Beograd-class destroyer

The Beograd-class destroyers were built for the Yugoslav Royal Navy in the late 1930s. The ships all took part in World War II. Two of the three were captured by the Italian Navy after the invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941, and one of those was subsequently captured by the Germans.

Design
Following the large destroyer Dubrovnik the Royal Yugoslav Navy commission a smaller size for this group of ships. The ships were designed by the French company "Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire". The first Beograd class destroyer was built in France and the other two in Yugoslavia. The armament was provided by the Czech company Skoda and the machinery by Yarrow Shipbuilders.

Operational history
The Ljubljana was in dockyard on 17 April 1941 and was captured. The Zagreb was blown up in Kotor to prevent capture. The Beograd was at sea and damaged from a dive bombing attack. She returned to Kotor, but was also captured by the Italian's.

The Ljubljana was renamed Lubiana, and the Beograd renamed Sebenico by the Regia Marina. Both ships served as convoy escorts on the supply run to North Africa. The Lubiana was sunk by grounding in the Gulf of Tunis on 1 April 1943.

The Sebenico was captured by the Germans in Venice after the Italian Armistice in September 1943. The ship was renamed TA43 and entered service in the Kriegsmarine on 17 October 1944. She served in the Northern Adriatic Sea and was heavily damaged by Yugoslav artillery in April 1945. The ship was scuttled in Trieste on 1 May 1945.