DRAZKI

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DRAZKI

Post by shipstamps » Fri Sep 26, 2008 11:49 pm


Built as a torpedoboat for the Bulgarian Navy, she was ordered on 24 February 1904 by the Schneider et Cie works in Chalon-sur-Saone, France.
She was built together with 5 sisterships SMELI, HRABRI, SHUMNI, LETYASHTI and STROGI (309 – 311) by this French yard and than transported in parts to Bulgaria, where she were assembled and launched in Varna.
23 August 1907 launched under the name DRAZKI
Displacement 97 tons, dim. 38 x 4.4 x 2.6m.
Powered by a steam engine of 1.900 hp, speed 26 knots.
Armament 3 – 47mm guns and 3 – 450mm torpedo tubes.
Crew between 23 and 30 persons.
05 January 1908 commissioned.


She took part with the five sisters in the First Balkan War between 1912 and 1913, serving in the waters of the Black Sea.

On 20 November 1912, LETYASHTI, SMELI, STROGI and DRAZKI sailed from Varna with orders to intercept a group of Egyptian transports. The squadron was under command of Captain 2nd Rank Dimitar Dobrev, who was embarked on the LETYASHTI.
The DRAZKI was under command of the Warrant Officer Georgi Kupov.
Shortly after midnight on 21 November they encountered the Turkish protected cruiser HAMIDIYE accompanied by two destroyers in a position approximately 32 miles from Varna.
The order was given by Dobrev to attack the enemy, and at 00.43 the Bulgarian squadron fired their torpedoes. The first three torpedoboats missed but DRAZKI was more fortunate. Since she was the last ship in the line, she fired her torpedo (s) at a close range (about 100m) and scored a hit in the forepart of the HAMIDIYE, causing severe damage. The HAMIDIYE managed to reach Istanbul but the rest of that war was she under repair there.
Without torpedoes the Bulgarian squadron returned to Varna. This engagement was the greatest achievement up to that point in the history of the small Bulgarian Navy.
It should be noted that before the torpedo attack the Turkish naval commander had declared an ultimatum to the garrison of Varna to surrender as condition for the town to avoid shelling by the Turkish Navy.

During World War I, the Bulgarian torpedoboats did not take active part in the Second Balkan War. However, they did see active service in World War I.
During the course of the war one of the six ships the LETYASHI was lost in action. After the war the remaining five boats were judged to be obsolescent and were subsequently reclassified as patrol boats.

When Bulgaria entered World War II on the Axis side, DRAZKI and her four remaining sisters were antiquated but still capable of carrying out patrols. On 15 October 1942, DRAZKI sank in Varna harbour after a magazine explosion, but she was soon repaired.
In 1944 however she became a gunnery target ship and remained in service in that capacity until December 1950s.

In 1957 it was decided to commemorate the 50 year old DRAZKI, as she was by far the most famous ship in the Bulgarian Navy. However, by that time she had been at least partially broken up for scrap. Her gun, funnel and some of the deck and hull fittings were installed on board her sistership STROGI, which after 21 November 1957, became the museum ship DRAZKI.
So some parts of her still exist on board her sister which currently preserved as a static land display at the Naval Museum in Varna.

She is on Bulgaria 2004 0.25lev.

Source: mostly copied from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drazki The stamp you can see on
http://www.shipsonstamps.org/Topics/html/marken0410.htm

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