Serbian Navy
Serbia is as of this moment a landlocked country. Follow the recent split with Montenegro. Montenegro whose territory sits by the Adriatic sea has inherited nearly all naval components of the former union. Serbia however was not left without any naval property at all. It inherited a fleet of river patrol and assault ships which operate on the Danube River. Currently it functions as a real sea fairing Navy would. It holds all the ranks and positions as that of much larger and complex Navy's.
History
Conflicts and fights on rivers start with the appearance of first settlements at their water sides. Aleksandar Makedonski had the first fleet at Danube basin, according to written documents. Romans were the first to have Danube flotilla.
Huns, Avars, Giths, Gepids, Mongols and others formed similar units for that time.
After they came at Balkanian peninsula, Slavs used rivers and were very skilled at making boats and later at making ships also.
On March 30th, 1833, the ship called Serbia started sailing. It was built at shipyard Dubravica by Greek Nikola Kefala by order of Knjaz Miloš (TT information: length 24m, breadth 7m, draughts 3,5m, carrying capacity 250t). In April 1840 a war ship was built at shipyard in Brza Palanka and it got a name Knjaz Mihajlo (TT information: length 65m, breadth 7,5m, draughts 4,5m, armament of ship was 12 cannons).
Serbia got its first real war ship, patrol boat Jadar, on August 6th, 1915. It was built at shipyard in Čukarica. The ship was armed and used for mine laying at Sava.
On April 20th, 1941, after seven days of fighting with German airplanes, tanks, ships and ambushes from watersides in Čelarevo, boat Drava was shot. That is a boat that came in legend of warring at rivers.
On September 11th, 1944, in Neštin, by Order of General staff "NOV" and "PO" in Vojvodina, the Naval troop was formed, the first official naval unit for militant fights at Danube and Sava, which came into composition of 11th Vojvodinians "NOU" brigade. The troop was made at a crew of ship "Zagreb", signal-corps troop of General staff of Vojvodina and soldiers from different units who were earlier serving at navy. Its first commander was Kara Dimitrijević from Ledinci, deputy commander was Dragutin Iskra, political commissary Svetozar Milovanović, and deputy of political commissary Rada Prodanović. Ship "Zagreb" was a passenger ship rearranged for mine disposal at subwater mines. Crew of "Zagreb" came into 'partizans' after they captured German part of crew. Action was lead by deputy commander of "Zagreb" Dragutin Iskra. The crew brought all light arms and ship anti-aircraft cannon 20mm with them. The troop had 70 to 80 soldiers and it had a duty to attack enemy river traffic and to do transports at Danube. It was based on 3 places at Fruška Gora: at Testera, near Neštin and Krčedin.
On November 20th, 1944, a navy base was formed in Novi Sad, and this troop was a part of the base. After a little bit more then two months of existence, the troop made a hard damage on 5 and light damage on 43 enemy boats and killed or injured a lot of enemy soldiers. At the same time, it transported 220,000 soldiers over Danube, about 2,000 cannons, 3,000 trucks and more thousands of different material. In a period from 1944 to 1965, river flotilla was organized in a few detachment of river armor boats, river assault ships, river auxiliary ships and minesweepers squadron.
A period since 1965 to 1984 was characteristic because of technical modernization and perfecting of tactics of using RF. Minesweepers type 319 and 307 and assault ships type 401 were reconstructed, a new minesweepers type 331 were built, station for demagnetization of ships and the ships were armed with new arms.
On-going debate
There is a on-going debate on naval property left in Montenegro. The new tiny state of Montenegro is largely underfunded unlike its northern counterpart Serbia. As such, it does not plan to retain the former Navy to its full capacity. It is almost certain that the Government of Montenegro will auction off every heavy class warship and plans only to keep a small force about the size of a coast guard. Naval bases and other naval installation are still operating; rumors that Serbia is interested in keeping at least one port have arisen but are unconfirmed as of yet.
The former SCG navy included four submarines, three frigates, 31 patrol and coastal ships, and 10 "other" vessels.
A military advisor to the government of Montenegro, General Radosav Martinovic, said the Serbian navy, which currently has more than 30 warships, including submarines, would be lucky to end up with some patrol craft on the Danube. The Montenegrin authorities have started auctioning off some of the most picturesque bases on the Adriatic to tourist developers. Talks with a Canadian tycoon, Peter Munk, are also well advanced over a project to turn the naval shipyards at Tivat into the Mediterranean's largest and most luxurious marina for "mega-yachts".
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336 is part of Serbian river flotilla
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411 Assault Boat
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Serbian flotilla on duty
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Serbian Sailor
