The Royal Navy (; ; КМ), commonly known as the Royal Yugoslav Navy, was the naval warfare service branch of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (originally called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes). It was brought into existence in 1921, and initially consisted of a few former Austro-Hungarian Navy vessels surrendered at the conclusion of World War I and transferred to the new nation state under the terms of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The only modern sea-going warships transferred to the new state were twelve steam-powered torpedo boats, although it did receive four capable river monitors for use on the Danube and other large rivers. Significant new acquisitions began in 1926 with a former German light cruiser, followed by the commissioning of two motor torpedo boats (MTBs) and a small submarine flotilla over the next few years. When the name of the state was changed to Yugoslavia in 1929, the name of its navy was changed to reflect this. In the late 1920s, several of the original vessels were discarded.
Throughout the interwar period, elements of the fleet conducted visits to ports throughout the Mediterranean, but few fleet exercises occurred due to budget pressures. In 1930, the Maritime Air Force was divorced from Royal Yugoslav Army control, and the naval air arm began to develop significantly, including the establishment of bases along the Adriatic coast. The following year, a British-made flotilla leader was commissioned with the idea that the KM might be able to operate in the Mediterranean alongside the British and French navies. In the same year, five locally-built minelayers were added to the fleet. A hiatus of several years followed, and it was not until 1936 that any further major acquisitions were made, with the purchase of eight German-built MTBs. Over the next two years, the fleet was significantly strengthened by the acquisition of three French-designed destroyers, marking the high point of Yugoslav naval strength. On the eve of World War II, the navy consisted of 611 officers and 8,562 men, operating 41 combatant ships and 19 auxiliaries.
While the KM was largely captured by Italian forces during the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, a few of its vessels, aircraft and their crews escaped and served in the Mediterranean under Royal Navy control during the remainder of World War II. When the Italians sued for peace in September 1943, most of the remaining vessels were taken over by the German Kriegsmarine or the Navy of the Independent State of Croatia. Towards the end of the war, the Allies transferred a corvette to Yugoslav control. At the end of the war, the few remaining vessels were transferred to the control of the new Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. As the post-war Yugoslav Navy drew its lineage from the naval forces of the wartime Yugoslav Partisans rather than the KM, few of the customs and traditions of the KM survived in the successor force.
History Origins In mid-to-late 1918, as World War I drew to a close, the Austro-Hungarian Empire began to break apart, and local committees began assuming responsibility for administration from the central government. In October 1918, the self-proclaimed National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs was established in Zagreb, and later that month there were discussions between the Austro-Hungarian Navy and representatives of the National Council regarding the future of the Austro-Hungarian fleet. There was even an exchange of delegates between the National Council and the Austro-Hungarian naval staff in Vienna. By the end of that month, the "sailor's councils" that had been formed aboard Austro-Hungarian warships at the main base of Pola had decided that they would leave their ships by 1 November, regardless of the political discussions that were ongoing. On 30 October, the Austro-Hungarian naval staff directed its commanders to hand over all naval and riverine vessels to representatives of the National Council. The following day, the Emperor Charles ordered the handover of all naval vessels, establishments and fortresses to the National Council. By 4:30 pm that day, the orders had been carried out. The National Council appointed Rear Admiral Dragutin Prica as the Navy Commissioner and Captain Janko Vuković de Podkapelski as fleet commander.
The Italians were extremely uneasy about the rise of a new naval power in the Adriatic Sea, and on the night of 31 October, two Royal Italian Navy personnel penetrated the base at Pola and set naval mines under the keel of , the dreadnought battleship which was also Vuković's flagship. When it exploded, the ship sank, with the loss of 400 crew, including Vuković. As Prica was ill, the National Council appointed Captain Metodije Koch as Navy Commissioner and promoted him to rear admiral on 2 November. The Armistice of Villa Giusti between the Allies, the United States and Austria-Hungary was signed on 3 November, and came into force the following day. Its naval provisions included a requirement that Austria-Hungary hand over the bulk of its naval vessels to Allied and United States control and disarm the remainder. Included in the handover were 42 modern warships and submarines. Italy immediately began to occupy the former Austro-Hungarian coast and offshore islands, and demanded the handover of the vessels then under the control of the National Council. Koch requested authority to retain control over four destroyers, but this was denied by the Allied Naval Council. Later that month, the Italians convinced the Allied Naval Council to force the remaining crews off most of the vessels.
On 1 December 1918, the new South Slav state, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (KSCS, later Kingdom of Yugoslavia) was created, joining the Kingdom of Serbia with those South Slav lands formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Later that month, the Serbian Ministry of Army was dissolved, and a new Ministry of Army and Navy was created. By January 1919, there were a total of 35 former Austro-Hungarian vessels in port which had a total of 600 Yugoslav crew members aboard. The National Council dissolved the Navy Commissioner's office in February and Koch was appointed as the head of the Navy Department within the Ministry of Army and Navy. During that month, the Italians finally disembarked all remaining crew from former Austro-Hungarian vessels, leaving the nascent KSCS Navy without any ships. In April, Koch's office was moved to the capital, Belgrade. The final fate of the former Austro-Hungarian vessels was determined by the Allied powers during the Paris Peace Conference, which also decided territorial disagreements between Italy and the KSCS. While the territorial questions in Dalmatia were largely decided in favour of the KSCS, Italy was more successful in denying the KSCS most of the former Austro-Hungarian fleet. The unrealistic demands of the KSCS in this regard contributed to their lack of success. For example, in April 1919, the KSCS asked for control over four cruisers, 17 destroyers, 27 ocean-going torpedo boats, and 20 submarines. Rebuffed, in May 1920 the KSCS reduced its claims to two ageing cruisers, six destroyers, 24 torpedo boats and four submarines. Even this more modest demand was rejected.
In October 1920, the question was finally settled when the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye provided for the transfer of the obsolete coastal defence ship , eight s, four older s, the repair ship Cyclop, the water carriers Najade and Nixe, the salvage vessel Gigant, three tugs, the yacht Dalmat, four hulks, four river monitors (Bosna, Enns, Körös and Bodrog), one motor launch, three river tugs, 16 small tenders, and a significant number of coal and oil lighters. All of these vessels were formally taken over by the KSCS at the beginning of March 1921. As the only modern sea-going vessels left to the KSCS were the 12 torpedo boats, the new nation had to build its naval forces from scratch.
Establishment Many former Austro-Hungarian naval personnel were incorporated into the new navy, 90 per cent of whom were of Croatian or Slovene ethnicity. The remainder were Serbs, or non-Slavs such as Germans. Their former ranks were recognised and, initially at least, rank insignia and regulations were adopted from the former Austro-Hungarian Navy. By 1922, the KM consisted of 124 officers and about 3,000 men. The number of officers had more than halved since the end of 1919, largely due to disillusionment. To fill the looming shortfall, around 20 graduates from each of the 1921 and 1922 classes of the Yugoslav Military Academy in Belgrade were sent to the KM. In 1923, the new Naval Academy at Gruž accepted its first class of 40 midshipmen, who were to undergo a three-year training course. All entrants to the Naval Academy had to be between 17 and 20 years of age, and graduates of high school or similar nautical school. Two specialist schools for petty officers were established, one at Šibenik for deck crew, and a machinist's school at Kumbor in the Bay of Kotor. Mine and torpedo training was conducted at Đenovići, as was pilot and air observer training. A gunnery school was established at Meljine in the Bay of Kotor. Šibenik was also the home of the main coastal radio station, the signals school and the basic and specialist training school for seamen.
In September 1923, new regulations were promulgated, dividing the navy into a fleet, a river flotilla, and naval aviation. Later that month a Naval Command was established, based in Zemun, near Belgrade. The Navy Department, now known as Navy Section, was then only responsible for purely administrative matters, with Naval Command responsible for all operational questions. The service's initially unrealistic expansion goals of 24 destroyers and 24 submarines were soon shelved, and by the end of 1923 the fleet consisted of eight 250t-class torpedo boats, four Kaiman-class torpedo boats, six s, four Schichau-class minesweepers, the water carrier Perun (ex-Cyclop), the yachts Vila (ex-Dalmat) and Lada (ex-Quarnero), the training ship Vila Velebit, the salvage vessel Moćni (ex-Gigant), and four tugs. Kumbor (ex-Kronprinz Erzherzog Rudolf) had been sold for scrap in 1922, and three of the minesweepers were disposed of in 1924, as were the four hulks. The four river monitors remained in service, as Vardar, Drava, Morava and Sava respectively. They were supported by two motor patrol boats and three river tugs.
The shore establishments were developed from those inherited from the Austro-Hungarian Navy, and included Tivat in the Bay of Kotor. It was home to the Tivat Arsenal, a naval yard which was expanded to repair and overhaul larger vessels; it included two floating docks, one of and one of capacity. The apprentice school and diving school were also established there, along with the main supply base. A 2000-long ton-capacity floating dock was acquired for the private Yarrow Adriatic shipyard at Kraljevica, and a subsidiary of the French Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire shipyard was established at Split, equipped with two more floating docks, one of , and one of capacity. The riverine vessels were usually repaired at the Novi Sad subsidiary of the Arsenal, and overhauls were completed at Sartid Works in Smederevo.
Interwar activities 1923–1929