 Split moored in the Bay of Kotor in 2008.
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Soviet Union | |
| Name | Sokol |
| Builder | Zelenodolsk Shipyard, Zelenodolsk, Soviet Union |
| Laid down | January 1978 |
| Launched | 21 April 1979 |
| Commissioned | 30 November 1979 |
| Fate | Transferred to the Yugoslav Navy in 1980 |
 SFR Yugoslavia | |
| Name | Split |
| Namesake | City of Split |
| Acquired | 1980 |
| Fate | Commissioned in the Navy of FR Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro in 1992 |
 FR Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro | |
| Name | RF-31 |
| Acquired | 1992 |
| Decommissioned | 17 August 2001 |
| Fate | Scrapped in 2013 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Koni-class (Project 1159) frigate |
| Displacement | 1,590 t (1,565 long tons) (full load) |
| Length | 96.5 m (316 ft 7 in) |
| Beam | 12.5 m (41 ft 0 in) |
| Draught | 4.1 m (13 ft 5 in) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 27–28 knots (50–52 km/h; 31–32 mph) |
| Range | 1,800 nmi (3,300 km; 2,100 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
| Complement | 123 |
| Armament |
|
Split (pennant number VPBR-31) was a Koni-class frigate in service with the Yugoslav Navy (JRM). Laid down and completed during the late 1970s as Sokol of the Soviet Navy, it was the fourth ship of a class that was being built by the Zelenodolsk Shipyard primarily for export to various friendly navies. The ship was acquired by the JRM in 1980 and commissioned as Split, becoming the second ship in JRM service to be named after the city of Split. It was soon followed by a second Koni-class hull, Koper (VPBR-32), commissioned in the JRM in 1982. Designated as a Large Patrol Boat (Serbo-Croatian: Veliki patrolni brod – VPBR) by the JRM, Split's original armament consisting of naval guns, anti-submarine rocket launchers and anti-aircraft missiles was further improved by the addition of four P-20 anti-ship missiles, making it the most versatile ship in the JRM inventory at the time.
Following the outbreak of the Croatian War of Independence in 1991, Split was involved in enforcing a naval blockade of the Croatian coast. In mid-November it served as the command ship of a tactical group which was controlling the waters around its namesake, the city of Split. On 14 November, Croatian naval commandos attacked and damaged the patrol boat Mukos (PČ-176), leading to a naval engagement that would become known as the Battle of the Dalmatian Channels. The following morning, Split and the rest of its tactical group opened fire against the islands of Šolta and Brač and the city of Split itself. Faced with Croatian Navy coastal artillery returning fire, Split began retreating east, sailing through the Korčula Channel to the JRM-controlled island of Vis.
With the Yugoslav People's Army ending its campaign in Croatia in early 1992, Split and the rest of the JRM fleet was relocated to Montenegro where it would be reformed as the Navy of FR Yugoslavia (RMVJ). In the RMVJ, Split was redesignated as RF-31 and possibly renamed Beograd, although sources are contradictory regarding this issue. The ship was decommissioned on 17 August 2001 and spent the next several years moored in the Bay of Kotor. After two unsuccessful attempts of selling it as a complete warship, it was sold for scrap and broken up in 2013.