JRM Dubrovnik

Career (Kingdom of Yugoslavia)
Name:	Dubrovnik
Namesake:	City of Dubrovnik
Builder:	Yarrow Shipbuilders
Laid down:	1930-06-10
Launched:	1931-10-12
Commissioned:	May 1932
Fate:	Captured by Italy
Career (Kingdom of Italy)
Name:	Premuda
Acquired:	1941-04-17
Fate:	Captured by Germany
Career (Nazi Germany)
Name:	TA 32
Acquired:	1943-09-08
Out of service:	1945-04-25
Fate:	Scuttled before Allies captured Genoa
General characteristics
Displacement:	1,880 long tons (1,910 t) standard 2,800 long tons (2,800 t) full load
Length:	113 m (370 ft 9 in)
Beam:	10.66 m (35 ft 0 in)
Draught:	3.22 m (10 ft 7 in)
Propulsion:	2 shaft Parsons-type geared steam turbines 3 boilers 42,000 hp
Speed:	37 knots (43 mph; 69 km/h)
Range:	6,600 nmi (12,200 km) at 13 knots (15 mph; 24 km/h)
Complement:	200
Armament:	• 4 × 140 mm (5.5 in) guns • 2 × 84 mm (3.3 in) guns • 6 × 40 mm (1.6 in) guns • 6 × 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes • 40 mines

At speed (37 knots), circa 1936

The Dubrovnik (later Premuda and TA 32) was a destroyer built for the Yugoslav Royal Navy in the 1930s. The ship was named after the city of Dubrovnik.

She was captured by the Italian Navy in April 1941 following the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia. The ship was in turn captured by the Germans in September 1943 after the Italian armistice and scuttled in April 1945.

Design

The ship was built by Yarrow Shipbuilders in Glasgow and was the largest destroyer yet built. The Yugoslavs demanded a destroyer that was faster and better armed than any likely Italian opponent. The guns were supplied by the Czech company Skoda and the ship had a heavy anti-aircraft armament for the time.

The ship was laid down on 10 June 1930, launched 12 October 1931 and commissioned in May 1932.

Yugoslav Navy service

The ship took King Alexander of Yugoslavia on a state visit to France in 1934. She then had the task of returning his body home after he was assassinated. The ship was captured at Kotor on 17 April 1941.

Italian Navy service

The ship was renamed Premuda by the Regia Marina and re-fitted. The 84 mm guns were removed and replaced by 37 mm guns and a new director/rangefinder was fitted. She served on convoys to North Africa and was involved in opposing Operation Harpoon. The Premuda was under refit in Genoa at the time of the Italian Armistice and was captured by the Germans on 8 September 1943.

Kriegsmarine service

The Germans re-armed the ship with three 105 mm guns and converted her into a radar picket or fighter control ship with a large Freya type radar installation aft. The radar was later replaced by a fourth 105 mm gun and torpedo tubes. The ship was renamed TA 32 and was the flagship of the 10th Flotilla based in Genoa and active in the Ligurian Sea. She fought an action with British destroyers in March 1945 and was scuttled on 25 April 1945 shortly before Genoa was captured by the Allies.

Specification (as refitted)

• Displacement: 2400 tons
• Length: 113.2 m
• Beam: 10.7m
• Draught: 4.1 m
• Speed: 37 knots
• Armament:
  • 4 - 105 mm guns (4x1)
  • 4 -37mm guns
  • 28 - 20mm guns
  • 3 x 553mm torpedo tubes (1x3)
  • 4 depth charge racks

References

• Whitley, M.J. (1988). Destroyers of World War 2. Cassell Publishing. ISBN 1-85409-521-8. 
• german-navy.de