Romania - Navy History - Early 20th Century
In the first decade of the 20th century the four monitors built at "Stabilimento Technico Triestino" in the Austro-Hungarian Empire were commissioned; they were named Lahovari, Bratianu, Catargiu and Kogalniceanu. Along with them eight patrol boats built in England and named after heroes of the Independence War were also commissioned. They were stationed in Galati, where on September 19, 1907 the vessel christening ceremony of the modern fluvial naval units took place.
In 1913, the events in the Balkans also involved the Romanian Navy in the second Balkan war, whereas the Danube Division ships proved their operational capabilities. Otherwise, this short military campaign represented a preview of the Romanian Navy, which would face extremely difficult situations during the Great War yet to come.
In the First World War the Romanian Navy took part in the general war effort, carrying out missions during the three campaigns of the war. Thus, in the 1916 campaign, the Navy carried out the following missions: the defence the bridgehead at Turtucaia; the support of the right flank of the land troops; the retreat of the Romanian ships towards the front line. In the 1917 campaign, the Navy was assigned the following missions: to destroy the enemy artillery around Tulcea, to transport materials and to destroy the Russian ships opposition in the Danube Delta.
The 1918 Union of all Romanian territories in a single state resulted during the after war period in the development of the military fleet which was provided with new types of ships. In the first years after the war, the Navy was endowed with the M-class destroyers Marasti and Marasesti, built in the Naval Shipyard of Naples, the gunboats Ghiculescu, Dumitrescu, Stihi and Lepri, built in the Naval Shipyard of L’Orient – France (the first Romanian ships to be named after heroes of the 1916 – 1918 war), the torpedo boats Vifor, Virtej, Vijelia, Zmeul, Zborul and Naluca given back to Romania by the Austro-Hungarian Navy as war compensations, as well as four MAS-class antisubmarine patrol boats. Both the destroyers and the torpedo boats were used during the crew training process, while the gunboats and the MAS-classtorpedo boats were mainly used for marine minesweeping. The monitors Ardealul, Basarabia and Bucovina received as war compensations from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire joined them. This is how Romania became the country with the strongest fluvial combat power in Europe.
The 1930s were beneficial for the Navy. Thus, as early as 1930, the Royal Navy was endowed with two new R-class destroyers, i.e. Regele Ferdinand and Regina Maria built in the Shipyards of Naples and Fiume just like their M-class predecessors, whereas in 1931, the submarine depot-ship Constantza built in the Shipyard of Fiume was brought into the country. The first Romanian submarine, Delfinul was also built in the Shipyard of Fiume and was commissioned in 1936. The refurbishing and upgrading program of the monitors, which had begun in 1936, was completed in 1940 when the monitor Basarabia with new and completely upgraded armament was regarded as the state-of-the-art fluvial unit in the world. In 1938, the "Blohm and Voss" Shipyard of Hamburg was ordered to build the second training ship Mircea for the amount of 114 million Lei from the state budget, plus 6 million Lei from the public fund raise initiated by the Romanian Naval League. The current tall ship was commissioned on 17 May, 1939; the first Romanian-made naval ship, i.e. the minelayer "Amiral Murgescu" was launched in Galati in the same year.
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