The Yugoslav destroyer ''Split'' was a large
destroyer designed for the
Royal Yugoslav Navy
The Royal Navy ( sh-Latn, Kraljevska mornarica; sh-Cyrl, Краљевска морнарица; КМ), commonly the Royal Yugoslav Navy, was the naval warfare service branch of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (originally called the Kingdom of Serb ...
in the late 1930s. Construction began in 1939, but she was captured incomplete by the Italians during the
invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941. They continued to build the ship, barring a brief hiatus, but she was not completed before she was
scuttled
Scuttling is the deliberate sinking of a ship. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vessel from becoming a navigation hazard; as an act of self-destruction to prevent the ship from being ...
after the
Italian surrender in September 1943. The Germans occupied
Split
Split(s) or The Split may refer to:
Places
* Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia
* Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay
* Split Island, Falkland Islands
* Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua
Arts, entertai ...
and
refloated the destroyer later that year, but made no efforts to continue work. The ship was scuttled again before the city was taken over by the
Yugoslav Partisan
The Yugoslav Partisans, Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...
s in late 1944. ''Split'' was refloated once more, but the new
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...
was able to do little with her before the
Tito–Stalin Split
The Tito–Stalin split or the Yugoslav–Soviet split was the culmination of a conflict between the political leaderships of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, under Josip Broz Tito and Joseph Stalin, respectively, in the years following World W ...
in 1948 halted most work. Aid and equipment from the United States and the United Kingdom finally allowed her to be completed 20 years after construction began. She was commissioned in July 1958 and served as the navy's
flagship for most of her career. ''Split'' became a training ship in the late 1970s after a
boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centr ...
explosion. She was
decommissioned in 1980, and
scrapped six years later.
Design
The Yugoslav Navy decided to order a single large destroyer rather than a repeat pair of smaller s in the late 1930s because the Navy's planners didn't believe that the smaller ships could adequately support the raiding strategy that it intended to conduct in the event of a war with Italy. The staff decided on a much larger equivalent of the
flotilla leader
A flotilla leader was a warship of late 19th century and early 20th century navies suitable for commanding a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships, typically a small cruiser or a large destroyer (known as a destroyer leader). The flotil ...
that could out-gun any Italian destroyer and cover the escape and return to base of the raiding forces. The French company
Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire
Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire (ACL) was a French shipbuilding company of the late 19th and early 20th century. The name translates roughly to English as "Workshops and Shipyard of the Loire".
Early years
In the eighteenth century Nantes h ...
was selected and based the new ship on their design for the . She was built by
Yarrow Shipbuilders
Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited (YSL), often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde. It is now part of BAE Systems Surface Ships, owned by BAE Systems, which has also op ...
at their shipyard in Split and was named after her place of construction.
The Yugoslavs chose to buy the components from a variety of different nations. The pairs of geared
steam turbines and
Yarrow boiler
Yarrow boilers are an important class of high-pressure water-tube boilers. They were developed by
Yarrow & Co. (London), Shipbuilders and Engineers and were widely used on ships, particularly warships.
The Yarrow boiler design is characteristic ...
s were intended to give the ship a speed of from and were purchased from Great Britain. The
fire-control system, with two
directors
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''D ...
, and radios were French
[Cernuschi & O'Hara, p. 100] while the armament was supplied by the
Škoda Works
The Škoda Works ( cs, Škodovy závody, ) was one of the largest European industrial conglomerates of the 20th century, founded by Czech engineer Emil Škoda in 1859 in Plzeň, then in the Kingdom of Bohemia, Austrian Empire. It is the predece ...
of
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
.
[Freivogel & Grobmeier, p. 362]
The ship's designed armament was five 56-
caliber guns in single mounts, five twin mounts for 67-caliber
anti-aircraft (AA) guns, eight
ZB-60 AA guns in four twin-gun mounts,
[Gardiner, et al, p. 643][ and two triple mounts for ]torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes.
There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...
s.[Cernuschi & O'Hara, pp. 100–101]
The Yugoslav emphasis on anti-aircraft defense meant that ''Split'' could only have a single funnel
A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening.
Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its construct ...
to allow the guns as much freedom to fire as possible, which dictated that the boiler rooms were adjacent to the engine room
On a ship, the engine room (ER) is the compartment where the machinery for marine propulsion is located. To increase a vessel's safety and chances of surviving damage, the machinery necessary for the ship's operation may be segregated into var ...
. Which made the ship vulnerable to a single torpedo hit in the machinery spaces which could immobilize her.
Construction
The ship was laid down
Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship.
Keel laying is one o ...
in July 1939 with her launching scheduled for the following year and completion by the end of 1942. By the time the Italians joined the Germans in invading France in May 1940, only of the of material necessary to launch her had been delivered. The British government embargoed her machinery in 1940, despite French protests, when it discovered surreptitious contacts between the Yugoslav and Soviet governments. The Swedish government embargoed the Bofors guns due to the war and the German control of the Škoda Works meant that the Yugoslavs had to suspend construction of ''Split''.
When the city of Split was captured by the Italians on 14 April 1941, the hull remained undamaged and the ''Regia Marina'' decided to complete the ship after a delay of several months. They renamed the ship ''Spalato'', the Italian name for the city of Split. New machinery was ordered from Franco Tosi
Franco Tosi (21 April 1850 – 25 November 1898) was an Italian engineer, known for his contributions to the steam engine technology.
A native of Villa Cortese, near Milan, he was the son of Eugenio Tosi (1815-1896), and moved to Legnano in 1876, ...
, and five 45-caliber guns, as many Breda AA guns as could be fitted, and four twin mounts for Breda light AA guns replaced the Czech and Swedish weapons. One torpedo tube mount was removed and the Italians planned to add depth charge throwers and racks, the capacity for 40 mines and an EC-3 ter Gufo radar.
The ship was lightly damaged by saboteurs in December which disrupted progress and the ''Regia Marina'' decided to suspend construction in April 1942 as she remained nearly two years from completion. By late 1942, the ''Regia Marina''s shortage of destroyers had reached a point that every possible hull was needed and construction restarted at a high priority. This allowed her to be launched on 18 July 1943, but shortly afterwards a change in the Italian leadership caused any further work to be suspended in August and the resources used in her construction to be diverted to finish a large group of small wooden minesweeper
A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping.
History
The earliest known usage of ...
s. During the fighting between the Germans and the Italians after the Italian surrender on 9 September, ''Spalato'' was scuttled in Split harbor on 24 September. The Germans occupied Split three days later, refloated the ship several weeks later and stripped her of any valuable material. As part of their scorched-earth strategy as they abandoned Split, the Germans scuttled ''Spalato'' and wrecked the shipyard before the Yugoslav Partisans occupied the port on 27 October 1944.
Postwar completion
The new communist government of Yugoslavia lacked any sizable warships after the end of the war and decided to resurrect ''Split'' as the centerpiece of their new navy. 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 ...
ordered replacement parts for the machinery from Franco Tosi and contacted Škoda in 1948 to get delivery of her original main armament, which had sat out the war in a warehouse
A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities ...
. The damage to the shipyard meant that the navy had to tow the ship to the Kvarner Shipyard (formerly the '' Cantieri navali del Quarnaro'') in Rijeka. Shortly afterwards, however, the Tito-Stalin split deprived the ship of her main armament and the technical assistance needed to complete her.
The Yugoslavs re-launched ''Split'' in March 1950 to free up the slipway
A slipway, also known as boat ramp or launch or boat deployer, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats, and for launching and retrieving small ...
, but no other work was done. In 1953, there was a rapprochement between Yugoslavia and NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
, and the Americans and the British agreed to help complete the ship. The Tosi machinery ordered earlier had been used for other ships so the British agreed to furnish her propulsion machinery while the Americans provided the ship's armament, fire-control equipment and electronics.[Cernuschi & O'Hara, p. 107]
Description
''Split'' had an overall length
The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads i ...
of , a beam of , and a draft
Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to:
Watercraft dimensions
* Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel
* Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail
* Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...
of . The ships displaced at standard Standard may refer to:
Symbols
* Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs
* Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification
Norms, conventions or requirements
* Standard (metrology), an object th ...
and at deep load
The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into wei ...
. She was powered by two Parsons
Parsons may refer to:
Places
In the United States:
* Parsons, Kansas, a city
* Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community
* Parsons, Tennessee, a city
* Parsons, West Virginia, a town
* Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingt ...
geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft
A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power and torque and rotation, usually used to connect ...
, using steam provided by two Admiralty 3-drum boilers. The turbines were designed to produce , which would propel the ship at . ''Split'' carried of fuel oil, although her range is unknown, and had a crew of 240.[
The main armament of ''Split'' consisted of four 38-caliber guns in single mounts, one superfiring pair each fore and aft of the superstructure. Her anti-aircraft armament consisted of four twin-gun and four single mounts for ]license-built Licensed production is the production under license of technology developed elsewhere. The licensee provides the licensor of a specific product with legal production rights, technical information, process technology, and any other proprietary compo ...
40 mm Bofors AA guns. The ship carried one quintuple set of 21-inch torpedo tubes and retained her capacity for 40 mines. For anti-submarine combat, ''Split'' was equipped with two Hedgehog
A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introductio ...
spigot mortar
A mortar is usually a simple, lightweight, man-portable, muzzle-loaded weapon, consisting of a smooth-bore (although some models use a rifled barrel) metal tube fixed to a base plate (to spread out the recoil) with a lightweight bipod mount and ...
s, six depth-charge throwers and two depth-charge racks. The ship was fitted with a Mk 37 fire-control director for the 5-inch guns and a Mk 51 director for the AA guns. The Mk 37 director was equipped with a Mk 12 fire-control radar and a Mk 22 height-finding radar
A height finder is a ground-based aircraft altitude measuring device. Early height finders were optical range finder devices combined with simple mechanical computers, while later systems migrated to radar devices. The unique vertical oscillating ...
. SC and SG-1 search radar This is a list of different types of radar.
Detection and search radars
Search radars scan great volumes of space with pulses of short radio waves. They typically scan the volume two to four times a minute. The waves are usually less than a meter ...
s completed her radar suite.[
]
Service
Construction proceeded at a snail's pace and the ship was finally commissioned on 4 July 1958, although she did not enter service until 1959. She immediately became the navy's flagship and retained that position for most of her career. ''Split'' proved to be top-heavy, short ranged, slow and very cramped in service. She accidentally collided with the ex-Italian torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...
''Biokovo'' in 1963, damaging the latter so badly that she was immediately struck from the Navy List
A Navy Directory, formerly the Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval autho ...
. In the late 1970s, an explosion of one of ''Split''s main boiler steam lines killed all of the men standing watch in the boiler room. The boiler was not repaired and she was limited to a speed of . The ship became a stationary training ship afterwards.[Cernuschi & O'Hara, pp. 107–08] She was decommissioned in 1980, struck on 2 February 1984 and scrapped in 1986.
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Split
Destroyers of the Royal Yugoslav Navy
Ships built in Yugoslavia
1943 ships
Destroyers of the Yugoslav Navy
World War II destroyers of Yugoslavia
Naval ships of Yugoslavia captured by Italy during World War II