The Beograd class consisted of three destroyers built for the Royal Yugoslav Navy

in the late 1930s, to a French design. Beograd was constructed in France and Zagreb
and Ljubljana were built in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. During the German-led Axis
invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, Zagreb was scuttled to prevent its capture,
and the other two were captured by the Italians. The Royal Italian Navy operated
the two captured ships as convoy escorts between Italy, the Aegean Sea and North
Africa. One was lost in the Gulf of Tunis in April 1943; the other was seized by
the Germans in September 1943 after the Italian surrender, and was subsequently
operated by the German Navy. There are conflicting reports about the fate of the
last ship, but it was lost in the final weeks of the war.

In 1967, a French film was made about the scuttling of Zagreb. In 1973, the
President of Yugoslavia and wartime Partisan leader Josip Broz Tito posthumously
awarded the two officers who scuttled Zagreb with the Order of the People's Hero.

Contents [hide]
1 Background
2 Description and construction
3 Ships
4 Service
5 Notes
6 Footnotes
7 References
7.1 Books
7.2 Periodicals
7.3 Websites
Background[edit]
Following the demise of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the conclusion of World War
I, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (KSCS) was created. Austria-Hungary
transferred the vessels of the former Austro-Hungarian Navy to the new nation. 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,[1] and it had to build
its naval forces almost from scratch.[2]

The name of the state was changed to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929. In the
early 1930s, the Royal Yugoslav Navy (Serbo-Croatian: Kraljevska Jugoslavenska
Ratna Mornarica, KJRM) pursued the flotilla leader concept, which involved building
large destroyers similar to the World War I Royal Navy V and W-class destroyers.[3]
In the interwar French Navy, these ships were intended to operate with smaller
destroyers, or as half-flotillas of three ships. The Royal Yugoslav Navy decided to
build three such flotilla leaders, ships that could reach high speeds and would
have long endurance. The endurance requirement reflected Yugoslav plans to deploy
the ships to the central Mediterranean, where they would be able to operate
alongside French and British warships. This resulted in the construction of the
destroyer Dubrovnik in 19301931. Soon after she was ordered, the onset of the
Great Depression meant that only one ship of the planned half-flotilla was ever
built.[4]

Despite the fact that three large destroyers were not going to be built, the idea
that Dubrovnik might operate with a number of smaller destroyers persisted. In
1934, the KJRM decided to acquire three such destroyers to operate in a division
led by Dubrovnik.[5] The Beograd class was developed from a French design, and the
name ship of the class, Beograd, was built by Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire at
Nantes, France, whereas the remaining ships of the class, Zagreb and Ljubljana,
were built by Jadranska brodogradilita at Split, Yugoslavia, under French
supervision. Two more ships of the class were planned, but not built.[6]

Description and construction[edit]

The ships had an overall length of 98 m (321 ft 6 in), a beam of 9.45 m (31 ft 0
in), and a normal draught of 3.18 m (10 ft 5 in). Their standard displacement was
1,210 tonnes (1,190 long tons), increasing to 1,655 tonnes (1,629 long tons) at
full load.[7] Beograd was powered by Curtis steam turbines, and Zagreb and
Ljubljana used Parsons steam turbines. Regardless of the turbines used, they drove
two propellors, using steam generated by three Yarrow water-tube boilers. Their
turbines were rated at 40,00044,000 shp (30,00033,000 kW) and they were designed
to propel the ships at a top speed of 3839 knots (7072 km/h; 4445 mph), although
they were only able to reach a practical top speed of 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph) in
service.[7][8][9] They carried 120 tonnes (120 long tons) of fuel oil,[7] which
gave them a radius of action of 1,000 nautical miles (1,900 km; 1,200 mi).[8] Their
crews consisted of 145 personnel, including officers and enlisted men.[7]

Main armament consisted of four koda 120 mm (4.7 in) L/46[a] superfiring guns in
single mounts, two forward of the superstructure and two aft, protected by gun
shields. Secondary armament consisted of four Bofors 40 mm (1.6 in) anti-aircraft
guns in two twin mounts,[7][10][11] located on either side of the aft shelter deck.
[12] The ships were also equipped with two triple mounts of 550 mm (22 in) torpedo
tubes and two machine guns.[7] Their fire-control systems were provided by the
Dutch firm of Hazemayer.[10] As built, they could also carry 30 naval mines.[7]

Ships[edit]
Ship Builder[7] Laid down[13][10] Launched[7] Commissioned[12] Fate
Beograd Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire, Nantes
1936
23 December 1937
28 April 1939
Captured by Italy, 17 April 1941, renamed Sebenico
Captured by Germans 1943, renamed TA43
Scuttled/sunk 30 April/1 May 1945[6][14][15]
Zagreb Jadranska brodogradilita, Split
30 March 1938
August 1939
Scuttled, 17 April 1941[6]
Ljubljana
28 June 1938
December 1939
Captured by Italy, 17 April 1941, renamed Lubiana
Lost 1 April 1943[6][14][16]
Service[edit]
At the time of the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, only two of the
ships had been commissioned, with the third being brought into service three months
after the war started. Their only significant pre-war task was undertaken by
Beograd in May 1939, and involved the transportation of a large portion of
Yugoslavia's gold reserve to the United Kingdom for safekeeping.[17] On 24 January
1940, Ljubljana ran into a reef off the Yugoslav port of ibenik. The hull side was
breached and despite efforts to get the ship into the port, it sank close to shore,
and some of the crew swam to safety. One crew member died, and the captain was
arrested pending an investigation.[18]

When Yugoslavia was drawn into the war by the German-led Axis invasion on 6 April
1941, Beograd and Zagreb were allocated to the 1st Torpedo Division at the Bay of
Kotor along with Dubrovnik,[19] but Ljubljana was still under repair at ibenik.
[14][20] On 9 April, Beograd and other vessels were tasked with supporting an
attack on the Italian enclave of Zara on the Dalmatian coast, but the naval prong
of the attack was aborted when Beograd suffered engine damage from near misses by
Italian aircraft. She returned to the Bay of Kotor for repairs.[12] Beograd and
Ljubljana were captured in port by Italian forces on 17 April,[20][21] but on the
same day, two of Zagreb's officers scuttled her to prevent her capture, and were
killed by the resulting explosions.[22]

In Italian service, Beograd and Ljubljana were repaired, re-armed, and renamed
Sebenico and Lubiana respectively. Sebenico was commissioned into the Royal Italian
Navy in August 1941, and Lubiana in October or November 1942. They both served
mainly as convoy escorts between Italy and the Aegean and North Africa, with
Sebenico completing more than 100 convoy escort missions over a two-year period.
Neither ship was involved in any notable action.[14][20][23][24] On 1 April 1943,
Lubiana was either sunk off the Tunisian coast by British aircraft,[25] or ran
aground in the Gulf of Tunis and was lost.[14][16] Sebenico was captured by the
Germans in Venice after the Italian Armistice in September 1943 in a damaged
condition. She was repaired, re-armed, and renamed TA43 and entered service in the
Kriegsmarine (German Navy).[8][25][26][27] TA43 served on escort and mine-laying
duties in the northern Adriatic Sea, but saw little action.[28][29] She was either
damaged by artillery fire on 30 April 1945 at Trieste then scuttled,[25] or just
scuttled on 1 May.[14][15]

In 1967, a French film, Flammes sur l'Adriatique (Adriatic Sea of Fire) was made,
portraying the scuttling of Zagreb and the events leading up to it.[30] In 1973,
the President of Yugoslavia and wartime Partisan leader Josip Broz Tito
posthumously awarded the Order of the People's Hero to the two officers who
scuttled Zagreb.[31]