''President Masaryk'' was a

river monitor River monitors are military craft designed to patrol rivers. They are normally the largest of all riverine warships in river flotillas, and mount the heaviest weapons. The name originated from the US Navy's , which made her first appearance in ...

of the

First Czechoslovak Republic The First Czechoslovak Republic ( cs, První československá republika, sk, Prvá česko-slovenská republika), often colloquially referred to as the First Republic ( cs, První republika, Slovak: ''Prvá republika''), was the first Czechoslo ...

, serving from 1932 until the dissolution of the republic in 1939. With four guns in two twin turrets, it was that nation's most powerful

warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster ...

of the 1930s and flagship of the Czechoslovakian river flotilla. After the German occupation, the ship was taken into the German army under the name ''Bechelaren'' and fought against the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

s. It was scrapped in 1978.

Service in Czechoslovakia

In the 1920s, the Czechoslovakian naval forces operated river craft inherited from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. These being obsolescent, in the late 1920s plans were made to build two new large river patrol craft. Only one of these, ''President Masaryk'', was built. The design of ''President Masaryk'' was based on the Austrian monitor ''Catfish'' (german: Wels). It was designed at 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 ...

and built at the Škoda shipyard in

Komárno Komárno, ( hu, Komárom, german: Komorn, sr, Коморан, translit=Komoran), colloquially also called ''Révkomárom, Öregkomárom, Észak-Komárom'' in Hungarian; is a town in Slovakia at the confluence of the Danube and the Váh rivers. ...

. The flat-bottomed hull was divided into 15 watertight compartments. Various Czechoslovakian (and other) companies contributed components to the vessel: Poldi Kladno supplied steel plates, the Škoda works at Plzeň the engines, and the

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

company Zeis the marine propellers.

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 installed on the vessel. 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 August 1929 and launched in 1930 or 1931. Trials showed that the ship did not perform to specifications, so it was returned to the shipyard for major modifications. Among other changes, the single stack was replaced with dual stacks, one for each engine. These modifications being completed, and the ship's speed increased from to , ''President Masaryk'' was commissioned in 1932. After this it patrolled the

Danube River The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

from its base in Bratislava for the rest of the First Czechoslovak Republic's existence. ''President Masaryk'' was the only Czechoslovakian ship able to match the best ships of the other Danubian powers (

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, Romania, and Hungary) in the 1930s.

Career in German service

After the German invasion of 1939, the ship was used by the Germans. Until 1941 it was based in

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...

and continued to patrol the Danube. In 1941 it was transferred downriver to the area of Yugoslavia (which had been overrun by the Germans). In 1943 the vessel was returned to Linz and underwent extensive modernization. The hull was lengthened by , the shape of the stern was changed, and new machinery was installed, with the boilers and engines replaced with two

MAN A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...

submarine

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

s with an output of each. The stacks were removed and replaced with exhaust pipes on the sides of the vessel. The single rudder was replaced with two. Using space freed up by the changes in propulsion machinery, a quadruple mount with four 20 mm

flak Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based ...

guns was installed. A separate 20 mm cannon on the stern was replaced with a 37 mm flak gun, and the machine gun turret at the front was removed. In 1944 ''Bechelaren'' was returned to duty on the lower Danube. On the night of April 5–6, 1944, while escorting a convoy, the vessel was damaged by planes of the Red Air Force. After repairs, it was returned to service at Visegrád, Hungary. Later it returned to Linz, where (since 66 mm ammunition was no longer being manufactured) its four guns were replaced with two 8.8 cm SK C/35 naval gun, naval guns with light shields. ''Bechelaren'' then participated in combat operations in Yugoslavia and Hungary. In 1944 it supported Operation Spring Awakening, the German counterattack toward Budapest and at Melk in Austria it fought Soviet gunboats. This was ''Bechelaren''s last combat mission.

Final years

On May 11, 1945, ''Bechelaren''s crew surrendered the ship to the United States Army in Linz. In 1947 the ship was returned (without weapons) to Czechoslovakia and taken to Bratislava, where in 1951 it was restored to working condition, but was never re-armed. The Czechoslovakian Army having no further use for the vessel, it was sold to the civilian sector in 1955. The hull then served as a hulk for storage and workshops at the SLKB Komarno (Komárno) – Slovak Shipyard Komárno, Komárno Shipyard. In 1978 ''President Masaryk'' was scrapped.

Service in Czechoslovakia

Career in German service

Final years

References

Further reading