NMS Grivița

NMS Grivița was a gunboat of the Romanian Navy, built in 1880. It was the first warship acquired by the Kingdom of Romania after gaining independence in 1878 and the first military ship of the Romanian Black Sea Fleet. Throughout her career, she saw service on both the Black Sea and the Danube during the Second Balkan War and the First World War.

Descripiton
Grivița (also known as Grivitza in English-language sources) was built in 1880 by Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino in Austria-Hungary. She measured 30 meters in length, had a beam of 5.4 meters and a draught of 1.8 meters. She displaced 110 tons, had a crew of 48 men and a top speed of 9 knots, generated by a two-cylinder steam engine. For most of her career, she was armed with two 57 mm Nordenfelt guns and two 37 mm five-barreled Hotchkiss revolving guns. However, her initial armament consisted of two 90 mm Krupp guns, the 37 mm revolving guns being mounted in 1882 and the 57 mm guns replacing the 90 mm ones in 1888.

Career
Grivița was ordered in 1880, with the main purpose of enforcing Romanian interests at the newly-established Danube Commission, headquartered in the Romanian port town of Sulina. In 1885-1886, she conducted topographic research off Sulina and the northern half of the Romanian coast.

The 1913 Second Balkan War found her on the Danube, where she provided artillery support for the Romanian troops crossing into Bulgaria from Corabia.

When Romania entered the First World War on the side of the Allies in late 1916, she was put at the disposal of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, acting as a liaison ship between the Russian and Romanian forces under the command of Captain Vlădescu Constantin. She was later transferred to the Romanian Danube fleet. In the autumn of 1916, she along with a tug and two barges evacuated the Romanian 37 mm and 57 mm coastal artillery guns from Cinghineaua Island, after the latter ended up 6 km behind enemy lines. A few months later, she collided with a Russian ship, but was successfully repaired. After Romania resumed hostilities against the Central Powers in the autumn of 1918, she captured a German cargo ship sailing for Odessa. She was mentioned for the last time in March 1919, and was likely deleted later that same year.