Yugoslav torpedo boat T3

T3 was a 250t-class torpedo boat of the Austro-Hungarian Navy built in 1914. She saw active service during World War I, performing convoy, escort and minesweeping tasks, anti-submarine operations and shore bombardment missions. Following Austria-Hungary’s defeat in 1918, she was allocated to the Navy of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which subsequently became the Royal Yugoslav Navy. The ship was captured by the Italians during the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941. After her main armament was modernised, she served with the Royal Italian Navy under her Yugoslav designation. She was sunk by Allied aircraft in February 1945 while in the port of Trieste.

About Yugoslav torpedo boat T3 in brief

Summary Yugoslav torpedo boat T3T3 was a 250t-class torpedo boat of the Austro-Hungarian Navy built in 1914. She saw active service during World War I, performing convoy, escort and minesweeping tasks, anti-submarine operations and shore bombardment missions. Following Austria-Hungary’s defeat in 1918, she was allocated to the Navy of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which subsequently became the Royal Yugoslav Navy. The ship was captured by the Italians during the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941. After her main armament was modernised, she served with the Royal Italian Navy under her Yugoslav designation, although she was only used for coastal and second-line tasks. She was sunk by Allied aircraft in February 1945 while in the port of Trieste, where she had been built. The T-group designation signified that they were built at Trieste. The boats were powered by two Parsons steam turbines driving two propellers, using steam generated by two Yarrow water-tube boilers, one of which burned fuel oil and the other coal. They carried 18 tonnes of coal and 24 tonnes of fuel oil, which gave them a range of 980 nmi at 16 knots. While their designed displacement was 262 tonnes, they displaced about 320 tonnes fully loaded.

The crew consisted of 39 officers and enlisted men. They were originally to be armed with three Škoda 66 mm L30 guns, and three 450 mm mm torpedo tubes, but this was changed to two tubes before the first was completed, to standardise the armament. They could also carry 10–12 naval mines, and were the fifth of its class to follow the F-group to be built. On 24 May 1915, 78 T was laid down, launched on 22 October 1913, and completed on 23 August 1914. Later that year, one machine gun was added, one 8mm machine gun, and one 450mm torpedo tube was added to the boat. The boat was used for sea raids against the Italian Adriatic coast and also supported sea patrols and air raids against Italian coast and plane attacks. In 1921, she became the first of the T7-class boats to be fitted with turbines, and was used in training exercises and cruises to friendly ports, but activity was limited by reduced naval budgets. The ships were originally intended to be coastal vessels, despite the original intention that they would be used for high seas operations.