- Beograd class destroyer
The "Beograd"-class destroyers were built for the
Yugoslav Royal Navy in the late 1930's. The ships fought in World War II. Two of the three were captured by the Italian Navy after theinvasion of Yugoslavia in 1941, and one of those was subsequently captured by the Germans.Design
Following the large destroyer "Dubrovnik" the Yugoslavs decided on a smaller size for this group of ships. The ships were designed by the French company "Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire". One ship was built in France and the other two in Yugoslavia . The armament was provided by the Czech company
Skoda and the machinery byYarrow Shipbuilders .Operational history
The "Ljubiana" was in dockyard on 17 April 1941 and was captured. The "Zagreb" was blown up in
Kotor to prevent capture. The "Beograd" was at sea and damaged by dive bombing. She limped home to Kotor and was also captured.The "Ljubiana" was renamed "Lubiana", and the "Beograd" renamed "Sebinico" by the
Regia Marina . Both ships served as convoy escorts on the supply run to North Africa. The "Lubiana" was sunk by grounding in the Gulf of Tunis on 1 April 1943.The "Sebenico" was captured by the Germans in Venice after the Italian Armistice in September 1943.The ship was renamed "TA43" and entered
Kriegsmarine service on 17 October 1944. She served in the NorthernAdriatic Sea and was heavily damaged by Yugoslav artillery in April 1945. The ship was scuttled inTrieste on 1 May 1945.hips
References
*cite book|first=M.J.|last=Whitley|title=Destroyers of World War 2|year=1988|publisher=Cassell Publishing|id=ISBN 1-85409-521-8
* [http://www.german-navy.de/kriegsmarine/captured/torpedoboats/ta/ta43/index.html German Navy site]
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