Orjen-class torpedo boat

rdf:langString Orjen-class torpedo boat

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rdf:langString * * * *

rdf:langString *2 × torpedo tubes *1 × gun

rdf:langString *Three shafts; *3 × petrol engines;

rdf:langString The Orjen class of eight motor torpedo boats was built for the Royal Yugoslav Navy between 1936 and 1939 at the Lürssen Shipyard at Vegesack, Germany. They were based on the German S-2 motor torpedo boats. At the start of the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, two boats managed to escape to Alexandria in Egypt where they continued serving with Allied forces, including in operations against Vichy French forces in Syria. The remaining ones were captured by Italian forces and commissioned in the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) with modified armament; they were also used by the Italians as the model for the Italian-built CRDA 60 t motor torpedo boats. At the time of the Italian Armistice in September 1943, two boats were scuttled by their crews. The four surviving Italian boats were taken over by German forces and commissioned in the Kriegsmarine (German Navy), serving largely in the Aegean Sea until they were finally scuttled in October 1944 as the Germans withdrew from Greece. The two boats that had escaped to the Allies in 1941 returned to Yugoslavia after the war. They were commissioned in the new Yugoslav Navy and remained in service until the early 1960s.