Yugoslav monitor Vardar

Yugoslav monitor Vardar

Vardar underway in 1933
History
Austro-Hungarian Empire
Name	Bosna/ Temes (II)/Bosna
Namesake	Bosna River/Temes River
Builder	Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino
Laid down	1914 (Linz)
Launched	1915
In service	9 July 1915
Out of service	6 November 1918
Fate	Transferred to the Hungarian People's Republic
Notes	Reverted to SMS Bosna on 9 May 1917 after the raising and repair of the original SMS Temes. Sister ship Sava was ceded to Romania and renamed Bucovina.
Hungarian People's Republic
Name	Bosna
Namesake	Bosna River
Acquired	6 November 1918
Out of service	13 December 1918
Fate	Assigned to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (KSCS)
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Name	Vardar
Namesake	Vardar River
Acquired	1918
In service	1920
Fate	Scuttled by her crew on 11/12 April 1941
General characteristics
Class and type	Sava-class river monitor
Displacement	580 tonnes (570 long tons)
Length	62 m (203 ft 5 in)
Beam	10.3 m (33 ft 10 in)
Draught	1.3 m (4 ft 3 in)
Installed power	1,750 ihp (1,300 kW) 2 Yarrow boilers
Propulsion	2 Triple-expansion steam engines
Speed	13.5 knots (25.0 km/h; 15.5 mph)
Complement	91 officers and enlisted
Armament	2 × 120 mm (4.7 in) L/45 guns (1 × 2) 2 × 120 mm (4.7 in) L/10 howitzers (1 × 2) 2 × 66 mm (2.6 in) L/26 guns (1 × 2) 2 × 47 mm (1.9 in) L/44 guns 7 × machine guns
Armour	Belt and bulkheads: 40 mm (1.6 in) Deck: 25 mm (0.98 in) Conning tower, gun turrets and cupolas: 50 mm (2.0 in)

Vardar was a Sava-class river monitor built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy as SMS Bosna, but was renamed SMS Temes (II) before she went into service. During World War I, she was the flagship of the Danube Flotilla, and fought the Serbian Army, the Romanian Navy and Army, and the French Army. She reverted to the name Bosna in May 1917, after the original SMS Temes was raised and returned to service. After brief service with the Hungarian People's Republic at the end of the war, she was transferred to the newly created Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia), and renamed Vardar. She remained in service throughout the interwar period, although budget restrictions meant she was not always in full commission.

During the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, she was the flagship of the 1st Monitor Division, and along with her fellow monitor Sava, she laid mines in the Danube near the Romanian border during the first few days of the invasion. The two monitors fought off several attacks by the Luftwaffe, but were forced to withdraw to Belgrade. Due to high river levels and low bridges, the monitors' navigation was difficult, and they were scuttled by their crews on 11 April. Some of her crew may have been killed when a demolished bridge collapsed onto a tugboat after they abandoned ship. Some tried to escape cross-country towards the southern Adriatic coast, but most surrendered to the Germans at Sarajevo on 14 April. The remainder made their way to the Bay of Kotor, where they were captured by the Italian XVII Corps on 17 April.