Schichau-class torpedo boat

The Schichau class were torpedo boats built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy between 1885 and 1891. A total of 22 boats were built by three shipbuilding companies; nine by Seearsenal Pola, six by Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino, and the remaining seven boats were built by Schichau-Werke. The class was one of the first torpedo boat classes built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy, and they were initially powered by steam from a single locomotive boiler. The entire class was reconstructed between 1900 and 1910, when they received two Yarrow boilers and a second funnel. Ten of the class were converted to minesweepers between 1911 and 1913, and apart from one that was discarded in 1911, all boats saw active service as part of local defence forces for Adriatic naval bases during World War I, with one being lost in the early days of the war. The remaining nine torpedo boats were also converted to minesweepers in 1917, although five still carried torpedoes. After the war, sixteen were allocated to Italy and four were allocated to the navy of the newly created Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia). Except for one of the Yugoslav boats which was retained as a training vessel, all of the boats had been discarded and broken up by 1925. After capture during the April 1941 invasion of Yugoslavia the remaining boat saw service with the Italians then the Germans during World War II. She was lost in German hands sometime after September 1943.

Design and construction

A total of 22 boats were built by three shipbuilding companies; nine by Seearsenal Pola, six by Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino, and the remaining seven boats were built by Schichau-Werke.^[1] At the time they came into service, the boats were rated as first-class torpedo boats.^[2] All boats used a single triple expansion engine driving one propeller shaft using steam generated by a locomotive boiler, although this was replaced by two Yarrow boilers between 1900 and 1910, and a second funnel was installed. They had a waterline length of 39.9 metres (130 ft 11 in), a beam of 4.8 m (15 ft 9 in), and a normal draught of 1.9 m (6 ft 3 in). They had a standard displacement of 88–90 tonnes (87–89 long tons) at full load. The crew consisted of 16 officers and enlisted men. Their engine was rated at 1,000 indicated horsepower (750 kW) and they were designed to reach a top speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph). They carried sufficient coal to give them a radius of action of 1,200 nautical miles (2,200 km; 1,400 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).^[3]

They were armed with two Hotchkiss-designed Škoda-built 37 mm (1.5 in) L/23^{[lower-alpha 1]} guns, firing a 450-gram (16 oz) high explosive round to a maximum range of 3,000 m (9,800 ft).^[4][5] They were also equipped with two 356 mm (14.0 in) torpedo tubes, firing a Type C torpedo with a 45-kilogram (99 lb) warhead to a range of 600 m (2,000 ft) at 24 kn (44 km/h; 28 mph).^[3][6] At the time they were built, boats of this class were initially given names, but they were redesignated with numbers on 1 April 1910.^[2][7]

Service history

After all boats of the class were reconstructed between 1900 and 1910, Nos. 27, 29–30, 33–38 and 40 were converted to minesweepers between 1911 and 1913. No. 28 was discarded in 1911,^[1] being transferred to the Austro-Hungarian Army and serving as Tender 28.^[2] At the outbreak of World War I, the class was obsolete.^[2] In August 1914, the Schichau-class torpedo boats and minesweepers were split between the various local defence forces for the main Austro-Hungarian ports on the Adriatic coast. Nos. 21, 24, 32 and 39 formed the 13th Torpedo Boat Group of the 7th Torpedo Craft Division at Pola, with Nos. 27, 30, 33–34, 37 and 40 forming part of the local minesweeping flotilla. Nos. 20, 23 and 26 were stationed at Trieste as part of the 15th and 16th Torpedo Boat Groups. Nos. 19, 22, 25 and 31 formed the 20th Torpedo Boat Group of the 10th Torpedo Craft Division at Sebenico, alongside a minesweeping group that included Nos. 29 and 35. At Cattaro, Nos. 36 and 38 were part of the minesweeping force.^[8]

On 23 August 1914, No. 26 was mined and sank off Pola. No. 22 ran aground and sank off Sebenico on 3 March 1916, but was salvaged and repaired later that year. All of the remaining torpedo boats were converted to minesweepers during 1917. They all retained their torpedo tubes, but only Nos. 19 and 21–24 still carried torpedoes. Twenty boats survived the war. Under the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, sixteen were allocated to Italy, and she made use of five as customs vessels, all of these were scrapped by 1925. The remaining four vessels were allocated to the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later renamed Yugoslavia). The Yugoslavs retained Nos. 21, 36, 38 and 19 as the minesweepers D1–D4 respectively.^[1][9] D1 and D3–D4 were discarded in 1924,^[10] but D2 was retained as a training vessel until 1941.^[11][12] Captured during the World War II Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, she served in the Royal Italian Navy as D10. She was captured by the German Navy at the time of the Italian capitulation of September 1943, and was lost in their hands off Kumbor in the Bay of Kotor sometime thereafter.^[13]

See also

• List of ships of the Royal Yugoslav Navy

Notes

Footnotes

References

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