Builders Brodotehnika Completed 16 | Built 1976-1980 Active 6 | |
 | ||
Operators Serbian River Flotilla
Hungarian Defence Force
Iraqi Navy Preceded by 301-class river minesweeper | ||
The Neštin-class minesweeper is a class of minesweeper built specifically for naval mine clearing duties on rivers. The class was built for the needs of the Yugoslav Navy on the Danube river, and was also sold to Hungary and Iraq during the 1970s and '80s.
Contents
Design
A new river minesweeper design was requested in the 1970s to replace the 301-class minesweeper in the Yugoslav Navy. The Neštin-class was designed by the Naval Institute of the Yugoslav Navy. All minesweepers were built by Brodotehnika shipyard in Belgrade. They can load and lay 18 non-contact mines type AIM-M82 or 24 anchor R-1 mines, as well as 80 fully equipped troops. Equipment for countermeasures consist of mechanical mine-hunter MDL-2R, makeshift electromagnetic/acoustic mine hunter PEAM-1 and explosive mine hunter AEL. The Neštin-class is powered by two Torpedo B-539RM/2 engines 121 kW each.
Operators
Fifteen ships were built for the Yugoslav Navy and export customers from 1976 to 1980. One ship was built for Yugoslav Navy in 1999.
Serbia and Yugoslavia
Six ships were built for the Yugoslav Navy in the 1970s while an additional ship with heavier artillery was built in 1999. Four Neštin-class minesweepers continued their service with the River Flotilla of the Serbian Armed Forces, following the dissolution of Yugoslavia.
Serbian and former Yugoslav Neštin-class minesweepers:
Hungary
The Hungarian Danube Flotilla received six Neštin-class minesweepers in 1981 from Yugoslavia. In Hungarian service, they were designated as MS-25. Today there are still three operated by HDF 1st EOD & River Flotilla Battalion.
Hungarian MS-25 minesweepers:
Iraq
Iraq received three Neštin-class minesweepers from Yugoslavia. One ship was destroyed by an Iranian Air Force aircraft during the Iran–Iraq War. As of 2004, the class is no longer in service.