Yugoslav torpedo boat T1

At the outbreak of World War I, 76 T was part of the 1st Torpedo Group of the 3rd Torpedo Craft Division of the Austro-Hungarian 1st Torpedo Craft Flotilla.[9] The original concept of operation for the 250t-class boats was that they would sail in a flotilla at the rear of a cruising battle formation, and were to intervene in fighting only if the battleships around which the formation was established were disabled, or in order to attack damaged enemy battleships.[10] When a torpedo attack was ordered, it was to be led by a scout cruiser, supported by two destroyers to repel any enemy torpedo boats. A group of four to six torpedo boats would deliver the attack under the direction of the flotilla commander.[11]

During the war, 76 T was used for convoy, escort and minesweeping tasks, anti-submarine operations,[1] and shore bombardment missions.[12] She also conducted patrols and supported seaplane raids against the Italian coast.[7] On 24 May 1915, 76 T and seven other 250t-class boats were involved in the shelling of various Italian shore-based targets known as the Bombardment of Ancona, with 76 T involved in the operation against Ancona itself.[13] On 27 July, a flotilla led by the scout cruisers Admiral Spaun and Novara, and escorted by two destroyers along with 76 T and two other 250t-class boats shelled the Italian railway line between Ancona and Pesaro.[14] In late November 1915, the Austro-Hungarian fleet deployed a force from its main fleet base at Pola in the upper Adriatic to Cattaro in the southern Adriatic; this force included six of the eight T-group torpedo boats, so it is possible that one of these was 76 T. This force was tasked to maintain a permanent patrol of the Albanian coastline and interdict any troop transports crossing from Italy.[15]

On 22 February 1916, 76 T, the Kaiman-class torpedo boat 70 F and two other 250t-class boats laid a defensive minefield off the port of Antivari.[16] On 3 May, 76 T and five other 250t-class boats were accompanying four destroyers when they were involved in a surface action off Porto Corsini, near Ravenna, against an Italian force led by the flotilla leaders Cesare Rossarol and Guglielmo Pepe. On this occasion the Austro-Hungarian force retreated behind a minefield with no damage to the torpedo boats, and only splinter damage to the Huszár-class destroyer Csikós. In 1917, one of 76 T's 66 mm guns was placed on an anti-aircraft mount.[2] On 21 May 1917, the suffix of all Austro-Hungarian torpedo boats was removed, and thereafter they were referred to only by the numeral.[1] In June and July, Austro-Hungarian aircraft were constantly in action bombing various targets along the east coast of Italy. On a twenty-one seaplane raid targeting the harbour at Grado between Venice and Triest, and the main railway hub in the same area at Cervignano, 76 was part of the covering force which also included three destroyers and three other 250t-class boats. One of the destroyers was targeted by an enemy submarine, but evaded the torpedo.[17]

By 1918, the Allies had strengthened their ongoing blockade on the Strait of Otranto, as foreseen by the Austro-Hungarian Navy. As a result, it was becoming more difficult for the German and Austro-Hungarian U-boats to get through the strait and into the Mediterranean Sea. In response to these blockades, the new commander of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, Konteradmiral Miklós Horthy, decided to launch an attack on the Allied defenders with battleships, scout cruisers, and destroyers.[18] During the night of 8 June, Horthy left Pola with the dreadnought battleships Viribus Unitis and Prinz Eugen. At about 23:00 on 9 June 1918, after some difficulties getting the harbour defence barrage opened, the dreadnoughts Szent István and Tegetthoff,[19] escorted by one destroyer and six torpedo boats, including 76, also departed Pola and set course for Slano, north of Ragusa, to rendezvous with Horthy in preparation for a coordinated attack on the Otranto Barrage. About 03:15 on 10 June,[lower-alpha 2] while returning from an uneventful patrol off the Dalmatian coast, two Italian Navy (Italian: Regia Marina) MAS boats, MAS 15 and MAS 21, spotted the smoke from the Austrian ships. Both boats successfully penetrated the escort screen and split to engage the dreadnoughts individually. MAS 21 attacked Tegetthoff, but her torpedoes missed.[21] The crew of 76 did not sight the MAS boats until they had launched their torpedoes.[22] Under the command of Luigi Rizzo, MAS 15 fired two torpedoes at 03:25, both of which hit Szent István. Both boats evaded pursuit although Rizzo had to discourage 76 by dropping depth charges in his wake. The torpedo hits on Szent István were abreast her boiler rooms, which flooded, knocking out power to the pumps. Szent István capsized less than three hours after being torpedoed.[20] This disaster essentially ended Austro-Hungarian fleet operations in the Adriatic for the remaining months of the war.[23]

The Austro-Hungarian Empire sued for peace in November 1918, and 76 survived the war intact.[1] In 1920, under the terms of the previous year's Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, by which rump Austria officially ended World War I, she was allocated to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (KSCS, later Yugoslavia).[24] Immediately after the Austro-Hungarian capitulation, French troops occupied Cattaro, which was treated by the Allies of World War I as Austro-Hungarian territory.[25] During the French occupation, the captured Austro-Hungarian Navy ships moored at Cattaro were neglected, and 76's original torpedo tubes were destroyed or damaged by French troops.[26] Along with three other 250t-class T-group boats, 77, 78 and 79, and four 250t-class F-group boats, she served with the Royal Yugoslav Navy (Serbo-Croatian Latin: Kraljevska Mornarica, KM; Краљевска Морнарица). Taken over in March 1921 when French forces withdrew,[24][26] in KM service, 76 was renamed T1.[2] When the navy was formed, she and the other seven 250t-class boats were the only modern sea-going vessels in the KM.[27] New torpedo tubes of the same size were ordered from the Strojne Tovarne factory in Ljubljana.[5]

In KM service it was intended to replace one or both guns on each boat of the 250t class with a longer Škoda 66 mm (2.6 in) L/45 gun, and according to the naval historian Zvonimir Freivogel, this included the forward gun on T1. She was also fitted with one or two Zbrojovka 15 mm (0.59 in) machine guns. In KM service, the crew increased to 52,[5] and she was commissioned in 1923.[28] In 1925, exercises were conducted off the Dalmatian coast, involving the majority of the navy.[29] T1 underwent a refit in 1927.[28] In May and June 1929, six of the eight 250t-class torpedo boats accompanied the light cruiser Dalmacija, the submarine tender Hvar and the submarines Hrabri and Nebojša, on a cruise to Malta, the Greek island of Corfu in the Ionian Sea, and Bizerte in the French protectorate of Tunisia. The ships and crews made a very good impression while visiting Malta.[30] In 1932, the British naval attaché reported that Yugoslav ships engaged in few exercises, manoeuvres or gunnery training due to reduced budgets.[31] By 1939, the maximum speed achieved by the 250t class in Yugoslav service had declined to 24 kn (44 km/h; 28 mph).[5]

In April 1941, Yugoslavia entered World War II when it was invaded by the German-led Axis powers. At the time of the invasion, T1 was assigned to the Southern Sector of the KM's Coastal Defence Command based at the Bay of Kotor,[32] along with her sister ship T8. T1 was formally part of the 3rd Torpedo Division, but was left at Kotor when the rest of the division was deployed to the central Dalmatian port of Šibenik just prior to the invasion, in accordance with a plan to attack the Italian enclave of Zara in northern Dalmatia.[33] T1 was captured by the Italian Navy shortly after the Yugoslav capitulation and was operated by them under her Yugoslav designation, conducting coastal and second-line escort duties in the Adriatic. Her guns were replaced by two 76 mm (3.0 in) L/40 anti-aircraft guns,[34] and her bridge was enclosed.[3] Her plain hull was also painted in a dazzle camouflage pattern.[35] She was allocated to Maridalmazia, the military maritime command of Dalmatia (Italian: Comando militare maritime della Dalmatia), which was responsible for the area from the northern Adriatic island of Premuda south to the port of Bar in the Italian governorate of Montenegro.[36] On 21 January 1943, T1 was escorting the steamer Cassala near Cape Menders (current day Cape Mendra near Ulcinj, Montenegro, then part of the Italian protectorate of Albania) when they were attacked by the British submarine HMS Tigris. Tigris fired four torpedoes but missed both ships.[37]

On 8 September 1943, immediately following the Italian capitulation, T1 entered the Bay of Kotor escorting the Italian tanker Annarella and freighter Milano, along with the Rosolino Pilo-class destroyer Giuseppe Cesare Abba. The German troops aboard Milano were permitted to land, but the Italians began evacuating their forces from the Bay of Kotor on the evening of 10 September. Several vessels departed for Allied ports in Italy or for Malta over the following day, including T1, Giuseppe Cesare Abba, the former Yugoslav Uskok-class torpedo boat ME47 and some auxiliary minesweepers, carrying about 400 Italian personnel.[28][38] She was returned to the KM-in-exile at Malta on 7 December 1943.[28][39][lower-alpha 3] Along with the other ships of the KM-in-exile, T1 was transferred to the control of the government of the new Democratic Federal Yugoslavia in August 1945.[42]

She was commissioned as Golešnica by the Yugoslav Navy (Serbo-Croatian Latin: Jugoslavenska Ratna Mornarica, JRM; Југословенска Pатна Mорнарица) initially as a stražarski brod (guard ship) with the designation SBR 91. She was later reclassified as a patrolni brod (patrol ship) with the designation PBR 91. Her post-war fit-out included replacing her guns with two Bofors 40 mm (1.6 in) L/60 guns on single mounts, one quadruple and one twin mount of Flakvierling 38 20 mm (0.79 in) guns, and one set of torpedo tubes were removed. She was fitted with two depth charge racks. In JRM service her maximum speed was 22 kn (41 km/h; 25 mph), her range amounted to 980 nmi (1,810 km; 1,130 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph), and she had a crew of 52. Golešnica was allocated to the JRM's 6th Division, which largely consisted of escort destroyers, and was also employed in a training role, until she was stricken in 1955.[43] After being decommissioned and disarmed, she was sunk as a target in Žanjica Bay near the western entrance to the Bay of Kotor and is now a recreational dive site.[28][44] A set of her torpedo tubes were displayed at the Nikola Tesla Technical Museum in Zagreb, Croatia.[45]