text: silba - class landing ship - minelayer the silba class ( sometimes the cetina class ) is a class of three landing ships , also used as minelayers , built for the yugoslav ( jrm ) and croatian navy ( hrm ) during the 1980s and 1990s . the ships were built at the brodogradilište specijalnih objekata shipyard in split with slight differences in armament configuration between the last two ships . by the time the croatian war of independence started , one ship was in service with the jrm while another was being completed . the one in jrm service was relocated to montenegro where it would be commissioned with the navy of the new fr yugoslavia . the second ship that was captured unfinished was completed by croatian forces and entered service with the hrm , followed by a third that was laid down by croatia in 1993 . the two ships commissioned with the hrm remain in active service , providing assistance to civilian institutions aside from their regular military tasks . the fate of the first ship in the class remains unknown . development and building the silba class was developed by the brodarski institut ( bi ) from zagreb as a replacement for a large number of aging barge - like landing craft based on german world war ii designs ( and siebel ) . all three ships were completed at the brodogradilište specijalnih objekata ( bso ) in split , croatia . the first one , krk ( dbm - 241 ) , was commissioned with the jrm sometime between 1986 and 1990 . the keel for the second ship that was to be named rab ( dbm - 242 ) was laid down in 1990 . as the croatian war of independence started , unfinished rab was captured by croatian forces . it was completed and launched as cetina ( dbm - 81 ) on 18 july 1992 . a third and final ship was launched on 17 september 1994 as krka ( dbm - 82 ) . description these ferry - like ships feature a roll - on / roll - off design with two loading ramps located on the bow and the stern . measuring 49 . 69 m ( 163 ft 0 in ) in length , they have a 10 . 2 m ( 33 ft 6 in ) beam with a 2 . 6 m ( 8 ft 6 in ) draft . propulsion consists of two 1 , 140 kw ( 1 , 530 hp ) burmeister & wain alpha diesel vo engines mounted on two shafts , enabling them a maximum speed of 12 . 5 knots ( 23 . 2 km / h ; 14 . 4 mph ) and a cruising speed of 12 knots ( 22 km / h ; 14 mph ) . traveling at their cruise speed they have a range of 1 , 200 – 1 , 400 nautical miles ( 2 , 200 – 2 , 600 km ; 1 , 400 – 1 , 600 mi ) with a 12 - day endurance . the ships are manned by a crew of 32 . the armament configuration differs between the first two ships and the last one ; dbm - 241 and dbm - 81 are armed with two ak - 230 ciws mounted on the sides , a single quadruple 20 mm ( 0 . 79 in ) m - 75 gun on the stern and a single quadruple mtu - 4 strela - 2m ( sa - 7b " grail " ) anti - aircraft missile launcher . the interior , which features two mine rails , can be used to carry up to 152 different naval mines , six medium tanks or 300 troops with equipment , a total cargo capacity of 460 t ( 450 long tons ) . dbm - 82 was completed with a different gun armament ; in place of the ak - 230 , dbm - 82 has two 20 mm m - 71 guns on the sides and a single bofors 40 mm ( 1 . 6 in ) gun on the bow . the ship was also completed as an auxiliary water carrier with a capacity of around 230 t ( 230 long tons ) of fresh water . the number of mines that dbm - 82 can carry is a maximum of 114 . ships service history at the start of the croatian war of independence dbm - 241 was relocated to montenegro where it later entered service with the sr yugoslav navy . dbm - 242 , now redesignated as dbm - 81 was launched as cetina and entered service with the croatian navy 19 february 1992 with ivo in command . for the remainder of the war , cetina was engaged in transporting troops and equipment along the coast , including supply runs for croatian forces during operation maslenica in 1993 . the same year the ship participated in testing of the new mns - m90 naval mine . dbm - 82 , the third and final ship of the class , was commissioned with the croatian navy on 9 march 1995 with jerko in command . according to publications and news reports , dbm - 241 was reported operational as late as 2005 . an article published in october 2012 reported that the egyptian navy bought dbm - 241 a year earlier . although the advance was paid , the official handover of the ship has not happened by the time the article was published . as of march 2014 , the official website of the armed forces of montenegro does not list dbm - 241 among its fleet and the ships status remains unknown . the two silba - class in croatian hands continue to see service the navy flotilla performing traditional naval tasks as well as support missions for civilian institutions such water supply and transporting firefighters . in july 2006 krka was damaged during an overhaul at the šibenik shipyard . while being lowered to the sea , the winch of the pulled out of the concrete causing the ship to fall down , creating a hole in the hull and sinking the stern . early reports of significant damage proved to be false and the ship was repaired soon after . out of ten crew members that were on board at the time , only one sustained minor injuries . in 2015 , krka and cetina were tasked with transporting croatian army vehicles and personnel to spain for the nato " trident juncture " exercise . the ships departed the lora naval base on 11 october 2015 , loaded with four patria , two trucks , one motor vehicle and 14 soldiers scheduled to take part in the exercise . on 13 october they arrived in catania where they rendezvoused with andrija deployed in support of operation triton . the two ships made another stop at cagliari before continuing to spain , arriving in on 18 october after spending seven days at sea . the ships returned to the lora naval base on 13 november , concluding their month long deployment during which they traversed a total of 2 , 700 nautical miles ( 5 , 000 kilometres ; 3 , 100 miles ) .