The ''Enns''-class

river monitor River monitors are military craft designed to patrol rivers. They are normally the largest of all riverine warships in river flotillas, and mount the heaviest weapons. The name originated from the US Navy's , which made her first appearance in ...

s were built for the

Austro-Hungarian Navy The Austro-Hungarian Navy or Imperial and Royal War Navy (german: kaiserliche und königliche Kriegsmarine, in short ''k.u.k. Kriegsmarine'', hu, Császári és Királyi Haditengerészet) was the naval force of Austria-Hungary. Ships of the A ...

during the mid-1910s. The two ships of the

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differently ...

were assigned to the

Danube Flotilla The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

and participated in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. The ships survived the war and were transferred to

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

and the newly created

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama ...

(later Yugoslavia) as

reparations Reparation(s) may refer to: Christianity * Restitution (theology), the Christian doctrine calling for reparation * Acts of reparation, prayers for repairing the damages of sin History * War reparations ** World War I reparations, made from ...

Description and construction

The ships had an

overall length The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads i ...

of , a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy * Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy ** Laser beam * Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized g ...

of , and a normal draught of . They

displaced Displaced may refer to: * Forced displacement Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNH ...

, and their crew consisted of 95 officers and enlisted men. The ''Enns''-class ships were powered by two triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, using steam generated by two

Yarrow boiler Yarrow boilers are an important class of high-pressure water-tube boilers. They were developed by Yarrow & Co. (London), Shipbuilders and Engineers and were widely used on ships, particularly warships. The Yarrow boiler design is characteristic ...

s. The engines were rated at and were designed to reach a top speed of . They carried of

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bu ...

. The main armament of the ''Enns''-class river monitors was a pair of /L45 guns in a single turret forward of the conning tower and three /L10

howitzer A howitzer () is a long-ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an Artillery, artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a Mortar (weapon), mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and de ...

s to the rear, in individual armored cupolas. They also mounted two individual /L50 BAG anti-aircraft guns, and six

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifl ...

s. The maximum range of their

Škoda Škoda means ''pity'' in the Czech and Slovak languages. It may also refer to: Czech brands and enterprises * Škoda Auto, automobile and previously bicycle manufacturer in Mladá Boleslav ** Škoda Motorsport, the division of Škoda Auto respon ...

L/45 guns was . Their armour consisted of belt and bulkheads thick, deck armour thick, and their conning tower, gun turrets and cupolas were thick.

Ships

Careers

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, ''Besarabia'' was the only Romanian river monitor out of seven to be fitted with new turrets. This took place between 1942 and 1943, while she was being completely rebuilt and up-gunned at

Galați Galați (, , ; also known by other alternative names) is the capital city of Galați County in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in eastern Romania. Galați is a port town on the Danube River. It has been the only port for the most pa ...

. Her armament ultimately consisted of two twin 120 mm naval guns, six 37 mm AA guns and four 20 mm AA guns. She also had a range of 690 nautical miles, more than enough to travel across the greatest East-West extent of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, ...

, which was 635 nautical miles (the Black Sea was the

area of operations In U.S. armed forces parlance, an area of operations (AO) is an operational area defined by the force commander for land, air, and naval forces conduct of combat and non-combat activities. Areas of operations do not typically encompass the entire ...

of the World War II Romanian Navy).Е. Е. Шведе, ''Военные флоты 1939–1940 гг.'', Рипол Классик, 2013, pp. 120–121 (in Russian)

Notes

Footnotes

References

* * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Enns-class river monitor Monitor classes World War I naval ships of Austria-Hungary World War I monitors World War II monitors