Yugoslav destroyer Ljubljana

Ljubljana / Љубљана

Ljubljana's sister ship Beograd (right) and the flotilla leader Dubrovnik (left) in the Bay of Kotor after being captured by Italy
History
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Name	Ljubljana
Namesake	Ljubljana
Laid down	1936
Launched	28 June 1938
Commissioned	November 1939
Out of service	17 April 1941
Fate	Captured by Italy
Italy
Name	Lubiana
Acquired	17 April 1941
In service	1 November 1941
Fate	Stranded and wrecked off the Tunisian coast on 1 April 1943
General characteristics
Class and type	Beograd-class destroyer
Displacement	1,210 t (1,190 long tons) (standard) 1,655 t (1,629 long tons) (full load)
Length	98 m (321 ft 6 in) oa
Beam	9.45 m (31 ft)
Draught	3.18 m (10 ft 5 in)
Installed power	3 × Yarrow water-tube boilers 40,000–44,000 shp (30,000–33,000 kW)
Propulsion	2 × shafts 2 × Parsons steam turbines
Speed	38 knots (70 km/h; 44 mph)
Complement	145
Armament	4 × single 120 mm (4.7 in) guns 2 × dual 40 mm (1.6 in) AA guns 2 × triple 550 mm (21.7 in) torpedo tubes 2 × 15 mm (0.59 in) machine guns 30 naval mines

Ljubljana (Serbo-Croatian pronunciation: [/ ˌlu bliˈɑ nə]) was the third and last Beograd-class destroyer built for the Royal Yugoslav Navy (Serbo-Croatian Latin: Kraljevska mornarica; Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic: Краљевска морнарица; КМ) in the late 1930s, and designed to operate as part of a division led by the flotilla leader Dubrovnik. She entered KM service in November 1939, was armed with a main battery of four Škoda 120 mm (4.7 in) guns in superfiring single mounts – two forward and two aft of the superstructure – and she had a practical top speed of 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph).

In 1940, Ljubljana ran aground on a reef off the Yugoslav port of Šibenik and sank due to the serious damage caused to her hull. After considerable effort she was refloated and then towed to the naval arsenal at Tivat in the Bay of Kotor for repairs. This incident resulted in her gaining a reputation as an "unlucky ship" with Yugoslav sailors. Yugoslavia entered World War II when the German-led Axis powers invaded in April 1941, and Ljubljana – still under repair – was captured by the Italians. After repairs and refitting, including replacement of her anti-aircraft armament, she saw service from November 1942 with the Royal Italian Navy under the name Lubiana, mainly as a convoy escort on routes between Italy and Greece and Italy and Tunisia. She was lost on 1 April 1943, when a navigational error was made in poor visibility off the Tunisian coast. She was stranded and then abandoned due to heavy seas, and was declared a total loss.