President Masaryk was the only completed member of a proposed pair intended to replace Czechoslovakia's obsolescent inherited river craft. Named for the country's founding president, she was laid down in August 1929 and commissioned in 1932. Her launch date is given tentatively as 1930 or 1931. She originally used steam turbines and Yarrow boilers, then received diesel engines in 1943 while fuel was scarce and the vessel remained useful. Her original armament comprised four 66 mm guns, four heavy machine guns and ten mines. Engineers repeatedly added weapons, and by 1945 her armament included 88 mm guns, a 37 mm gun and 20 mm guns.
Notable Point · 1:13:29-1:17:35
President Masaryk, Czechoslovakia's lone new river monitor
Czechoslovakia completed one of two planned monitors, then kept President Masaryk useful through new machinery and repeated changes to her armament.