The ''Căpitan Nicolae Lascăr Bogdan''-class was a group of eight riverine

torpedo gunboat In the late 19th century, torpedo gunboats were a form of gunboat armed with torpedoes and designed for hunting and destroying smaller torpedo boats. By the end of the 1890s torpedo gunboats were superseded by their more successful contemporaries, ...

s of the

Romanian Navy The Romanian Naval Forces () is the principal naval branch of the Romanian Armed Forces and 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 flotilla on ...

which served during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Construction and specifications

Twelve boats were planned as part of the 1899 naval programme, but this was reduced to 8. The boats were built at the

Thames Iron Works The Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, Limited was a shipyard and iron works straddling the mouth of Bow Creek at its confluence with the River Thames, at Leamouth Wharf (often referred to as Blackwall) on the west side and at Cannin ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

from 1906 to 1907 and delivered through inland rivers. Each boat measured 30 meters in length, with a beam of 4 meters and a draught of 0.8 meters. Normal displacement amounted to 45 tons, growing to 51 tons for a

full 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 weig ...

. Power plant consisted of two compound engines powering two shafts, generating 550 hp which resulted in a top speed of 18 knots. Each vessel could carry up to 7.6 tons of fuel. With a full complement of 20, each of the boats was armed with one 47 mm Skoda gun, one 6.5 mm

Maxim machine gun The Maxim gun is a Recoil operation, recoil-operated machine gun invented in 1884 by Hiram Maxim, Hiram Stevens Maxim. It was the first automatic firearm, fully automatic machine gun in the world. The Maxim gun has been called "the weapon most ...

and two spar torpedoes, as well as

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

dropping gear amidships. The sides and deck were protected by bulletproof armor.Robert Gardiner, ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921'', Naval Institute Press, 1985, p. 422

Career

The eight vessels were classed as river torpedo boats, and served as such during the

as part of the Danube Division. ''Căptian Mărăcineaunu'' was mined and sunk at the end of 1916. By 1940 three boats remained, ''Căpitan Romano Mihail'', ''Locotenent Dimitrie Călinescu'' and ''Maior Gheorghe Șonțu''. Before the war the three were fitted with a 300 mm

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon designed to destroy submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited ...

thrower. Their 6.5 mm machine gun was also replaced by a German 20 mm

autocannon An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a automatic firearm, fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary ammunition, incendiary shell (projectile), shells, ...

.Earl Thomas Allnutt Brassey, ''Brassey's Annual: The Armed Forces Year-book, Volume 58'', Praeger Publishers, 1947, p. 255 The three remaining ships were captured by the Soviet Union in 1944 and incorporated into the Danube Flotilla as ''SKA-754'', ''SKA-755'', and ''SKA-756'', and were used to guard the port of

Izmail Izmail (, ; ; , or ; ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality on the Danube river in Odesa Oblast in south-western Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Izmail Raion, one of seven distr ...

. They would be returned to Romania in September 1945.

Ships

Romanian torpedo boats Thames Ironworks Blackwall 1906 Flickr 3982740339 9f896e8755 o

References

{{WWII Romanian Ships World War I naval ships of Romania World War II naval ships of Romania Ships built in London World War II naval ships of the Soviet Union Gunboats of the Romanian Naval Forces