''Nadezhda'' (

Bulgarian language Bulgarian (, ; bg, label=none, български, bălgarski, ) is an Eastern South Slavic language spoken in Southeastern Europe, primarily in Bulgaria. It is the language of the Bulgarians. Along with the closely related Macedonian la ...

: ''Надежда'') was a 20th-century

torpedo gunboat In late 19th-century naval terminology, torpedo gunboats were a form of gunboat armed with torpedoes and designed for hunting and destroying smaller torpedo boats. By the end of the 1890s torpedo gunboats were superseded by their more successful c ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, the largest warship ever possessed by the Royal Bulgarian Navy. It was often referred to as a cruiser by her Bulgarian owners, a designation that might not be too far-fetched, considering there were indeed smaller

torpedo cruiser A torpedo cruiser is a type of warship that is armed primarily with torpedoes. The major navies began building torpedo cruisers shortly after the invention of the locomotive Whitehead torpedo in the 1860s. The development of the torpedo gave rise ...

s in service with the European navies of the time, such as the Italian ''Folgore''-class.

Construction

''Nadezhda'' was made of steel, built by ''Chantiers et Ateliers de la Gironde'' in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and was launched in 1898. The warship displaced 715 tons and measured 67 meters in length, had a beam of 8.30 meters and a draught of 3.10 meters. She was powered by four boilers generating a speed of 18 knots and had a crew of 97. Her armament consisted of six guns (2 x 100 mm, 2 x 65 mm, 2 x 47 mm) and two 381 mm torpedo tubes.

Career

''Nadezhda'' served as a royal yacht for the

King of Bulgaria The monarchs of Bulgaria ruled the country during three periods of Bulgaria's history as an independent country: from the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire in 681 to the Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria in 1018; from the Uprising of Ase ...

, the aft part of her deck house being converted into a lounge. In 1912 she ran aground, but was soon refloated and repaired.Reginald Crabtree, ''Royal Yachts of Europe: From the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century'', David & Charles Publishing, 1975 During the

First Balkan War The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...

, she was disarmed due to her poor condition. Her guns were soon fitted again but were landed once more in 1915. In September 1918, she was taken to Sevastopol for repairs, but her crew abandoned her there in December that year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nadezhda 1898 ships Ships built in France World War I naval ships of Bulgaria Torpedo boats of the Bulgarian Navy Military units and formations of the Balkan Wars