Grivița was the first warship acquired by Romania after its 1877-1878 war of independence. She was built in 1880 by Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino in Austria-Hungary, being the last warship purchased by Romania before the country's conversion to a Kingdom in 1881. She measured 60.5 meters in length, with a beam of 5.2 meters and a draught of 1.8 meters. She displaced 110 tons standard and 128 tons with a full load of coal, had a crew of 30 men and a top speed of 9 knots, generated by a 180 hp steam engine. She was armed with two 57 mm Nordenfelt guns, two 37 mm 1-pounder guns and two machine guns.[1][2]
Career
Grivița in 1902
Grivița was ordered in 1880, with the main purpose of enforcing Romanian interests at the newly-established Danube Commission, headquartered in the Romanian port town of Sulina.[3] In 1885-1886, she conducted topographic research off Sulina and the northern half of the Romanian coast.[4]Grivița was brought in Romania by the fleet commander itself.[5]
Between 1886 and 1888, NMS Grivița was commanded by commander Sebastian Eustațiu.[5]
The 1913 Second Balkan War found her on the Danube, where she provided artillery support for the Romanian troops crossing into Bulgaria from Corabia.[6]
When Romania entered the First World War on the side of the Allies in late 1916, she was put at the disposal of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, acting as a liaison ship between the Russian and Romanian forces[7] under the command of Captain Vlădescu Constantin.[8] She was later transferred to the Romanian Danube fleet. In the autumn of 1916, she along with a tug and two barges evacuated the Romanian 37 mm and 57 mm coastal artillery guns from Cinghineaua Island, after the latter ended up 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) behind enemy lines.[9] A few months later, she collided with a Russian ship, but was successfully repaired.[10] After Romania resumed hostilities against the Central Powers in the autumn of 1918, she captured a German cargo ship sailing for Odessa.[11] She was mentioned for the last time in March 1919,[12] her ultimate fate being unknown.[13]
See also
Grivitsa, the location of the Battle of Grivița the ship is named for
References
^Roger Chesneau, N. J. M. Campbell, Conway's All the world Fighting Ships 1906-1921, Mayflower Books, 1979, p. 421
^John Evelyn Moore, Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I, Military Press, 1990, p. 295
^Ştefan Negrea, Pe urmele lui Grigore Antipa, p. 132 (in Romanian)
^Revista muzeelor și monumentelor, Volume 26, p. 47 (in Romanian)
