This is a list of active Croatian Navy ships. As of 2013, the Croatian Navy operates over 30 vessels including five missile boats which, along with three MOL coastal defence batteries, represent its main offensive capability.
Due to constant reductions of the defence budget and the ongoing financial crisis, acquisition of new ships has proven to be problematic. The latest ships to enter service with the Croatian Navy were two used Helsinki-class missile boats, which were acquired as an offset agreement to the Croatian purchase of Patria AMV vehicles. [1]
Domestic production programs were limited to continuing existing Yugoslav designs and building a single missile boat (Kralj Dmitar Zvonimir) and a small mine hunter (Korčula), both of which took several years to complete.
Plans to start production of domestic patrol vessels (much needed for guarding the 6000 km long coastline) have been reduced and postponed over time [2] [3] [4] with newest plans to start a prototype in 2015. The tender was in May 2014 and as projected, the first vessel will enter service in 2015. The second one will follow in 2016, the third and the fourth in 2017 and the last one in 2018. The units are projected to cost around 10 million euros each. [5]
Class | Picture | Ship | No. | Comm. | No. | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Missile boats (5 in service) | ||||||
Končar class | Šibenik | RTOP-21 | (1978) 28 September 1991 | Yugoslavia |
| |
Helsinki class | Vukovar | RTOP-41 | (1985) 26 January 2009 | Finland |
| |
Dubrovnik | RTOP-42 | (1986) 26 January 2009 |
| |||
Kralj class | Kralj Petar Krešimir IV | RTOP-11 | 1992 | Croatia |
| |
Kralj Dmitar Zvonimir | RTOP-12 | 2001 |
|
Class | Picture | Ship | No. | Comm. | Displacement | Note |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Patrol boats (5 in service) | ||||||
Mirna class | Novigrad | OB-01 | (1980) 1991 | 143 tonnes | ||
Šolta | OB-02 | (1983) 1991 | ||||
Cavtat | OB-03 | (1984) 1991 | ||||
Hrvatska Kostajnica | OB-04 | (1985) 1991 | ||||
Omiš class | Omiš | OB-31 | 7 December 2018 [6] | 216 tonnes | Prototype boat with slight differences compared to other boats in the class. Design developed by Marine and Energy Solutions DIV d.o.o. from Zagreb and built by Brodosplit. [7] [8] | |
Umag | OB-32 | 17 January 2025 [9] | 216 tonnes | Launched on 1 July 2024 and entered service on 17 January 2025. Slightly modified compared to OB-31. Three more boats in the series being constructed. [10] Design developed by Marine and Energy Solutions DIV d.o.o. from Zagreb and built by Brodosplit. |
Class | Picture | Ship | No. | Comm. | Type | Displacement | Note |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Training vessel (1 in service) | |||||||
Moma class | Andrija Mohorovičić | BŠ-72 | (1972) 1994 | Training ship | 1,260 tonnes |
Class | Picture | Ship | No. | Comm. | Type | Displacement | Note |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rescue vessel (1 in service) | |||||||
Spasilac class | Faust Vrančić | BS-73 | (1976) 1991 | Rescue ship | 1,590 tonnes |
Class | Picture | Ship | No. | Comm. | Type | Displacement | Note |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Minehunter (1 in service) | |||||||
Korčula class | Korčula | LM-51 | 22 April 2006 | Minehunter | 180 tonnes |
Class | Picture | Type | Ship | No. | Comm. | Displacement | Note |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Assault-landing craft and minelayers (6 in service) | |||||||
Silba class | Landing ship & minelayer | Cetina | DBM-81 | 19 February 1993 | 540 tonnes | ex-Rab | |
Krka | DBM-82 | 9 March 1995 | |||||
Type 11 | - | Landing ship & assault ship | DJB-104 | (1977) | |||
Type 22 | Landing ship & assault ship | DJB-106 | |||||
Type 11 | Landing ship & assault ship | DJB-107 | (1978) | ||||
Auxiliary ship & landing ship | PDS-713 |
Class | Picture | Type | Ship | No. | Comm. | Displacement | Note |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Auxiliaries (1 in service) | |||||||
Transport ship | Meduza | PT-71 | (1956) | 310 tonnes |
Class | Picture | Type | Boats | Displacement | Note |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Yachts (2 in service) | |||||
Yacht | Učka | ||||
Yacht | Čista Velika |
Class | Picture | Type | Boats | Displacement | Note |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Launches (3 in service) | |||||
Diving support launch | MRB-83 | ||||
Diving support launch | MRB-51 | ||||
Transport - ceremonial launch | Krasnica |
Class | Picture | Type | Boats | Displacement | Note |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Harbour tugboats (2 in service) | |||||
Harbour tugboat | LR-71 | ||||
Harbour tugboat | LR-73 |
Class | Picture | Type | Boats | Displacement | Note |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sailboats (3 in service) | |||||
Motor sailboat | Zrinka | ||||
Salona 37 | Motor sailboat | Katarina Zrinska | |||
Salona 45 | Motor sailboat | Kraljica Jelena |
Jadrolinija is a Croatian shipping company. It is a state-owned company and its main mission is connecting Croatian islands to the mainland by operating regular passenger and cargo transport services. The company mainly operates car ferries on domestic routes along the Croatian coast, as well as international routes across the Adriatic Sea to Italy.
The Croatian Navy is the naval force branch of the Croatian Armed Forces. It was formed in 1991 from what Croatian forces managed to capture from the Yugoslav Navy during the breakup of Yugoslavia and Croatian War of Independence. In addition to mobile coastal missile launchers, today it operates 30 vessels, divided into the Navy Flotilla for traditional naval duties, and the Croatian Coast Guard. Five missile boats form the Croatian fleet's main offensive capability.
Helsinki-class missile boat is a class of four fast attack craft built for the Finnish Navy. All the ships were constructed at the Wärtsilä Helsinki Shipyard, Finland, and had Pansio as their homeport.
Velimir Škorpik was a Croatian and Yugoslav Partisan naval officer and commander of several early Partisan naval units. After graduating from the Naval Academy in 1940, Škorpik began his naval career as an officer in the Royal Yugoslav Navy. Following the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941 which saw the rapid collapse of the KM, Škorpik joined the Armed Forces of the Independent State of Croatia, serving as a harbour officer in Makarska. After coming into contact with local communist operatives, he eventually defected to the Partisans in late 1942.
Kralj Petar Krešimir IV is a Kralj-class missile boat in service with the Croatian Navy. It was laid down in 1990 at the Kraljevica Shipyard as the first ship in a new class being built for the Yugoslav Navy. As the Croatian War of Independence started gaining momentum, shipyard workers stalled the completion of the ship until the remaining Yugoslav forces retreated, preserving the ship for the Croatian Navy that was being formed.
The Yugoslav Navy, was the navy of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1992. It was essentially a coastal defense force with the mission of preventing enemy landings along Yugoslavia's rugged 4,000-kilometer shoreline or coastal islands, and contesting an enemy blockade or control of the strategic Strait of Otranto.
The Croatian Coast Guard is a division of the Croatian Navy responsible for protecting the interests of the Republic of Croatia at sea. The Croatian Navy is composed of classical naval forces structured into a flotilla and the Coast Guard that solely consists of ships with peacetime duties, e.g. protection of ecology, fishing, control of tankers, ballast waters, combat against terrorism, trafficking of people, narcotics, and similar.
The Kotor class are a pair of light frigates built for the Yugoslav Navy during the 1980s at the Kraljevica Shipyard in SR Croatia.
The history of the Croatian Navy can be traced from the Middle Ages until modern times. See List of admirals of Croatia
Split was a Koni-class frigate in service with the Yugoslav Navy (JRM). Laid down and completed during the late 1970s as Sokol of the Soviet Navy, it was the fourth ship of a class that was being built by the Zelenodolsk Shipyard primarily for export to various friendly navies. The ship was acquired by the JRM in 1980 and commissioned as Split, becoming the second ship in JRM service to be named after the city of Split. It was soon followed by a second Koni-class hull, Koper (VPBR-32), commissioned in the JRM in 1982. Designated as a Large Patrol Boat by the JRM, Split's original armament consisting of naval guns, anti-submarine rocket launchers and anti-aircraft missiles was further improved by the addition of four P-20 anti-ship missiles, making it the most versatile ship in the JRM inventory at the time.
The Končar class is a class of six missile boats built for the Yugoslav Navy during the late 1970s at Tito's Shipyard Kraljevica, SR Croatia. The boats featured a mixture of Western and Eastern European equipment, including Soviet anti-ship missiles and Swedish guns.
The Kralj class is a class of two missile boats, one of which was on order for the SFR Yugoslav Navy and one of which, following the break-up of Yugoslavia, was built for the Croatian Navy. As of 2009 both vessels remain in service. It is an upgraded version of the Rade Končar missile boat class and is 8.5 metres (28 ft) longer. Kralj Petar Krešimir IV and its sister ship Kralj Dmitar Zvonimir are the only ships in their class. A potential third ship was under consideration in 1999, but the ship was never commissioned due to budget restraints.
The Battle of the Dalmatian Channels was a three-day confrontation between three tactical groups of Yugoslav Navy ships and coastal artillery, and a detachment of naval commandos of the Croatian Navy fought on 14–16 November 1991 during the Croatian War of Independence. On 14 November, the commandos torpedoed the Mirna-class patrol boat PČ-176 Mukos close to the island of Brač in the Split Channel of the Adriatic Sea, prompting a Yugoslav naval bombardment of Brač and Šolta Island the same day. The drifting Mukos was salvaged by Croatian civilian boats and beached at Nečujam bay.
The Mornar class consisted of two large patrol boats built for the Yugoslav Navy by the Tito's Shipyard in Kraljevica during the late 1950s and early 1960s. The boats were based on the Udarnik (PBR-581), a French-built Le Fougueux-class submarine chaser acquired in 1956. Both boats had an uneventful career and were deleted in 1992.
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The Silba class is a class of three landing ships, also used as minelayers, built for the Yugoslav (JRM) and Croatian Navy (HRM) during the 1980s and 1990s. The ships were built at the Brodogradilište specijalnih objekata shipyard in Split with slight differences in armament configuration between the last two ships. By the time the Croatian War of Independence started, one ship was in service with the JRM while another was being completed.
Andrija Mohorovičić is a Moma-class hydrographic survey ship used as a training vessel by the Croatian Navy. The ship was built by the Gdańsk Shipyard in 1971 for use by the Hydrographic Institute of the Yugoslav Navy. At the start of the Croatian War of Independence, the ship was captured by Croatian forces and commissioned in the HRM in 1993.
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