NMS Elisabeta

NMS ''Elisabeta'' was a small protected cruiser built for the Romanian Navy during the 1880s by Armstrong in Britain as Romania lacked the ability to build the ship itself. Serving mainly as a training ship, she represented Romania at the opening of the Kiel Canal in 1895. She helped protect Romanian interests in Constantinople during the First Balkan War in 1912–1913, but played no significant part in the Second Balkan War and was partially disarmed during World War I. Employed as a barracks ship after the war, the ship was scrapped in 1926.

Description

''Elisabeta'' was built of steel and measured long overall.Brook, p. 69 She had a beam of and a draft at the bow of that increased to at the stern. She displaced at full load.Georgescu, p. 167 The ship had a crew of 140 officers and crewmen.

''Elisabeta'' had two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving a single screw propellers. Four cylindrical boilers provided steam to the engines. The engines had a designed output of at normal draft for or using forced draft for . During her sea trials on 14 September 1888, ''Elisabeta'' had a top speed of from using forced draft, but she averaged from using normal draft, although her main guns had yet to be installed. Her three masts were barque rigged. She carried a maximum of of coal.

The ship's main armament consisted of four single /35-caliber Krupp breech-loading guns on pivot mounts in semi-circular sponsons on the side of the ship. She carried four single quick-firing (QF) Nordenfelt guns, two each in the bow and stern.Greger, p. 189Georgescu, p. 189 She also carried four QF Hotchkiss guns. Four above-water torpedo tubes were also fitted, one each in the bow and stern and one on each broadside. Her curved protective deck was thick on the flat and increased to on the slopes. It tapered to at the ends of the ship. A transverse bulkhead was fitted in the bow and the ship mounted a conning tower protected by of armor.

Construction and career

''Elisabeta'' was ordered in May 1887 from Armstrong. According to the Romanian specifications presented in the order, she was to displace 1300 tons, be armed with a main battery of four 6-inch guns and four torpedo tubes, have a top speed of 18 knots and an armored deck with thickness reaching 3.5 inches on the slopes. She was designed by Philip Watts. The ship was laid down at their shipyard in Elswick later that month on 17 May with the yard number of 517. She was launched on 29 December, and conducted her final sea trials on 19 September 1888. ''Elisabeta'' sailed for Romania at the end of October 1888, arriving there about three weeks later.Georgescu, p. 158 After her arrival, her armament was mounted at the Galaţi shipyard because the Romanians preferred Krupp weapons and not Armstrong guns.Brook, p. 70

The ship made several summer training voyages around the Black Sea in 1889 and 1890. At the beginning of 1891 she began a five-month cruise in the Mediterranean. ''Elisabeta'' represented Romania at the 1892 Columbus celebrations of Livorno, Barcelona and Lisbon. In 1894 she made a short cruise in the Black Sea followed by a longer Mediterranean cruise. ''Elisabeta'' sailed for Kiel in 1895 to participate in the opening celebration of the Kiel Canal and continued on to Stockholm where she was inspected by the King of Sweden. She made the first Romanian survey of their coast in 1898 and underwent a major refit at Galaţi in 1904–05 where her sailing rig was reduced to two pole masts.Greger, p. 190 The ship was present when the mutinous
arrived in Constanța in July 1905, but played no significant role in the affair. She did however fire two warning shots (first a blank charge then an explosive charge) at the torpedo boat ''Ismail'' when the latter attempted to enter the Romanian port, driving her off.

''Elisabeta''s armament was exchanged for four French Saint-Chamond and four guns in 1907, while the guns were removed.

''Elisabeta'' was in Istanbul during the First Balkan War, where she landed a total of 130 Romanian marines: 15 at the Romanian Legation, 15 at the Romanian Consulate, and 100 at an outer sector of the city which had been allotted to Romania. While in the city, the Romanian sailors extinguished a large fire and were present at the funeral of Sefket Pasha. Elisabeta along with the 130 deployed sailors left Istanbul on 15 July 1913.

''Elisabeta'' remained at Sulina to defend the mouths of the Danube during the Second Balkan War. When World War I began, her main armament was landed to form a coastal battery on the Danube River for protection against possible attacks by Austro-Hungarian river monitors. With her four 120 mm main guns landed for service ashore, she remained in Sulina under the command of Captain Nicolae Kirițescu for the duration of the war to reinforce the port's anti-aircraft defenses. Her four 75 mm guns were modified for anti-aircraft fire and she also retained her four 356 mm (14 inch) torpedo tubes as well as four machine guns. Romanian anti-aircraft defenses at Sulina shot down one German Friedrichshafen FF.33 seaplane during the spring of 1917. The German pilot managed to land his damaged aircraft on the water, but was subsequently taken prisoner. ''Elisabeta'' was taken out of service in 1920 and subsequently used as a barracks ship at Galaţi and later at Sulina. She was sold for scrap in 1926. However, she was still in use as a barracks ship as of 1929,Thomas Brassey, ''Brassey's Annual'', Praeger Publishers, 1929, p. 339 meaning that her scrapping took place at some point during the 1930s.

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

Royal Roumanian Navy Cruiser ELISABETA

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elisabeta
1888 ships
Ships built by Armstrong Whitworth
Cruisers of the Romanian Naval Forces
World War I naval ships of Romania
Potemkin mutiny