page_title: Czechoslovakian Naval Forces
section_title: First Republic
hierarchical_section_title: Czechoslovakian Naval Forces / First Republic
caption_attribution_description: Čeština: Hlídková loď President Masaryk byla největší válečná loď československého válečného loďstva. Československo vlastnilo tuto loď v letech 1930–1939. English: President Masaryk patrol boat was the largest ship of the Czechoslovak river fleet in 1930s.
context_page_description: The Czechoslovakian Naval Forces were the naval arm of the former Czechoslovakian state. Czechoslovakia being landlocked and with no large rivers flowing through it, its naval forces were small and consisted only of riverine craft operating on the Danube and the upper Elbe.
context_section_description: At first, the First Czechoslovak Republic operated river craft inherited from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. From 1919 until 1921 the Czechoslovakian naval forces consisted of an Elbe Section (based at Litoměřice) and a Danube Section (based at Bratislava). These sections were separated, the Elbe and Danube not being connected. The larger ships were deployed on the Danube, the Elbe section being more suited to transport, reconnaissance, and engineering support roles rather than combat.
  In 1921 these sections were consolidated by eliminating the Elbe section. The remaining (Danube) section was placed under the 4th Engineer Regiment. This Danube flotilla consisted of a headquarters section, bridging engineer section, transport section, mine warfare section, replacement section, and arsenal.
  The old Austrian craft being considered obsolescent by the late 1920s, plans were made to build two new large river monitors. One of these, President Masaryk, was built, being commissioned in 1932. With four 66-millimetre (2.6 in) guns, President Masaryk was the flagship and most powerful ship of the Danube flotilla. President Masaryk was the only Czechoslovakian ship able, to some degree, to match the best ships of the more powerful fleets of the other Danubian powers (Yugoslavia, Romania, and Hungary) in the 1930s.
  The flotilla also included various other craft. The gunboats MD-1 and MD-2, originally ordered for Austria-Hungary as torpedo retrievers, were equipped with 2 single mount Škoda 75-millimetre (3.0 in) cannon, two machine guns, and mines. The OMH class launches were also ordered by Austria but not completed until 1924; their only armament was two machine guns. Two small minelayers were the last warships to be commissioned by the flotilla, the first entering service in 1938.
  The flotilla expired along with the Republic in 1939, and President Masaryk was pressed into service by the Germans in World War II.
caption: President Masaryk, the largest and most powerful warship ever fielded by Czechoslovakia
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