The ''OMm35'' class was a group of two small minelayers of the Czechoslovak Navy. They were captured by

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in 1939 and transferred to the Romanian Navy in 1941. The two vessels were then captured by Soviet forces in September 1944, their subsequent fates being unknown.

Construction and characteristics

The two vessels were built by Škoda in

Komárno Komárno (, , ), colloquially also called ''Révkomárom'', ''Öregkomárom'', ''Észak-Komárom'' in Hungarian language, Hungarian, is a town in Slovakia at the confluence of the Danube and the Váh rivers. Historically it was formed by the "old ...

between 1938 and 1939. They measured 32 meters in length, with a beam of 4 meters and a draught of 1 meter. Named ''OMm35'' and ''OMm36'', the two boats displaced 60 tons each. Initially, they were armed with two machine guns on a single mount and were able to carry up to 22 mines. They were powered by two diesel engines generating an output of 900 hp powering two shafts, which gave the two vessels a top speed of 19 knots. Seized by the Germans in 1939, they were briefly commissioned by the ''

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...

'' as ''FM1'' and ''FM2'', before being transferred to the Romanian Navy in 1941 as ''V5'' and ''V6''. In Romanian service, their armament was increased to one 20 mm anti-aircraft gun and two twin plus two single 8 mm machine guns. The two twin machine guns were protected by 48 mm of armour and the conning tower by 6 mm. The two boats were captured by Soviet forces in September 1944, their subsequent fate remaining unknown.

Career

''V5'' and ''V6'' laid several mine barrages on the

Chilia branch The Chilia branch (; ) is one of three main distributary channels of the river Danube that contribute to forming the Danube Delta. Lying at the northernmost area of the delta, the distributary creates a natural border between Romania and Ukra ...

of the

Danube Delta The Danube Delta (, ; , ) is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. Occurring where the Danube, Danube River empties into the Black Sea, most of the Danube Delta lies in Romania ...

against Soviet warships during ''

Operation München Operation München () was the Romania, Romanian codename of a joint Nazi Germany, German-Romanian offensive during the Operation Barbarossa, German invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II, with the primary objective of recapturing Bessa ...

'', however these proved to be ineffective. During the summer of 1943, joint German-Romanian forces carried out a sweeping operation across the Danube Delta, over 50 mines being swept as a result. Five of these mines were swept by ''V5''.Jipa Rotaru, Ioan Damaschin, ''Glorie și dramă: Marina Regală Română, 1940-1945'', Ion Cristoiu Publishing, 2000, p. 278 (in Romanian)

References

{{reflist Naval ships of Czechoslovakia Ships built in Czechoslovakia World War II naval ships of Germany World War II minelayers of Romania World War II mine warfare vessels of the Soviet Union German–Romania military relations Naval ships captured by Germany during World War II