The ''Brătianu''-class river monitors were a class of four river monitors used by the Romanian Navy. They were named ''Ion C. Brătianu'', ''Lascăr Catargiu'', ''Mihail Kogălniceanu'' and ''Alexandru Lahovari''.

Design and construction

The class was based on similar Austro-Hungarian river monitors, such as the ''

Körös The Körös () or Criș () (German: ''Kreisch'') is a river in eastern Hungary and western Romania. Its length is from the confluence of its two source rivers Fehér-Körös (''Crișul Alb'') and Fekete-Körös (''Crișul Negru'') to its outflo ...

'' and '' Temes'' classes. The Romanian warships were larger and had a main armament of three 120 mm naval guns in individual turrets, two 120 mm howitzers, four QF guns of 47 mm and two 6.5 mm machine guns. Armor thickness reached 70–75 mm around the belt, turrets and conning tower, 60 mm at the bulkheads and down to only 20 mm over some portions of the deck. The four warships were built by STT in

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

in sections, transported to Romania by rail then assembled and launched at the

Galați shipyard __NOTOC__ The Galați shipyard ( ro, Șantierul naval Galați), formally Damen Shipyards Galați, is a shipyard located on the Danube in Galați, a city located in the Moldavia region of Romania. History Origins through communism Shipbuilding is a ...

in Romania between 1907 and 1908.

Operational service

Sergeant serving with the NMS Lascăr Catargiu

World War I

During the Romanian Campaign of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the monitors supported Romanian ground forces during the

Battle of Turtucaia The Battle of Turtucaia ( ro, Bătălia de la Turtucaia; bg, Битка при Тутракан, ''Bitka pri Tutrakan''), also known as Tutrakan Epopee ( bg, Тутраканска епопея, ''Tutrakanska epopeya'') in Bulgaria, was the openi ...

and evacuated the Romanian 9th Infantry Division from the besieged city. Later, they contributed to the halting of the

Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...

' advance into the

Danube Delta The Danube Delta ( ro, Delta Dunării, ; uk, Дельта Дунаю, Deľta Dunaju, ) is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Ro ...

and held the line against the German forces in Moldavia during the summer and fall of 1917. They also contributed to the Romanian-Russian victory at the

First Battle of Cobadin The First Battle of Cobadin, also known as the First Battle of the Rasova–Cobadin–Tuzla Line, was a battle fought from 17 to 19 of September 1916 between the Bulgarian Third Army and the Romanian–Russian Army of the Dobruja. The battle end ...

and news about their arrival ended the Battle of Flămânda.

World War II

On 22 and 23 June 1941, at the start of

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...

, ''Mihail Kogălniceanu'', aided by another Romanian monitor, ''Basarabia'', and four patrol boats, managed to repel two Soviet attacks, sinking one patrol boat and damaging another two as well as two Soviet monitors. On 24 August 1944, ''Lascăr Catargiu'' and ''Mihail Kogălniceanu'' were sunk by Soviet aircraft. On 27 August ''Ion C. Brătianu'' was captured by the Russians and renamed ' while ''Alexandru Lahovari'' was also captured on 2 September and renamed '. The two ships were eventually returned to Romania on 23 June 1951. They were put into reserve in 1957 and subsequently scrapped between 1959 and 1962.''Conway's Fighting Ships 1906-1921'', p. 422

References

{{WWII Romanian Ships Monitor classes Riverine warfare Ships built in Austria-Hungary Ships built in Romania World War I naval ships of Romania