Navy of the Independent State of Croatia Ratna Mornarica Nezavisne Države Hrvatske | |
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Active | 1941–1944 |
Disbanded | May 1945 |
Country | Independent State of Croatia |
Type | Navy |
Size | 1,262 personnel (1943) |
Part of | Croatian Armed Forces |
Headquarters | Zagreb, Independent State of Croatia |
Engagements | World War II |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Đuro Jakčin Edgar Angeli Nikola Steinfl |
Insignia | |
Naval Ensign (1941–1944) | |
Naval Ensign (1944–1945) |
The Navy of the Independent State of Croatia (Croatian: Ratna Mornarica Nezavisne Države Hrvatske, RMNDH), was the navy of the Independent State of Croatia (Croatian: Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH), an Axis puppet state controlled by the fascist Ustaše party. The NDH was created from parts of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, four days after the World War II invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers commenced. The RMNDH consisted of two commands, the Coast and Maritime Traffic Command, and the River and River Traffic Command, and had its headquarters in the NDH capital, Zagreb. The Coast and Maritime Traffic Command consisted of three naval commands along the Adriatic coast, which were each divided into a number of naval districts. The naval districts consisted mainly of naval and weather stations, and were only responsible for coast guard and customs duties. The River and River Traffic Command consisted of seven river stations, a naval infantry battalion, and a River Command Flotilla built around two former Yugoslav river monitors, which had been scuttled during the invasion but subsequently refloated.
The RMNDH was only a small part of the armed forces of the NDH, largely due to restrictions imposed by Italy under the Treaties of Rome. To avoid these limitations, the Germans raised the Croatian Naval Legion which fought as part of the German Navy in the Black Sea campaign between 1941 and 1944. After the Italian capitulation in September 1943, the Germans transferred several captured Italian vessels to the RMNDH, including the light cruiser Dalmacija (renamed Zniam), the former Yugoslav torpedo boat T7, and the Malinska-class mining tender Mosor. All of the significant assets had been lost by December 1944 when the remaining personnel were assigned to duties ashore to circumvent their defection to the Yugoslav Partisans. The RMNDH was disbanded in May 1945 with the collapse and defeat of the NDH.