„Triglav“. „Leitha“, „U-5“ ir „98 M“ – the Austro – Hungarian war ships

The construction of the “Leitha” monitor began in 1870 at “Fiumaner Schiffbau” A.G. shipyard in Budapest. It was launched on May 17, 1871 and the construction was completed in May 1872. In 1893 - 1894, the monitor was rearmed with one 120 and two 47 mm cannons. During World War I it shelled Serbian positions, on April 10, 1918 it was removed from the fleet lists. In the spring of 1919 it was included in the composition of the Hungarian navy as "Lajta". He fought with Czech units and in 1920 he was sent for disarmament, which was done in 1921. The “Lajta” hull was bought by a Budapest firm and used as a pontoon for dredging equipment. In 1948, the name was changed to "FK 201". In the 1980s, it was identified as an Austro-Hungarian monitor, and in the mid-1990s, it was transferred to the Budapest War Museum.

In May 1910, the Austro-Hungarian Navy announced negotiations for the construction of 6 miners, the displacement of which should not exceed 800 tons, and the speed of which should not be less, than 32.5 knots. Due to political reasons, the contract was entrusted to the Hungarian firm "Danubius" in Porto Re (now Kraljevica), which built six excellent "Tatra" type miners. One of them was “Triglav”. Its construction began on August 1, 1912, it was launched on December 22, 1913, it entered service on August 8, 1914, where it was immediately involved in skirmishes and patrols in the Adriatic Sea. On 29.12.1915 together with the cruiser "Helgoland" and five destroyers of the "Tatra" type, she participated in the attack on Durazzo, in which two destroyers - "Lika" and "Triglav" - hit mines and sank. In 1916, it was decided to build 4 more "Tatra" type miners and in 1917 one of them was given the name "Triglav". He successfully carried out the assigned tasks, after the war he was taken to Bizerte. In 1920 it was handed over to the Italians as reparations and renamed there to "Grado". In 1929, it was reclassified from a miner to a torpedo ship, on 30.09.1937 it was deleted from the fleet lists.

The construction of the torpedo ship "98 M" at the "Cantiere Navale Triestino" shipyard in Monfalcone began on 19.03.1914, it was launched on 18 November and entered service at the end of August 1915. Together with the co-types "99 M" and "100 M", it is assigned to a group Nr. 27 large torpedo ships, that can sail overnight from Kotor to the Strait of Otranto, conduct surprise torpedo attacks there and return to base. During the war, he operated in the Adriatic Sea, where he escorted convoys of ships, covered sea, land and air operations against the Italian forces, trawled and built mine barriers several times. At the end of the war, it was planned to convert it into a mine trawler. After the war "98 M" was transferred to Greece and renamed "Kiziakos". After the Germans attacked Greece on April 25, 1941, he was sunk by his crew in the Salamis shipyard.

When in 1904 the Austro-Hungarian navy announced a competition for a submarine project, it turned out, that none of the projects were suitable for implementation. Therefore, it was decided to build ships according to the projects of the German company "Germania" and the American companies "Lake" and "Holland". “U5” built under “Holland” license 04.09.1908 “Whitehead” Shipyard in Fiuma (now Rijeka) began construction of this vessel, launched 02.10.1909, enlisted 04.01.1910. In November 1914 it was armed with a 37 mm cannon. During the war, it operated in the Adriatic Sea, sinking three ships: the French armored cruiser "Leon Gambetta" (24.04.1915), the Italian submarine "Nereide" (05.08.1915) and the auxiliary cruiser "Principe Umberto" (08.06.1916). The fourth ship - the Greek steamship "Cefalonia" - was seized and sent to Kotor on August 29, 1915. 1916.06.08 "U5" is damaged by a torpedo, launched from an enemy submarine. During the post-repair test, on 16.05.1917, it hit a mine and sank. Raised and repaired a month later, rebuilding the cockpit and arming it with a 75 mm caliber cannon. The repair was completed only in August 1918. The ship is diverted to training submariners. In 1920, "U5" was transferred to Italy and cut there.

Small, well-designed models of warships without underwater part (“U5” - complete and two variants) for modelers of all experience. Even without the guidance of a more experienced colleague, they can be glued by advanced beginners and modelers with little experience.