page_title: Battle of the Dalmatian Channels
section_title: 16 November
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of the Dalmatian Channels / Timeline / 16 November
caption_attribution_description: Sketch of the battle of Korčula channel between three Yugoslav Navy task forces and Croatian Navy coastal defenses on 16 November 1991.
context_page_description: The Battle of the Dalmatian Channels was a three-day confrontation between three tactical groups of Yugoslav Navy ships and coastal artillery, and a detachment of naval commandos of the Croatian Navy fought on 14–16 November 1991 during the Croatian War of Independence. On 14 November, the commandos torpedoed the Mirna-class patrol boat PČ-176 Mukos close to the island of Brač in the Split Channel of the Adriatic Sea, prompting a Yugoslav naval bombardment of Brač and Šolta Island the same day. The drifting Mukos was salvaged by Croatian civilian boats and beached at Nečujam bay.
  The next day, a group of Yugoslav Navy vessels, organised into the Kaštela tactical group, deployed to the Split Channel, and bombarded the city of Split in retaliation for the loss of Mukos. In return, Croatian coastal artillery engaged the Kaštela TG. To draw off some of the artillery fire, the Yugoslav Navy deployed another group of vessels from the island of Vis, organised as the Vis TG, south of Šolta, where it was engaged by more Croatian artillery. The Kaštela TG retreated east and joined with the Ploče TG, consisting of three minesweepers.
context_section_description: On 16 November at 11:00 a.m., the Kaštela and Ploče TGs started to assemble at the eastern end of the Korčula Channel, which separates the islands of Hvar and Korčula just north of Cape Lovište at the westernmost tip of the Pelješac Peninsula. The relatively slow minesweepers Iž and Olib, which belonged to the Ploče TG, were hit in the bow and the engine room respectively, by the 76-millimetre (3.0 in) guns at Lovište. To assist the minesweepers, Split turned around to engage the artillery at Cape Lovište while the minesweepers sailed north closer to the Hvar shore in increasingly thick fog.
  At 3:30 p.m., the Kaštela TG turned around once more to attack Cape Lovište, but were engaged by nearby coastal artillery located on Korčula. Blitvenica was damaged in the shooting and the entire naval force moved north-west towards Šćedro Island. Iž sustained heavy damage and ran aground in Torac Bay off Hvar, and was abandoned. Olib sank between Pelješac and Hvar. Her crew were rescued by the remaining vessels in the group. At 7:00 p.m., the fleet sailed south from Šćedro towards the western part of Korčula, seeking shelter as the Sirocco wind strengthened. As the ships approached Korčula, they were fired upon by coastal artillery at Črna Luka and Cape Privala, forcing them to turn west towards Vis. The Vis TG did not engage Croatian positions on 16 November.
caption: A map of the battle on 16 November (approximate positions)
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