Yugoslav destroyer Zagreb

Yugoslav destroyer Zagreb.
Zagreb was the second of three Beograd-class destroyers built for the Royal Yugoslav Navy. She was designed to be deployed as part of a division led by the flotilla leader Dubrovnik. The first warship built in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Zagreb entered service in August 1939, was armed with a main battery of four 120 mm (4.7 in) guns in single mounts, and had a top speed of 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph). Yugoslavia entered World War II due to the German-led Axis invasion in April 1941. During the invasion, two of her officers scuttled her at the Bay of Kotor on 17 April 1941 to prevent her capture by Italian forces and were both killed by the explosion of the scuttling charges. A French film was made in 1967 about her demise and the deaths of the two officers. In 1973, on the thirtieth anniversary of the formation of the Yugoslav Navy, both men were posthumously awarded the Order of the People's Hero by President Josip Tito. (This article is part of a featured topic: Ships of the Royal Yugoslav Navy.)