,_jugoslawische_Schiffe.jpg) Ljubljana's sister ship Beograd (right) and the flotilla leader Dubrovnik (left) in the Bay of Kotor after being captured by Italy
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Kingdom of Yugoslavia | |
| Name | Ljubljana |
| Namesake | Ljubljana |
| Laid down | 1936 |
| Launched | 28 June 1938 |
| Commissioned | November 1939 |
| Out of service | 17 April 1941 |
| Fate | Captured by Italy |
 Italy | |
| Name | Lubiana |
| Acquired | 17 April 1941 |
| In service | 1 November 1941 |
| Fate | Stranded and wrecked off the Tunisian coast on 1 April 1943 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Beograd-class destroyer |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 98 m (321 ft 6 in) oa |
| Beam | 9.45 m (31 ft) |
| Draught | 3.18 m (10 ft 5 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 38 knots (70 km/h; 44 mph) |
| Complement | 145 |
| Armament |
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Ljubljana (Serbo-Croatian pronunciation: [ʎubˈʎana]; Cyrillic: Љубљана) was the third and last Beograd-class destroyer built for the Royal Yugoslav Navy (Serbo-Croatian: Kraljevska mornarica, Краљевска морнарица; КМ) in the late 1930s, and designed to operate as part of a division led by the flotilla leader Dubrovnik. She entered KM service in November 1939, was armed with a main battery of four Škoda 120 mm (4.7 in) guns in superfiring single mounts – two forward and two aft of the superstructure – and she had a practical top speed of 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph).
In 1940, Ljubljana ran aground on a reef off the Yugoslav port of Šibenik and sank due to the serious damage caused to her hull. After considerable effort she was refloated and then towed to the naval arsenal at Tivat in the Bay of Kotor for repairs. This incident resulted in her gaining a reputation as an "unlucky ship" with Yugoslav sailors. Yugoslavia entered World War II when the German-led Axis powers invaded in April 1941, and Ljubljana – still under repair – was captured by the Italians. After repairs and refitting, including replacement of her anti-aircraft armament, she saw service from November 1942 with the Royal Italian Navy under the name Lubiana, mainly as a convoy escort on routes between Italy and Greece and Italy and Tunisia. She was lost on 1 April 1943, when a navigational error was made in poor visibility off the Tunisian coast. She ran aground and was stranded and then abandoned due to heavy seas, and was declared a total loss.