VILA VELEBITA training vessel

[aukepalmhof]

She was built in 1908 by the Howaldtswerke at Kiel under yard No 497 for the Royal Croatian Government as a steel hulled training vessel.
Launched under the name VILA VELEBIT, meaning Nymph of Velebit, Velebit is a mountain on the Croatian coast and the mountain was famous by the large forest, which was mostly cut and used for building Venice, when Croatia was under Venetian rule.
Tonnage 264 gross, dim 119.0 x 25.6 x 11.9ft.
Rigged as a brigantine.
One triple expansion auxiliary steam engine of 300hp (225kW), speed 7 knots. Steam was supplied by two-furnace single ended boiler.
Under full sail with a good wind she could make a speed of 13 knots.
September 1908 completed.

The training vessel was built with strong support from the famous Croatian writer and educator Isidor Kesnjavi.
The ship was an answer in the Slave/Croatian struggle against the Austro Hungarian Empire and Italian supremacy in the Adriatic. She was built as a replacement of the old training vessel the MARGITA.

At that time was she the most up-to-date vessel with electric light and all modern navigational instruments.
Could carry 7 tons of water ballast in her double bottom.
Till the First World War she sailed under the Austro-Hungarian flag, and was managed by the Nautical College in Bakar near Rijeka (at that time Fiume).
During that war was she laid up.
In 1922 became she the training vessel for all three nautical maritime academies in Bakar, Dubrovnik and Kotor, sailing under the flag of the Kingdom of Serb, Croatia and Slovenian.
After 1929 was the kingdom named Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
Besides used as a training vessel she was used as a student’s excursion and hydrographic research vessel.
1941 Captured by Italy.
15 April1941 commissioned in the Italian Navy as training vessel, renamed PALINURO.
Made thereafter training voyages in the Adriatic Sea.
When in September 1943 Italy capitulated to the Allies, the PALINURO left Trieste for a port in the south of Italy, but by running out of fuel she entered the small port of Ortone, where she allegedly was sabotaged by the nearby German troops and was lost.

Croatia 1998 4k sg560, scott?

Source: Sail Training and cadet Ships by Underhill. Info leaflet Croatian PTT. Mr. Petar Markovic. Some internet sites.