''Šibenik'' (

pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

RTOP-21) is a

missile boat A missile boat or missile cutter is a small, fast warship armed with anti-ship missiles. Being smaller than other warships such as destroyers and frigates, missile boats are popular with nations interested in forming a navy at lower cost. They a ...

in service with the Croatian Navy. It was built for the

Yugoslav Navy The Yugoslav Navy ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска ратна морнарица, Jugoslavenska ratna mornarica, Yugoslav War Navy), was the navy of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1992. It was essentially a coastal defense force with the miss ...

at the Kraljevica Shipyard in the 1970s as ''Vlado Ćetković'' (RTOP-402).Wertheim (2007), p. 145. In 1991 during the early stages of the

Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and the Serb-controlled Yugosl ...

it was captured by Croatian forces while being overhauled at the "Velimir Škorpik" shipyard in Šibenik.

Design and construction

''Šibenik'' was launched as ''Vlado Ćetković'' (RTOP-402) on 20 August 1977 as the second ship in a class of six

s that were being built at the Tito's Kraljevica Shipyard for the

(''Jugoslavenska ratna mornarica'' – JRM). It was commissioned with the JRM in March 1978. The ship measures in length, with a beam and draught. Propulsion utilizes a CODAG arrangement with two MTU 16V 538 TB91 diesel engines used for economical cruising whilst two RR Marine Proteus 52 M gas turbines are used for achieving higher speeds. Cruising speed is while the maximum achievable speed is . Travelling at a near maximum speed of 38 knots, the ship has a maximum range of . Powered by diesel engines only and travelling at a speed of ''Šibenik'' has a range of , with exact numbers varying from source to source. Endurance is between five and seven days. Due to changes carried out during its service, ''Šibenik'' features different armament than other ships of its class.

Service history

Just before the

Breakup of Yugoslavia The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

, ''Vlado Ćetković'' and ''Rade Končar'' (RTOP-401) were modified by removing the 57 mm Mk.1 Bofors on their sterns and installing a Soviet made AK-630 CIWS. As the war started gaining momentum, shipyard workers and the Croatian forces managed to protect the ship from the retreating Yugoslav Navy ships and personnel. On September 28, 1991 the former RTOP-402 was commissioned with the newly formed Croatian Navy as RTOP-21 ''Šibenik'' with Robert Hranj in command. During 1993-1994 ''Šibenik'' underwent a second weapons configuration change that removed the two P-20 missiles as its main armament, installing new RBS-15s that were acquired by the Yugoslav Navy just before the start of the war, enabling it to carry two or four missile. On October 12, 1994 ''Šibenik'' along with RTOP-11 ''Kralj Petar Krešimir IV.'' took part in the live fire exercise "Posejdon '94". ''Šibenik'', now under the command of Predrag Stipanović, fired a single missile successfully destroying a decommissioned

landing craft Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. Pr ...

References

Literature

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sibenik (RTOP-21) 1977 ships Ships built in Yugoslavia Missile boats of the Croatian Navy Missile boats of the Yugoslav Navy Captured ships

Design and construction

Service history

See also

References

Literature