Yugoslav monitor Drava

Yugoslav monitor Drava

Sister ship to Enns, SMS Inn
History
Austro-Hungarian Empire
Name	Enns
Namesake	Enns River
Builder	Schiffswerft Linz/Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino Linz
Laid down	21 November 1913
Launched	29 July 1914
In service	17 October 1914
Out of service	6 November 1918
Fate	Transferred to the Hungarian People's Republic
Notes	Sister ship Inn was ceded to Romania and renamed Besarabia
Hungarian People's Republic
Name	Enns
Namesake	Enns River
Acquired	6 November 1918
Out of service	8 December 1918
Fate	Assigned to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (KSCS)
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Name	Drava
Namesake	Drava River
Acquired	1920
Fate	Sunk by Luftwaffe dive bombers on 12 April 1941
General characteristics
Class and type	Enns-class river monitor
Displacement	536 tonnes (528 long tons)
Length	60.2 m (197 ft 6 in)
Beam	10.3 m (33 ft 10 in)
Draught	1.3 m (4 ft 3 in)
Installed power	1,700 ihp (1,300 kW) Yarrow boilers
Propulsion	2 Triple-expansion steam engines
Speed	13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Complement	95 officers and enlisted
Armament	2 × 120 mm (4.7 in) L/45 guns (1 × 2) 3 × 120 mm (4.7 in) L/10 howitzers (3 × 1) 2 × 66 mm (2.6 in) L/50 anti-aircraft guns (2 × 1) 6 × 8 mm (0.31 in) machine guns
Armour	Belt and bulkheads: 40 mm (1.6 in) Deck: 25 mm (0.98 in) Conning tower and gun turrets: 50 mm (2.0 in)

The Yugoslav monitor Drava was a river monitor operated by the Royal Yugoslav Navy between 1921 and 1941. She was originally built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy as the name ship of the Enns-class river monitors. As SMS Enns, she was part of the Danube Flotilla during World War I, and fought against the Serbian and Romanian armies from Belgrade to the lower Danube. In October 1915, she was covering an amphibious assault on Belgrade when she was holed below the waterline by a direct hit, and had to be towed to Budapest for repairs. 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 Drava. She remained in service throughout the interwar period, but was not always in full commission due to budget restrictions.

During the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, Drava spent six days shelling airfields near Mohács in Hungary and fought off a small flotilla of Hungarian gunboats. On 12 April, she was attacked by Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers of the Luftwaffe. The anti-aircraft gunners on the ship claimed three enemy aircraft, but nine of the Stukas scored hits. Most of these had little effect, but the last bomb dropped straight down Drava's funnel and exploded in her engine room, killing 54 of the crew, including her captain, Aleksandar Berić. Only 13 of the crew survived. She was raised and scrapped by Hungary during their occupation of parts of Yugoslavia. Berić was posthumously awarded the Order of Karađorđe's Star for his sacrifice, and the base of the Serbian River Flotilla at Novi Sad is named after him.