Brătianu-class river monitor
The Brătianu-class river monitors were a class of four river monitors used by the Romanian Navy. They were named Ion C. Brătianu, Lascăr Catargiu, and Alexandru Lahovari.
Design and construction
The class was based on similar Austro-Hungarian river monitors, such as the Körös and Temes classes. The Romanian warships were larger and had a main armament of three 120 mm naval guns in individual turrets, two 120 mm howitzers, four QF guns of 47 mm and two 6.5 mm machine guns. Armor thickness reached 70–75 mm around the belt, turrets and conning tower, 60 mm at the bulkheads and down to only 20 mm over some portions of the deck. The four warships were built by STT in Austria-Hungary in sections, transported to Romania by rail then assembled and launched at the Galați shipyard in Romania between 1907 and 1908.Operational service
World War I
During the Romanian Campaign of the First World War, the monitors supported Romanian ground forces during the Battle of Turtucaia and evacuated the Romanian 9th Infantry Division from the besieged city. Later, they contributed to the halting of the Central Powers' advance into the Danube Delta and held the line against the German forces in Moldavia during the summer and fall of 1917.They also contributed to the Romanian-Russian victory at the First Battle of Cobadin and news about their arrival ended the Battle of Flămânda.