Romania traces its continuing river force to Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza's 1860 merger of the Wallachian and Moldavian components. During the 1877-78 War of Independence, its small flotilla included two armed steamers, a purpose-built gunboat and a spar-torpedo boat. Rândunica sank the Ottoman monitor Seyfi during that war. In 1896 King Carol I divided the navy into sea and Danube divisions, with separate crew depots and naval arsenals to support them. Those permanent institutions supported a river force that had continued since 1860. By the 1920s and 1930s, it had become the world's most powerful riverine force in this account.
Chapter · 1:36:28-1:40:01
Romania builds an enduring Danube force from 1860
Romania merged Wallachian and Moldavian river forces in 1860, used Rândunica to sink an Ottoman monitor, and built permanent institutions around its flotilla.