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Yugoslav minelayer Zmaj
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Yugoslav minelayer Zmaj
The Yugoslav minelayer Zmaj was built in Weimar Germany for the Royal Yugoslav Navy in the late 1920s. She was built as a seaplane tender, but does not appear to have been much used in that role and was converted to a minelayer in 1937. Shortly before the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941 during the Second World War, she laid minefields along the Dalmatian coast, perhaps inadvertently leading to the sinking of two Yugoslav passenger ships. Slightly damaged by Italian dive bombers and then captured by the Italians during the invasion, she was soon handed over to the Germans. While in their service the ship was renamed Drache, had her anti-aircraft (AA) armament improved, and was used as a seaplane tender and later as a troop transport. In the latter role she participated in over a dozen convoys between the Greek port of Piraeus and the Greek island of Crete between December 1941 and March 1942.
The ship was rebuilt as a minelayer in mid-1942, and her AA armament was further improved. Soon after being recommissioned in August, she was renamed Schiff 50 and was used to evaluate the shipboard use of helicopters for anti-submarine warfare and mine reconnaissance. Between mid-March and May 1943 she was deployed as a convoy escort in the Aegean Sea. During this time she was involved in a gun duel with a surfaced British submarine, in which she was damaged and several of her crew members were killed or wounded. She continued to operate as both a troop transport and minelayer, laying several minefields in the Aegean. One minefield she laid in the Dodecanese in 1943 sank one British submarine and two Allied destroyers, and badly damaged a third destroyer. Her AA armament was further enhanced in 1944 but this did not prevent her from being sunk by British aircraft in September while moored in the port of Vathy on the island of Samos. She was scrapped there after the end of World War II.
The Royal Yugoslav Navy operated a series of seaplane bases on the Dalmatian coast before World War II. Naval authorities determined that a ship was needed to transport seaplanes between the bases and rescue downed aircraft after operations, as had been necessary during World War I. They decided on the smallest possible ship that would carry supplies and spare parts for ten seaplanes, and the navy placed the order with a German shipyard. According to the naval historian Zvonimir Freivogel, the Yugoslavs chose a German shipbuilder because the Germans may have subsidised part of the cost, and due to differences of opinion between Yugoslav naval aviators and their French and British counterparts regarding the size and role of the new ship. The name chosen for the new ship was Zmaj (Dragon) (Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic: Змај, Serbo-Croatian pronunciation: [zmâj]).
Zmaj's layout was typical for a ship of her type, with the bridge positioned in the center of the raised forecastle, and the aft deck built low and wide to facilitate aircraft handling. She was 83 meters (272 ft 4 in) long overall. She had a beam of 13 meters (42 ft 8 in) and, at deep load, a draft of 4 meters (13 ft 1 in). She displaced 1,870 metric tons (1,840 long tons) at standard load. Zmaj's two propellers were powered by a pair of eight-cylinder, four-stroke MAN Diesel engines that had a maximum output of 3,260 shaft horsepower (2,430 kW). This was enough to propel her to a speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). She carried a total of 140 tonnes (140 long tons) of fuel which gave her a range of 4,000 nautical miles (7,400 km; 4,600 mi). Zmaj's crew totaled 145 officers and men.
She lacked the traditional funnel as her engine uptakes were taken up through the lattice mainmast amidships, which also served as the crane post. She was fitted with a lattice aircraft handling crane with a capacity of 6,500 kilograms (14,300 lb). Zmaj was provided with six boats: two abreast of the bridge on either side, two abreast of the mainmast, one of which was a motorboat, and two dinghies on the stern. She was a poor seakeeping ship due to a combination of her high silhouette and shallow draft, which made her very susceptible to crosswinds, and made steering difficult.
The ship was fitted with two single 55-caliber 83.5-millimeter (3.3 in) Škoda anti-aircraft (AA) guns, one each mounted on the forecastle and the stern. They had a maximum elevation of +85° and fired a 10 kg (22 lb) shell at a muzzle velocity of 800 m/s (2,625 ft/s). The guns had a rate of fire of 12 rounds per minute and had a maximum ceiling of 11,300 m (37,100 ft). Four 40 mm (1.6 in) 67-caliber Škoda AA guns were mounted between the bridge and the mainmast in a twin-gun mount on each side amidships. They fired a 0.95 kg (2.1 lb) shell at a muzzle velocity of 950 m/s (3,117 ft/s). After her 1937 conversion to a minelayer, Zmaj carried 100 mines.
A single dismantled de Havilland DH.60 Moth floatplane was stored in the aircraft hold between the forward superstructure and the mainmast. Its components would be moved from the hold by the aircraft crane to the after deck where the aircraft could be assembled. Then the aircraft would be swayed over the side where it could be launched. The aircraft was removed from the ship when she was converted into a minelayer.
Zmaj was built by Deutsche Werft in Hamburg, Germany. Due to the restrictions of the Versailles Treaty, she had to be built as an unarmed auxiliary. Her keel was laid down in 1928 and she was launched on 22 June 1929. While en route to Yugoslavia the ship had a severe engine room fire on 9 September off Flushing, Netherlands, and was forced to return to Hamburg for repairs. These took almost a year and she was accepted by the Royal Yugoslav Navy on 20 August 1930. Zmaj was finally commissioned in 1931 after she was armed and finished fitting-out in Kotor.
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Yugoslav minelayer Zmaj
The Yugoslav minelayer Zmaj was built in Weimar Germany for the Royal Yugoslav Navy in the late 1920s. She was built as a seaplane tender, but does not appear to have been much used in that role and was converted to a minelayer in 1937. Shortly before the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941 during the Second World War, she laid minefields along the Dalmatian coast, perhaps inadvertently leading to the sinking of two Yugoslav passenger ships. Slightly damaged by Italian dive bombers and then captured by the Italians during the invasion, she was soon handed over to the Germans. While in their service the ship was renamed Drache, had her anti-aircraft (AA) armament improved, and was used as a seaplane tender and later as a troop transport. In the latter role she participated in over a dozen convoys between the Greek port of Piraeus and the Greek island of Crete between December 1941 and March 1942.
The ship was rebuilt as a minelayer in mid-1942, and her AA armament was further improved. Soon after being recommissioned in August, she was renamed Schiff 50 and was used to evaluate the shipboard use of helicopters for anti-submarine warfare and mine reconnaissance. Between mid-March and May 1943 she was deployed as a convoy escort in the Aegean Sea. During this time she was involved in a gun duel with a surfaced British submarine, in which she was damaged and several of her crew members were killed or wounded. She continued to operate as both a troop transport and minelayer, laying several minefields in the Aegean. One minefield she laid in the Dodecanese in 1943 sank one British submarine and two Allied destroyers, and badly damaged a third destroyer. Her AA armament was further enhanced in 1944 but this did not prevent her from being sunk by British aircraft in September while moored in the port of Vathy on the island of Samos. She was scrapped there after the end of World War II.
The Royal Yugoslav Navy operated a series of seaplane bases on the Dalmatian coast before World War II. Naval authorities determined that a ship was needed to transport seaplanes between the bases and rescue downed aircraft after operations, as had been necessary during World War I. They decided on the smallest possible ship that would carry supplies and spare parts for ten seaplanes, and the navy placed the order with a German shipyard. According to the naval historian Zvonimir Freivogel, the Yugoslavs chose a German shipbuilder because the Germans may have subsidised part of the cost, and due to differences of opinion between Yugoslav naval aviators and their French and British counterparts regarding the size and role of the new ship. The name chosen for the new ship was Zmaj (Dragon) (Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic: Змај, Serbo-Croatian pronunciation: [zmâj]).
Zmaj's layout was typical for a ship of her type, with the bridge positioned in the center of the raised forecastle, and the aft deck built low and wide to facilitate aircraft handling. She was 83 meters (272 ft 4 in) long overall. She had a beam of 13 meters (42 ft 8 in) and, at deep load, a draft of 4 meters (13 ft 1 in). She displaced 1,870 metric tons (1,840 long tons) at standard load. Zmaj's two propellers were powered by a pair of eight-cylinder, four-stroke MAN Diesel engines that had a maximum output of 3,260 shaft horsepower (2,430 kW). This was enough to propel her to a speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). She carried a total of 140 tonnes (140 long tons) of fuel which gave her a range of 4,000 nautical miles (7,400 km; 4,600 mi). Zmaj's crew totaled 145 officers and men.
She lacked the traditional funnel as her engine uptakes were taken up through the lattice mainmast amidships, which also served as the crane post. She was fitted with a lattice aircraft handling crane with a capacity of 6,500 kilograms (14,300 lb). Zmaj was provided with six boats: two abreast of the bridge on either side, two abreast of the mainmast, one of which was a motorboat, and two dinghies on the stern. She was a poor seakeeping ship due to a combination of her high silhouette and shallow draft, which made her very susceptible to crosswinds, and made steering difficult.
The ship was fitted with two single 55-caliber 83.5-millimeter (3.3 in) Škoda anti-aircraft (AA) guns, one each mounted on the forecastle and the stern. They had a maximum elevation of +85° and fired a 10 kg (22 lb) shell at a muzzle velocity of 800 m/s (2,625 ft/s). The guns had a rate of fire of 12 rounds per minute and had a maximum ceiling of 11,300 m (37,100 ft). Four 40 mm (1.6 in) 67-caliber Škoda AA guns were mounted between the bridge and the mainmast in a twin-gun mount on each side amidships. They fired a 0.95 kg (2.1 lb) shell at a muzzle velocity of 950 m/s (3,117 ft/s). After her 1937 conversion to a minelayer, Zmaj carried 100 mines.
A single dismantled de Havilland DH.60 Moth floatplane was stored in the aircraft hold between the forward superstructure and the mainmast. Its components would be moved from the hold by the aircraft crane to the after deck where the aircraft could be assembled. Then the aircraft would be swayed over the side where it could be launched. The aircraft was removed from the ship when she was converted into a minelayer.
Zmaj was built by Deutsche Werft in Hamburg, Germany. Due to the restrictions of the Versailles Treaty, she had to be built as an unarmed auxiliary. Her keel was laid down in 1928 and she was launched on 22 June 1929. While en route to Yugoslavia the ship had a severe engine room fire on 9 September off Flushing, Netherlands, and was forced to return to Hamburg for repairs. These took almost a year and she was accepted by the Royal Yugoslav Navy on 20 August 1930. Zmaj was finally commissioned in 1931 after she was armed and finished fitting-out in Kotor.