Yugoslav torpedo boat T1

Background

In 1910, the Austria-Hungary Naval Technical Committee initiated the design and development of a 275-tonne (271-long-ton) coastal torpedo boat, specifying that it should be capable of sustaining 30 knots (56 km/h) for 10 hours. This specification was based an expectation that the Strait of Otranto, where the Adriatic Sea meets the Ionian Sea, would be blockaded by hostile forces during a future conflict. In such circumstances, there would be a need for a torpedo boat that could sail from the Austro-Hungarian Navy (German: kaiserliche und königliche Kriegsmarine) base at the Bay of Kotor (Bocche di Cattaro) to the Strait during darkness, locate and attack blockading ships and return to port before morning. Steam turbine power was selected for propulsion, as diesels with the necessary power were not available, and the Austro-Hungarian Navy did not have the practical experience to run turbo-electric boats. Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino (STT) of Trieste was selected for the contract to build eight vessels, ahead of one other tenderer. The T-group designation signified the builder, STT.

Description and construction

The 250t-class T-group boats had a waterline length of 58.2 m (190 ft 11 in), a beam of 5.7 m (18 ft 8 in), and a normal draught of 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in). While their designed displacement was 262 tonnes (258 long tons), they displaced about 320 tonnes (310 long tons) fully loaded. The crew consisted of 39 officers and enlisted men. The boats were powered by two Parsons steam turbines driving two propellers, using steam generated by two Yarrow water-tube boilers, one of which burned fuel oil and the other coal. The turbines were rated at 5,000 shp (3,700 kW) with a maximum output of 6,000 shp (4,500 kW) and designed to drive the boats to a top speed of 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph). They carried 18 tonnes (17.7 long tons) of coal and 24 tonnes (23.6 long tons) of fuel oil, which gave them a range of 980 nautical miles (1,810 km; 1,130 mi) at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph). The T-group had one funnel rather than the two funnels of the later groups of the class. Despite the specifications of the contract being very close to the requirements for the coastal torpedo boat, the STT boats were classified as seagoing. The 250t-class, T-group were the first small Austro-Hungarian Navy boats to use turbines, and this contributed to ongoing problems with them.

The boats were originally to be armed with three Škoda 66 mm (2.6 in) L/30 guns, and three 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, but this was changed to two guns and four torpedo tubes before the first boat was completed, in order to standardise the armament with the following F-group. They could also carry 10–12 naval mines.

The third of its class to be completed, 76 T was laid down on 24 June 1913, launched on 15 December 1913 and completed on 20 July 1914. In 1914, one 8 mm (0.31 in) machine gun was added.

World War I

At the outbreak of World War I, 76 T was part of the 1st Torpedo Group of the 3rd Torpedo Craft Division of the Austro-Hungarian 1st Torpedo Craft Flotilla. During the war, 76 T was used for convoy, escort and minesweeping tasks, anti-submarine operations, and shore bombardment missions. She also conducted patrols and supported seaplane raids against the Italian coast. Due to inadequate funding, 76 T and the rest of the 250t class were essentially coastal vessels, despite the original intention that they would be used for "high seas" operations. On 24 May 1915, 76 T and seven other 250t-class boats were involved in the shelling of various Italian shore-based targets known as the Bombardment of Ancona, with 76 T involved in the operation against Ancona itself. In late November 1915, the Austro-Hungarian fleet deployed a force from its main fleet base at Pola to Cattaro in the southern Adriatic; this force included six of the eight T-group torpedo boats, so it is possible that one of these was 76 T. This force was tasked to maintain a permanent patrol of the Albanian coastline and interdict any troop transports crossing from Italy.

On 3 May 1916, 76 T and five other 250t-class boats were accompanying four destroyers when they were involved in a surface action off Porto Corsini, near Ravenna, against an Italian force led by the flotilla leaders Cesare Rossarol and Guglielmo Pepe. On this occasion the Austro-Hungarian force retreated behind a minefield with no damage to the torpedo boats, and only splinter damage to the destroyer Huszár-class destroyer Csikós. In 1917, one of her 66 mm guns was placed on an anti-aircraft mount. By 1918, the Allies had strengthened their ongoing blockade on the Strait of Otranto, as foreseen by the Austro-Hungarian Navy. As a result, it was becoming more difficult for the German and Austro-Hungarian U-boats to get through the strait and into the Mediterranean Sea. In response to these blockades, the new commander of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, Konteradmiral Miklós Horthy, decided to launch an attack on the Allied defenders with battleships, scout cruisers, and destroyers.

During the night of 8 June, Horthy left the naval base of Pola in the upper Adriatic with Viribus Unitis and Prinz Eugen. At about 23:00 on 9 June 1918, after some difficulties getting the harbour defence barrage opened, Szent István and Tegetthoff, escorted by one destroyer and six torpedo boats, including 76 T, also departed Pola and set course for Slano, north of Ragusa, to rendezvous with Horthy in preparation for a coordinated attack on the Otranto Barrage. About 03:15 on 10 June, while returning from an uneventful patrol off the Dalmatian coast, two Italian Navy (Italian: Regia Marina) MAS boats, MAS 15 and MAS 21, spotted the smoke from the Austrian ships. Both boats successfully penetrated the escort screen and split to engage the dreadnoughts individually. MAS 21 attacked Tegetthoff, but her torpedoes missed. Under the command of Luigi Rizzo, MAS 15 fired two torpedoes at 03:25, both of which hit Szent István. Both boats evaded pursuit although Rizzo had to discourage 76 T by dropping depth charges in his wake. The torpedo hits on Szent István were abreast her boiler rooms, which flooded, knocking out power to the pumps. Szent István capsized less than three hours after being torpedoed.

Interwar period

76 T survived the war intact. In 1920, under the terms of the previous year's Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, she was allocated to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (KSCS, later Yugoslavia). Along with three other 250t-class T-group boats, 77 T, 78 T and 79 T, and four 250t-class F-group boats, she served with the Royal Yugoslav Navy (Serbo-Croatian: Kraljevska Jugoslovenska Ratna Mornarica, KJRM; Кpaљeвcкa Југословенска Pатна Морнарица). Taken over in March 1921, in KJRM service, 76 T was renamed T1. When the navy was formed, she and the other seven 250t-class boats were the only modern sea-going vessels in the KJRM. In 1925, exercises were conducted off the Dalmatian coast, involving the majority of the navy. In May and June 1929, six of the eight 250t-class torpedo boats accompanied the light cruiser Dalmacija, the submarine tender Hvar and the submarines Hrabri and Nebojša, on a cruise to Malta, the Greek island of Corfu in the Ionian Sea, and Bizerte in the French protectorate of Tunisia. It is not clear if T1 was one of the torpedo boats involved. The ships and crews made a very good impression while visiting Malta. In 1932, the British naval attaché reported that Yugoslav ships engaged in few exercises, manoeuvres or gunnery training due to reduced budgets.

World War II and post-war service

In April 1941, Yugoslavia entered World War II when it was invaded by the German-led Axis powers. At the time of the invasion, T1 was assigned to the Southern Sector of the KJRM's Coastal Defence Command based at the Bay of Kotor, along with her sister ship T3 and a number of minesweepers and other craft. T1 was captured by the Italian Navy shortly after the commencement of hostilities and was operated by them under her Yugoslav designation, conducting coastal and second-line escort duties in the Adriatic. Her guns were also replaced by two 76 mm (3.0 in) L/40 anti-aircraft guns. After the Italians capitulated in September 1943, she was returned by them to the KJRM-in-exile in December 1943. She was commissioned by the Yugoslav Navy (Serbo-Croatian: Jugoslavenska Ratna Mornarica, Југословенска Pатна Mорнарица) after the war, serving as Golešnica. Her post-war fit-out included replacing her guns with two 40 mm (1.6 in) guns on single mounts and four 20 mm (0.79 in) guns, and removing her torpedo tubes. She continued in Yugoslav service until October 1959, when she was stricken.