Yugoslav destroyer Dubrovnik

Yugoslav destroyer Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik was a flotilla leader built for the Royal Yugoslav Navy in 1930 and 1931. She was one of the largest destroyers of her time, with a main armament of four Czechoslovak-built Škoda 140 mm guns in single mounts. Dubrovnik undertook several peacetime cruises through the Mediterranean, the Turkish Straits and the Black Sea. In October 1934, she conveyed King Alexander to France for a state visit, and carried his body back to Yugoslavia following his assassination in Marseille. During the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, she was captured by the Italians. After a refit, which included the replacement of some of her weapons and the shortening of her mainmast

About Yugoslav destroyer Dubrovnik in brief

Summary Yugoslav destroyer DubrovnikDubrovnik was a flotilla leader built for the Royal Yugoslav Navy by Yarrow Shipbuilders in Glasgow in 1930 and 1931. She was one of the largest destroyers of her time, with a main armament of four Czechoslovak-built Škoda 140 mm guns in single mounts. Dubrovnik undertook several peacetime cruises through the Mediterranean, the Turkish Straits and the Black Sea. In October 1934, she conveyed King Alexander to France for a state visit, and carried his body back to Yugoslavia following his assassination in Marseille. During the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, she was captured by the Italians. After a refit, which included the replacement of some of her weapons and the shortening of her mainmast and funnels she was commissioned into the Royal Italian Navy as Premuda. She saw action shelling Allied positions on the Italian coast and laying naval mines. In March 1945, she took part in the Battle of the Ligurian Sea against two Royal Navy destroyers, during which she was lightly damaged. The ship was scuttled the following month as the Germans retreated from Genoa. In July 1929, the KSCS signed a contract with Yarrow for a destroyer named Dubrovik. This was the only ship built; the Great Depression prevented the construction of the rest of the planned half-flotilla leaders for the Yugoslav Navy. The Navy of the K SCS decided to build three such flotillas leaders, ships that would have the ability to reach high speeds and with a long endurance.

In the interwar French Navy, these ships were known as contre-torpilleurs, and were intended to operate with smaller destroyers. Yugoslav plans to deploy the ships into the central Mediterranean, where they would be able to operate alongside French and British warships. Unlike the French, who preferred to install guns of their own manufacture, Yarrow was happy to order the guns from the Czechoslovaks firm ŠKoda. The final version of the ship replaced the seaplane mounting with improved anti-aircraft armament. It was the first of a total of three flotila leaders that Yarrow ordered of 12 or 12 Š koda 140mm guns, four per ship. In August 1944, following the Replacement of her armament, the ship was commissioned to the German Navy as a Torpedoboot Ausland with the designation TA32. The design was similar in many respects to the British destroyers being manufactured at the same time, having a square box-like bridge, a sharp forecastle and a sharp raked raked forecastle, and a long raked bridge. The idea was that such a half-Flotilla Leader could defeat an Italian light cruiser of the Condottieri class. The Kingdom of Italy was unhappy with this, and convinced the Allies to share the Austro-Hungarian ships among the victorious powers. As a result, the only modern sea-going vessels left to the KscS were 12 torpedo boats.