NMS Mărăști

NMS Mărăști was an Aquila-class scout cruiser, built in Italy during the First World War. She spent most of her career in Romanian service, during World War II she and her sister being the most heavily-armed warships of the Romanian Navy and of the Axis Powers in the Black Sea. After one year in Soviet service, she was returned to Romania and continued to be used until 1964.

Construction and specifications
Like her three sister ships, she was ordered in 1913 by Romania from the Pattison Shipyard in Naples. Designed by engineer Luigi Scaglia and based on Romanian specifications, she was to be a large destroyer armed with three 120 mm guns, four 75 mm guns, five torpedo tubes, and have a 10-hour endurance at full speed, as she was required to operate in the limited perimeter of the Black Sea. However, she was interned by Italy on 5 June 1916, when the country joined the First World War, and completed as scout cruiser (esploratori), being commissioned as Sparviero on 15 July 1917. She was transferred to Romania along with one of her sister ships, Nibbio, on 1 July 1920. She was renamed Mărăști and her sister was renamed Mărășești.

The cruiser measured 94.7 meters in length, with a beam of 9.5 meters and a draught of 3.6 meters. She was powered by Tosi turbines and five Thornycroft boilers, generating an output of just over 48,000 hp powering two shafts, which gave her a top speed of 38 knots. She was armed with three 6-inch (152 mm) Armstrong naval guns, four 3-inch (76 mm) Ansaldo guns, two 6.5 mm machine guns and two twin 457 mm torpedo tubes. She had a crew of 146 and a range of 1,700 nautical miles at 15 knots, as well as 380 nautical miles at 34 knots.

She had a displacement of 1,820 tons.

Mărăști and Mărășești were the second most heavily-armed Axis warships in the Black Sea, and had the second greatest displacement, after the cruiser-sized submarine tender Constanța. The succeeding Regele Ferdinand-class destroyers were more modern, but not as heavy despite being more heavily armed. Upon commissioning by Romania on 1 July 1920, Mărăști and Mărășești were re-classified as destroyers. However, English-language sources of the period refer to the two warships as flotilla leaders, most likely on account of their three cruiser-typical 152 mm guns. Mărăști and Mărășești were refitted at the Galați shipyard in Romania in 1925, and sent back to Naples for rearming in 1926. The two rearmed warships are also known as the Mărăști-class. When Romania entered World War II in June 1941, the two warships were armed with four 120 mm guns in twin mounts, two 37 mm anti-aircraft guns, two twin 13 mm Hotchkiss machine guns and two depth charge throwers. They also retained their four 457 mm torpedo tubes (two pairs, one on each side of the ship). Later during the war, they were fitted with two more 37 mm guns and four 20 mm anti-aircraft guns. The two destroyers could also carry up to 50 mines each. Despite being rearmed as destroyers, the two warships still presented some cruiser characteristics, such as having their torpedo tubes mounted on the broadsides instead of the centerline.

World War II
On 26 June 1941, Mărăști helped repel a Soviet naval attack against the main Romanian port of Constanța, together with the destroyer Regina Maria and the minelayer Amiral Murgescu. Surprised by the level of resistance and the accuracy of the return fire, the Soviet fleet withdrew, losing the destroyer leader Moskva into a Romanian minefield, laid by the Romanian minelayers Amiral Murgescu, Regele Carol I and Aurora on 19 June that year. Amiral Murgescu claimed to have shot down two Soviet aircraft during the battle and Mărăști claimed one. Mărăști opened fire at 04:19 in the morning, 7 minutes after Regina Maria started engaging the two Soviet warships. The leader's guns fired for four minutes, damaging the Soviet destroyer leader Kharkov.

She carried out ~30 escort missions in the Black Sea throughout the war. The convoys she was escorting were attacked ~10 times by Soviet aircraft and submarines, two Axis transport ships being sunk. On the opposite side, 1 Soviet aircraft was shot down and 14 Soviet mines were encountered and destroyed with gunfire.

Mărăști and her sister were captured by Soviet forces in August 1944 and were incorporated into the Black Sea Fleet as Lovkiy (Ловкий, ex-Mărăști) and Lyogkiy (Лёгкий, ex-Mărășești). They were returned to Romania in October 1945. She continued to be used until being deleted in 1964.