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''Dubrovnik'' was a flotilla leader built for the Royal Yugoslav Navy by Yarrow Shipbuilders in Glasgow between 1930 and 1931. She was one of the largest destroyers of her time. Resembling contemporary British designs, ''Dubrovnik'' was a fast ship with a main armament of four Czechoslovak-built Škoda guns in single mounts. Intended to be the first of three flotilla leaders built for Yugoslavia, she was the only one completed. During her service with the Royal Yugoslav Navy, ''Dubrovnik'' undertook several peacetime cruises through the Mediterranean, the Turkish Straits and the Black Sea. In October 1934, she conveyed King Alexander to France for a state visit, and carried his body back to Yugoslavia following his assassination in Marseille. During the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, ''Dubrovnik'' was captured by the Italians. After a refit, which included the replacement of some of her weapons and the shortening of her mainmast and funnels, she was commissioned into the Royal Italian Navy as ''Premuda''. In Italian service she was mainly used as an escort and troop transport. In June 1942, she was part of the Italian force that attacked the Allied Operation Harpoon convoy attempting to relieve the island of Malta. In July 1943, she broke down and put in to Genoa for repair and a refit. ''Premuda'' was the most important and effective Italian war prize ship of World War II. At the time of the Italian surrender to the Allies in September 1943, ''Premuda'' was still docked in Genoa, and was seized by Germany. Plans to convert her into a radar picket for night fighters were abandoned. In August 1944, following the replacement of her armament, she was commissioned into the German Navy as a ''Torpedoboot Ausland'' (foreign torpedo boat) with the designation ''TA32''. The ship saw action shelling Allied positions on the Italian coast and laying naval mines. In March 1945, she took part in the Battle of the Ligurian Sea against two Royal Navy destroyers, during which she was lightly damaged. She was scuttled the following month as the Germans retreated from Genoa. ==Development== Following the demise of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (KSCS), Austria-Hungary transferred the vessels of the former Austro-Hungarian Navy to the new nation. The Kingdom of Italy was unhappy with this, and convinced the Allies to share the Austro-Hungarian ships among the victorious powers. As a result, the only modern sea-going vessels left to the KSCS were 12 torpedo boats, and they had to build their naval forces from scratch. During the 1920s, many navies were pursuing the flotilla leader concept, building large destroyers similar to the World War I Royal Navy V and W-class destroyers. In the interwar French Navy, these ships were known as ''contre-torpilleurs'', and were intended to operate with smaller destroyers, or as half-flotillas of three ships. The idea was that such a half-flotilla could defeat an Italian light cruiser of the Condottieri-class. The Navy of the KSCS decided to build three such flotilla leaders, ships that would have the ability to reach high speeds and with a long endurance. The long endurance requirement reflected Yugoslav plans to deploy the ships into the central Mediterranean, where they would be able to operate alongside French and British warships. At the time the decision was made, French shipyards were heavily committed to producing vessels for the French Navy. So, despite its intention to develop a French concept, the KSCS engaged Yarrow Shipbuilders in Glasgow, Scotland to build the ships. Unlike the French, who preferred to install guns of their own manufacture, Yarrow was happy to order the guns from the Czechoslovak firm Škoda. The initial Yarrow design was based on an expanded version of the British ''Shakespeare''-class, with five guns. Excessive top weight resulted in the deletion of one of the guns, to be replaced with a seaplane mounting. The final version replaced the seaplane mounting with improved anti-aircraft armament. The intention to build three flotilla leaders was demonstrated by the fact that Yarrow ordered a total of 12 Škoda guns, four per ship. In the late summer of 1929, the KSCS (the Kingdom of Yugoslavia from 3 October 1929) signed a contract with Yarrow for a destroyer named ''Dubrovnik''. Soon after she was ordered, the onset of the Great Depression meant that only one ship of the planned half-flotilla was ever built. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Yugoslav destroyer Dubrovnik」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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