 Velebit photographed in 1939 | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders | Lürssen, Vegesack, Germany |
| Operators | |
| Built | 1936–1937 |
| In commission | 1936–1963 |
| Completed | 8 |
| Lost | 6 |
| Retired | 2 |
| General characteristics (as completed) | |
| Type | Motor torpedo boat |
| Displacement | 61.7 tonnes (60.7 long tons) (full) |
| Length | 28 m (91 ft 10 in) (o/a) |
| Beam | 4.3 m (14 ft 1 in) |
| Draught | 1.55 m (5 ft 1 in) |
| Installed power | 2,850–3,000 bhp (2,130–2,240 kW) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph) |
| Complement | 19 |
| Armament |
|
The Orjen class were motor torpedo boats (MTBs) built for the Royal Navy of Yugoslavia in 1936 and 1937. A total of eight boats were built by the at the Lürssen Shipyard at Vegesack, Germany. They were based on the German S-2 MTBs, and their primary armament was 533 mm (21 in) torpedoes launched from two 550 mm (21.7 in) torpedo tubes, with anti-aircraft protection provided by a 40 mm (1.6 in) gun and a 15 mm (0.59 in) machine gun. At the start of the April 1941 Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, two boats managed to escape to Alexandria in Egypt where they served under the operational command of the British Mediterranean Fleet and under the administrative control of the Yugoslav government-in-exile. Their duties included convoy escort duties and operations against Vichy French forces in Syria. The remaining six boats were captured by Italian forces and commissioned in the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) with modified anti-aircraft armament, and were heavily employed in the Aegean Sea. They were also used by the Italians as the model for the Italian-built CRDA 60 t motor torpedo boats and the submarine chasers of the VAS class.
At the time of the Italian armistice in September 1943, one boat was scuttled by its crew. Another was damaged by its crew, but captured and repaired by the Germans and transferred to the National Republican Navy of the Italian Social Republic for use as a harbour defence vessel at Venice. This boat was later reclaimed by the Germans, and was mined then sank in a storm off the Italian coast in September 1944. The four other boats were taken over by German forces and commissioned in the Kriegsmarine (German Navy), but most suffered from engine problems. They served as part of the 24th S-Boat Flotilla, largely in the Aegean Sea, until they were finally stricken at Salonika in September 1944 as the Germans withdrew from Greece. The two boats that had escaped to the Allies in 1941 returned to Yugoslavia after the war. They were commissioned in the new Yugoslav Navy and remained in service until the early 1960s.