Yugoslav monitor Vardar
Vardar was a Sava-class river monitor built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy as SMS Bosna. During World War I, she was the flagship of the Danube Flotilla, and fought the Serbian Army, the Romanian Navy and Army, and the French Army. After brief service with the Hungarian People’s Republic at the end of the war, she was transferred to the newly created Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and renamed Vardar.
About Yugoslav monitor Vardar in brief
Vardar was a Sava-class river monitor built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy as SMS Bosna, but was renamed SMS Temes before she went into service. During World War I, she was the flagship of the Danube Flotilla, and fought the Serbian Army, the Romanian Navy and Army, and the French Army. After brief service with the Hungarian People’s Republic at the end of the war, she was transferred to the newly created Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and renamed Vardar. She remained in service throughout the interwar period, although budget restrictions meant she was not always in full commission. During the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, she laid mines in theDanube near the Romanian border. The monitors were scuttled by their crews on 11 April, and some of her crew may have been killed when a demolished bridge collapsed onto a tugboat after they abandoned ship. Some tried to escape cross-country towards the southern Adriatic coast, but most surrendered to the Germans at Sarajevo on 14 April.
The remainder made their way to the Bay of Kotor, where they were captured by the Italian XVII Corps on 17 April. In November 1915, the other monitors were assembled at Rustschukuk, Bulgaria, to protect the Romanians negotiating to enter the war on the side of the Entente. When the monitors were again in service on 27 August 1916, they were attacked by three improvised torpedo boats operating out of the Romanian port of Giente. They were later joined by Temes, having been joined by three Giente boats after repairs were completed, and were immediately attacked by torpedo boats of the Giente and the Romanian coast guard. In 1918, the monitors established a sheltered base in the Belene Canal between Romania and Bulgaria, and established the flotilla’s base in Belene.
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This page is based on the article Yugoslav monitor Vardar published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 08, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
