NMS ''Năluca'' was a torpedo boat of the

Royal Romanian Navy The Romanian Navy ( ro, Forțele Navale Române) is the navy branch of the Romanian Armed Forces; it operates in the Black Sea and on the Danube. It traces its history back to 1860. History The Romanian Navy was founded in 1860 as a river flot ...

. She was commissioned in 1920, after initially serving as ''Tb 82 F'' in the

Austro-Hungarian Navy The Austro-Hungarian Navy or Imperial and Royal War Navy (german: kaiserliche und königliche Kriegsmarine, in short ''k.u.k. Kriegsmarine'', hu, Császári és Királyi Haditengerészet) was the naval force of Austria-Hungary. Ships of the A ...

during

World War I 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 ...

. She and six more sister ships were awarded to Romania as reparations after the war ended.

Construction and specifications

A vessel of the F-group of the 250t-class, ''Năluca'' was built by Ganz & Danubius at

Fiume Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...

and nearby Porto Re, along with the rest of her group, between October 1913 and December 1916. Under the designation ''Tb 82 F'', she was laid down at Porto Re on 30 October 1913 and launched on 11 August 1914. The Italian declaration of war against Austria in May 1915 resulted in ''Tb 82 F'' being towed to the more secure port of

Pula Pula (; also known as Pola, it, Pola , hu, Pòla, Venetian language, Venetian; ''Pola''; Istriot language, Istriot: ''Puola'', Slovene language, Slovene: ''Pulj'') is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, and the List of cities and town ...

, and she was not completed until 16 August 1916. She had a waterline length of , a beam of , and a normal draught of . While her designed displacement was , she displaced about fully loaded. The crew consisted of 38 officers and enlisted men. Her AEG-Curtiss turbines were rated at with a maximum output of , enabling her to reach a top speed of . She carried of coal and of fuel oil, which gave her a range of at . Under the provisions of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, she was given as reparations to Romania in 1920, along with six more boats of the same class.Jane's Information Group, ''Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II'', London, England: Studio Editions, 1989, p. 313 During World War II, she had no torpedo tubes. These were replaced by depth charges, her artillery consisting of two 66 mm naval guns and two 20 mm anti-aircraft guns. The depth charges were deployed using one 400 mm thrower.

Career

Austro-Hungarian service

On the night of 28/29 November 1916, ''Tb 82 F'', together with sister ships ''Tb 86 F'', ''Tb 89 F'', ''Tb 90 F'' and ''Tb 91 F'' sortied towards Valona. On 23 March 1917, ''Tb 82 F'' was part of the 15th Torpedo-boat Group of the 9th Torpedo craft division. On 21 May 1917, the designations of Austro-Hungarian torpedo boats was revised, with the prefix letter indicating the ship's constructor being omitted, and ''Tb 82 F'' becoming ''Tb 82''. On 19 October 1917, ''Tb 82'' was one of a number of destroyers and torpedo boats supporting air attacks against

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic S ...

, and on 19 November, took part in minelaying operations between

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

and Ancona with the destroyers and and the torpedo boats ''Tb 72'', ''Tb 86'', ''Tb 87'', ''Tb 89'', ''Tb 90'', ''Tb 91'' and ''Tb 95''. On 28 November, ''Tb 82'' formed part of a force of six destroyers and eight torpedo boats that bombarded targets on the Italian coast between

Porto Corsini Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

(near the

Port of Ravenna The Port of Ravenna ( it, Porto di Ravenna) is an Italian seaport on the North Adriatic Sea in Ravenna, Italy. It is one of the top twenty Italian ports and top forty European ports. Overview The port of Ravenna is the main port of Emilia-Romagn ...

) and Rimini.

Romanian service

While fighting on the Axis side during World War II, she was involved in the minelaying operation of the Bulgarian coast in October 1941. On 9 July 1941, ''Năluca'', aided by the motor torpedo boats '' Viscolul'' and ''Vijelia'', sank the Soviet ''Shchuka''-class submarine ''Shch-206'' near

Mangalia Mangalia (, tr, Mankalya), ancient Callatis ( el, Κάλλατις/Καλλατίς; other historical names: Pangalia, Panglicara, Tomisovara), is a city and a port on the coast of the Black Sea in the south-east of Constanța County, Northern D ...

. On 28 September 1942, ''Năluca'' was unsuccessfully attacked by the Soviet M-class submarine ''M-120'' near the Southern coast of the

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

. Between 26 July and 17 September 1943, ''Năluca'' carried out 12 escort missions, between

Constanța Constanța (, ; ; rup, Custantsa; bg, Кюстенджа, Kyustendzha, or bg, Констанца, Konstantsa, label=none; el, Κωνστάντζα, Kōnstántza, or el, Κωνστάντια, Kōnstántia, label=none; tr, Köstence), histo ...

and

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

. On 27 August, during the 8th escort, her convoy was unsuccessfully attacked by seven Soviet torpedo bombers. On 20 August 1944, Soviet aircraft carried out a large air attack on the main Romanian port of

, involving 62 bombers and 80 escorting fighters and ground attack aircraft. ''Năluca'' was sunk, along with the German submarine , three German motor torpedo boats and a motor minesweeper, along with many smaller vessels.

Sources

;Notes ;Bibliography * * * * * * * * * *

External links