Ersatz Triglav-class destroyer

The Ersatz (Replacement) Triglav class consisted of four destroyers built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy during the First World War. Completed late in the war, they saw little action; three ships were seized by Italy and one by France as war reparations in 1920.

The loss of two Tátra-class destroyers in the 1st Battle of Durazzo in 1915 caused the Austro-Hungarian Navy to begin construction of four improved versions of the Tátras the following year named Triglav, Lika, Dukla and Uzsok.

The Ersatz Triglav-class ships were slightly longer than the Tátras with an overall length of 85.28 meters (279 ft 9 in), a beam of 7.8 meters (25 ft 7 in), and a maximum draft of 3.2 meters (10 ft 6 in). They displaced 880 metric tons (870 long tons) at normal load and 1,050 metric tons (1,030 long tons) at deep load.^[1] The ships had a complement of 114 officers and enlisted men.^[2]

The destroyers were powered by two AEG-Curtiss steam turbine sets, each driving a single 2.52-meter (8 ft 3 in) propeller using steam provided by six Yarrow boilers. Four of the boilers were oil-fired while the remaining pair used coal, although oil was sprayed onto the coal to increase power. The turbines, designed to produce 20,650 shaft horsepower (15,400 kW), were intended to give the ships a speed of 32.6 knots (60.4 km/h; 37.5 mph). Dukla was the fastest ship of the class at 33.8 knots (62.6 km/h; 38.9 mph). The ships carried 142.7 metric tons (140 long tons) of oil and 108 metric tons (106 long tons) of coal which gave them a range of 500 nautical miles (930 km; 580 mi) at full speed.^[2][3]

The main armament of the Ersatz Triglav-class destroyers consisted of two 50-caliber Škoda Works 10-centimeter (3.9 in) K11 guns, one each fore and aft of the superstructure in single mounts. Their secondary armament consisted of four 45-caliber 66-millimeter (2.6 in) K09 TAG (German: Torpedoboot-Abwehr Geschütz (anti-torpedo boat guns)). Two additional guns were placed on anti-aircraft mountings. They were also equipped with four 450-millimeter (17.7 in) torpedo tubes in two twin rotating mountings aft of the funnels. Two spare torpedoes were stored on the main deck.^[3]

After the war, three vessels—Triglav, Lika, and Uzsok—were ceded to Italy and one, Dukla, to France. The last vessels were scrapped in 1939.

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