Regina Maria

Prototype: NMS Regina Maria was the second and last of the two Regele Ferdinand-class destroyers built in Italy for the Romanian Navy in the late 1920s. After the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 (Operation Barbarossa), she took part in the Raid on Constanța a few days later and may have damaged a Soviet destroyer leader during the battle. The powerful Soviet Black Sea Fleet heavily outnumbered Axis naval forces in the Black Sea and the Romanian destroyers were limited to escort duties in the western half of the Black Sea during the war. In early 1944 the Soviets were able to cut off and surround the port of Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula. Regina Maria covered convoys evacuating Axis troops from Sevastopol in May and rescued several hundred herself.

Later that year Romania switched sides, but despite that the Soviets seized the Romanian ships and incorporated them into the Soviet Navy. Renamed Letuchiy, the ship served until she was struck from the navy list in 1951 when she was returned to the Romanians who renamed her D22 in 1952. The ship was discarded in 1961 and subsequently scrapped.

Class History: The Regele Ferdinand class was a pair of destroyers built in Italy for the Romanian Navy during the late 1920s. The sister ships were the most modern and powerful warships of the Axis powers in the Black Sea during World War II.[1] During the war they participated in the 1941 Raid on Constanța and the 1944 evacuation of the Crimea, although they spent the vast majority of the war escorting convoys in the Black Sea. The Romanians claimed that they sank two submarines during the war, but Soviet records do not confirm their claims. Following King Michael's Coup, where Romania switched sides and joined the Allies in late 1944, the two ships were seized and incorporated into the Soviet Black Sea Fleet. They were returned to Romania in 1951 and served until 1961 when they were scrapped.

Country: Romania is a southeastern European country known for the forested region of Transylvania, ringed by the Carpathian Mountains. Its preserved medieval towns include Sighişoara, and there are many fortified churches and castles, notably clifftop Bran Castle, long associated with the Dracula legend. Bucharest, the country’s capital, is the site of the gigantic, Communist-era Palatul Parlamentului government building.