aircraft guns) albeit they were planned at first, changed later. Instead, they went for the new Swedish Bofors 40mm/56 in two twin mounts, located aft, on the wings of the quarterdeck with the aft FCS practically between them.

AA Heavy Machine Guns

This was completed by two Czech Česká zbrojovka 15 mm (0.59 in)/80 heavy machine guns, on the bridge’s wings.

However by 1941 this AA battery was ill-suited to deal with 400 kph+ aircraft and the next “users”, the Italians and Germans comprehensively modernized this battery.

Torpedo Tubes

It seems the Beograd class were not given the triple Brotherhood 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes of Dubrovnik but went instead for French 550 mm or 22 inches torpedo tubes. They were placed on the centreline amidship, manually reloadable. They fired the French 23D/DT torpedo, slow but with a powerful warhead:
Weight: 4,560 lbs. (2,068 kg), for 27 ft. 2 in. (8.280 m) x 500 mm (21.7 inches).
Warhead: 683 lbs. (310 kg) TNT
Powered by a Schneider alcohol fed air heater, 4-cyl.
Speed settings: 9,840 yards/39 kts or 14,200 yards (13,000m)/35 kts.

Depth Charges, Mines, Misc.

The destroyers were fitted for anti-submarine warfare, with two unknowwn origin depth charge droppers (two holders each) aft on either side, and a single depth charge rack aft with ten depth charges total between the mine rails.
They all also had railings on deck to carry and lay some 30 mines, short as they started under the Bofors mounts position, albeit this capability was never shown on photos.
They also had two paravanes (for anti-mine work) stored between the service boats amidship with a small rotating crane to lift and put them at sea.

Construction

All three ships were started at the same time in 1936 but at different dates, uknown, Beograd months before the two others given the preparation time in Yugoslavia, hence de delays in launching Beograd in December 1937 versus March and June 1938. Actually, Ljubkana was launched three months before Zagreb, but her completion was delayed, so much so she was only completed in November 1939, commissioned in December, five months after Zagreb. But in any case, they had the whole year 1940 for their crews to get training and have their ships well in hand. Unfortunately their fate depended on the land campaign.


Russian reconstruction in an old Russian book (pinterest). Author’s HD profile awaited.

⚙ Beograd specifications 1939
Displacement	1,210 tonnes standard, 1,655 tonnes full load
Dimensions	98 x 9.45 x 3.18 (321 ft 6 in x 31 ft x 10 ft 5 in)
Propulsion	2 shafts Curtis/Parsons turbines, 3× Yarrow water-tube boilers: 40,000 shp
Speed	35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Range	1,000 nautical miles (1,900 km; 1,200 mi)
Armament	4× 120 mm/50, 2×2 40 mm/56 Bofors AA, 2×3 550 mm TTs, 2 HMGs, 30 mines, DCR
Crew	145

Career of the Beograd Class

Beograd 1939

Beograd was laid down in 1936, launched on 23 December 1937, commissioned on 28 April 1939. Just a month after commission she was sent to the UK with a large portion of the country’s gold reserve (7,344 ingots) for the Bank of England for safekeeping as tensions rose with the Italian invasion of Albania, and later Greece. When Yugoslavia entered the war, forced by a German-led Axis invasion in April 1941, Beograd and Zagreb were assigned to the 1st Torpedo Division, stationed in the Bay of Kotor. To prevent a bridgehead at Zara (Italian enclave on the Dalmatian coast), Beograd, departed with four old ex-Austrian 250t torpedo boats, six motor torpedo boats to Šibenik, 80 kilometres (50 mi) south of Zara for an attack, to be coordinated with the 12th Infantry Division Jadranska and two regiments from Benkovac supported by the 81st Bomber Group. This was a very ambitious attack, especially complicated with the communications of the time. The attack started on 9 April, but the naval side faltered as Beograd’s starboard engine broke down. Meanwhile the Italian aviation attacked and she took near misses off Šibenik. With just one turbine, she limped to the Bay of Kotor for repairs under escort and was still there when captured by the Italians on 17 April, albeit provisions were made for a scuttling.

Sebenico 1942

Like Dubrovnik she started a second life, in Italian service. Refitted and repaired (new director, 20 mm (0.79 in) L/65 Breda Modello 35 added) she was recommissioned as “Sebenico” in August 1941. From there she acted as a convoy escort between Italy and the Aegean or North Africa, making 100 sorties until 1943. In between on 18 October 1941, off Lampedusa, HMS Ursula sank a steamer under protection of Sebenico. On 29 March 1942, Sebenico and three TBs escorted a convoy off Brindisi when ambushed by HMS Proteus, loosing one freighter. Naval historian M. J. Whitley argued she lost her aft torpedo tubes to add extra AA but details are scarce. In September 1943 Sebenico fell to the Germans on 9 September. The destroyer was captured and renamed TA43 for Torpedoboot Ausland 43 but she was not operation, apparently made unserviceable by her crew by default of a proper scuttling.

In German service she likely lost one (or her second) triple torpedo mounts for seven 37 mm (1.5 in) FLAK 38 AA guns, a twin and five single mounts, plus two single 20 mm (0.79 in) FLAK 37. In February 1945, so quite late after repairs, she joined the 9th Torpedo Boat Flotilla (an all captured ships unit) for escort and minelaying missions confined to the northern Adriatic. On 1 April 1945, TA43 saw little action, perhaps due to the lack of fuel and intense allied air cover. Historian Roger Chesneau (Conways) alleged she was sunk in Trieste, by Yugoslav parisan artillery fire on 30 April, raised in June 1946, and scuttled. David Brown said she was scuttled at Trieste on 1 May 1945. Maurizio Brescia that she was scuttled at Trieste on 1 May 1945, BU in 1947.

Zagreb in Kotor, 1940

Zagreb was laid down in 1936, launched on 30 March 1938, commissioned in August 1939, becoming the first warship of that size ever built in Yugoslavia. So her launching ceremony was a grand even witnessed by the Minister of Army and Navy, court representatives and a wide crowd, associated with a public holiday. In April 1941, Zagreb and Beograd worked with the 1st Torpedo Division in the Bay of Kotor and on 6 April, Luftwaffe attacks on them an shore installations caused near misses: Zagreb survived, but she moved in another location within the bay and was camouflaged (as shown on a famous photo with Dubrovnik).

Zagreb and Dubrovnik in Kotor, April 1941. Note her peculiar hull broom-handed camouflage and artistic tree-like scheme on the structure.

On 16 April, her crew knew about the near surrender, ordered not to resist, but a large part of the crew left to join partisans. Only a small part of the personal, mostly officers, were there when the Italian arrived in the Bay of Kotor. Junior officers Milan Spasić and Sergej Mašera forced the captain and remaining crew to set scuttling charges to prevent capture, without orders, and they remained on board, later killed in the explosions. The ship sank in shallow waters, her upper structure remaining above, but she burned for days. On 21 April, Spasić remains surfaced and were given full military funeral by the Italians on 5 May. The two men would be posthumously awarded the Order of the People’s Hero for their courage. A portion of Zagreb’s bow is now at the Maritime Museum of Montenegro, Kotor. These events were the object also of a French-Yugoslav movie in 1973.

Lubiana in Italian service, 1942.

Ljubljana was laid down in 1936, launched on 28 June 1938, completed on 23 September 1939, commissioned into the KM in November 1939. After commissioning, she took part in an ASW exercise between Mljet and Korčula (Dalmatian coast) on 23 January 1940 in which it was noticed she was veered to starboard and believed a steering machinery issue, engaging the secondary steering system. With her sister she sailed for Šibenik (port visit) to be visited by the local population, after going through the narrow St. Anthony Channel. However in the strong northerly wind the CO asked to be anchored outside the channel until the wind dropped, but this was denied by CiC Kontraadmiral Marijan Polić, as the public was waiting. At the narrowest point in the channel at 17:05, her stern swung to starboard, struck underwater rocks resulting in starboard hull and shaft damage and an eccentric rotation of the starboard prop. breaching the hull near the steering machinery.

Both turbines stopped, the forward turbine (starboard shaft) was disengaged, the engine room aft was flooded. Ljubljana then stopped in the eastern part of Šibenik. The extent of the damage was initially underestimated, both anchors were dropped. Two tugs arrived, but could only save the crew. One sailor drowned in the aft engine room. At 6:15 PM Ljubljana capsized and sankand ended near upside down in shallow depth at a 120° angle. The court of inquiry led to a vigorous result, the entire Yugoslav Naval staff was sanctioned and released from commission. Next came the quesiton of a salvage. No company in Yugoslavia could do this, so Tripkovich, from Trieste, was contracted. Director Gottfried Freiherr von Banfield (a former Austro-Hungarian ace naval pilot) arrived in Šibenik on board the 247 t (243 long tons) tug Gladiator, joined by Navy tug Jaki and Italian tugs Audax and Cyclops to assit the Navy salvage vessel Spasilac used as headquarters. Initial plans for two weeks operations were marred by winter weather. There were two failed attempts. On the night of 29 February to 1st March, the Italian ocean liner SS Leonardo da Vinci accidentally struck her hull, further damaging the rudder and propellers. The hull was eventually sealed and on 10 May, using pumps and cables, she was turned over and put on an even keel, supported by 80,000 sandbags. 8 days later another rusing attempt failed as cables parted. On 10 July the fnal attempt succeeded, in presence of Kontraadmiral Julijan Luterotti. Ljubljana was then towed to Tivat, Kotor for repairs but the ship had a bad rep for Yugoslav sailors.

Ljubljana was captured at Tivat, still repaired, by the Royal Italian Navy on 17 April 1941. She was towed to Pola to complete the work. The Bofors were replaced by Breda 37 mm AA guns, with a third single 37 mm gun located in place of the searchlight, while the 15 mm HMGs were replaced by single Breda Model 35 20 mm (0.79 in) L/65 guns, with six more added, eight total, notably in place of her aft torpedo tubes. The firing directors were removed for a single RM-2 director on the bridge. Funnel tops were cut to a more raked angle and like her sister Sebenico she ended with a typical 1942 Italian dazzle camouflage scheme, recommissioned as Lubiana (pennant “LA”) on 1 November 1941, assigned to the 1st Destroyer Flotilla, 1st Squadron. She sailed for the Ionian Sea and southern Adriatic, used an escort until April 1943, used to the Tunisian supply route by 1943. From 9 February to 22 March 1943 she took part in troop transport convoysrepatriating part of the former axis forces, DAK and Italian divisions from North Africa, to Sicily from Bizerte notably also from 17 to 19 March. On 27 March she started her final escort, with the tanker Bivona, steamships Giacomo C, Aquila, Le Borgne, to Tunisia in bad visibility and poor weather. In a navigation error, her and the freighters were grounded at 04:00 on 1 April, 1.6 km east of Ras El Ahma, not far from Cap Bon, Gulf of Tunis. Heavy seas made impossible to salvage Lubiana, so she was abandoned, and wrecked later, declared a total loss. Her service in Italian hands saw 46 missions (18 convoy escorts, 6 troop transfers, 12 trials, 10 others) for 8,914 nmi (16,509 km; 10,258 mi).

Read More

Books

Brescia, Maurizio (2012). Mussolini’s Navy. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Seaforth Publishing.
Brown, David (1995). Warship Losses of World War Two. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.
Campbell, John (1985). Naval Weapons of World War Two. London, England: Conway Maritime Press.
Cernuschi, Enrico & O’Hara, Vincent O. (2005). “The Star-Crossed Split”. In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2005.
Chesneau, Roger, ed. (1980). Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1922–1946. p.357
Freivogel, Zvonimir (2020). Warships of the Royal Yugoslav Navy 1918–1945. Zagreb, Croatia: Despot Infinitus.
Hoptner, Jacob B. (1963). Yugoslavia in Crisis, 1934–1941. New York, New York: Columbia University Press.
Jarman, Robert L., ed. (1997). Yugoslavia Political Diaries 1918–1965. Vol. 2. Slough, Berkshire: Archives Edition.
Lenton, H.T. (1975). German Warships of the Second World War. London, England: Macdonald and Jane’s.
Novak, Grga (2004). Jadransko more u sukobima i borbama kroz stoljeća Vol. 2. Marjan tisak.
O’Hara, Vincent (2013). The German Fleet at War, 1939–1945. NIP
Preston, Antony; Jordan, John & Dent, Stephen (2005). Warship. London, England: Conway Maritime Press.
Rohwer, Jürgen & Hümmelchen, Gerhard (1992). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: Naval History of WW2. NIP
Whitley, M. J. (1988). Destroyers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia.

Links

WW2 RYN composition graphic in April 1941
navypedia.org archive
avalanchepress.com on the Yugoslavian Navy
paluba.info Forum Discussion
german-navy.de TA 43
reddit photo, Beograd just arrived in Kotor Dec. 1937
Historoy Navy Mil, same photo as above
shipsnostalgia.com photo
warshipsww2.eu
digilander.libero.it
Flammes sur l’Adriatic Movie depicting the scuttling of Zagreb
trove.nla.gov.au
en.wikipedia.org

Model Kits

TA43 ex Sebenico ex Beograd, Delphis Models 1:700 by Juergen Klueser on klueser.de