 TČ1 Uskok in Royal Yugoslav Navy service
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders | John I. Thornycroft & Company, United Kingdom |
| Operators | |
| Succeeded by | Orjen-class torpedo boat |
| Built | 1926–1927 |
| In commission | 1927–1943 |
| Completed | 2 |
| Lost | 1 |
| Retired | 1 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 15 tonnes (14.8 long tons) (standard) |
| Length | 18.3 metres (60 ft) (oa) |
| Beam | 3.4 m (11 ft 2 in) |
| Draught | 1.15–1.3 m (3 ft 9 in – 4 ft 3 in) |
| Installed power | 750 brake horsepower (560 kW) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 36–38 knots (67–70 km/h; 41–44 mph) (sea trials) |
| Range |
|
| Complement | Two officers and seven sailors |
| Sensors and processing systems | 2 × hydrophones |
| Armament |
|
The Uskok class[a] was a class of two motor torpedo boats built for the Royal Yugoslav Navy (Serbo-Croatian: Kraljevska mornarica; KM) during the late 1920s. Named Uskok and Četnik, the boats were built by the Thornycroft Company based on their existing class of 17-metre-long (55 ft) Coastal Motor Boats, but were almost 1.5 metres (5 ft) longer. As their main armament they were equipped with cradles that carried two British-designed 456-millimetre (18 in) torpedoes, were fitted with hydrophones, and could carry depth charges instead of torpedoes if used in an anti-submarine role. The boats were lightly-built using mahogany, powered by two petrol engines, but lacked transverse bulkheads within the hull to mitigate leaks.
When Yugoslavia entered World War II due to the German-led Axis invasion of the country in April 1941, both boats were captured by Italian forces, after an abortive attempt by one crew to join the fledgling Navy of the Independent State of Croatia. The boats were commissioned in the Royal Italian Navy and operated with a squadron out of the Dalmatian port of Šibenik, where they had been based pre-war. Due to their age and condition they were only used for patrolling and second-line duties. Uskok – by then renamed MAS 1 D – sank near the Dalmatian island of Mljet in July 1942 when its hull failed. Četnik – renamed ME 47 – became non-operational in September 1943, and soon after Italy capitulated her crew escaped and sailed her to Taranto in Allied-occupied southern Italy. The boat survived the war but sources differ on its fate.
- ^ Freivogel 2020, p. 130.
- ^ Vego 1982, p. 349.
- ^ Chesneau 1980, pp. 358–359.
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