The remaining vessel escaped being captured by the Germans during the Italian surrender in September 1943, and it was returned to the Royal Yugoslav Navy-in-exile at Malta in December.

[1] The M 1 class comprised 137 ships built between 1914 and 1919, divided into three sub-classes, M1914, M1915 and M1916, with progressive improvements in length, boiler arrangements and armament.

The ships carried 115 tonnes (113 long tons) of coal, which gave them a range of 2,000 nmi (3,700 km; 2,300 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph).

[10][11] In KM service their official crew numbered 19, but as they were training ships this was supplemented with instructors and students, and shortly before the Axis invasion in April 1941 the complement was increased to 40.

The guns had been sent to Pula and the Bay of Kotor as coastal artillery, and they were seized by the Serbian Army as the war ended, and thus avoided being acquired by the occupying French forces.

From the time they were re-armed until the Hrabri-class submarines joined the navy in 1928, the ships of the Galeb class had the most powerful guns in the Yugoslav fleet.

[10] In Yugoslav Navy service following World War II, the engines of the surviving ship were rated at 1,600 indicated horsepower (1,200 kW) and her top speed remained 15 kn.

They also exercised with the eight 250t-class torpedo boats the navy had acquired from defeated Austria-Hungary after World War I, as a means of assessing training standards.

[12][16] In 1932, the British naval attaché reported that the crews of Yugoslav ships were engaging in little gunnery training and few exercises or manoeuvres, due to reduced budgets.

[17] In August 1935, the seaplane carrier Zmaj accompanied by Galeb, Labud and Kobac, visited the Greek island of Corfu.

[16][20] After World War II broke out, the ships were brought to a heightened state of readiness, although Yugoslavia remained neutral.

In the weeks prior to the April 1941 German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, the ships of the class laid several protective minefields along the Adriatic coast.

It is likely that mines laid near the island of Zlarin off the port of Šibenik by Labud and Kobac resulted in the loss of the 1,726-gross register ton (GRT) passenger steamer Prestolonaslednik Petar and the 1,204 GRT passenger steamer Karađorđe on 2 April, when they were directed to make port at Šibenik instead of the Bay of Kotor.

The crews of Galeb and Labud also sailed to Šibenik in an attempt to join the NDH navy, but they were intercepted and captured by the Italians on 17 and 21 April respectively.

On 26 June 1942 she left Trapani on the west coast of Sicily, accompanied by her sisters Eso and Oriole (ex-Zuri), escorting the steamer Iseo to Tripoli.

Eso and Oriole collided, and due to damage caused in the collision they were towed back to Trapani by Selve, with Iseo sailing on alone and safely reaching Tripoli on 28 June.

This was followed by an escort, accompanied by Eso, of the German steamer Ostia and the tanker Olympos from Benghazi to Tobruk on 23 and 24 August, during which the British U-class submarine HMS Unison made an unsuccessful attack.

The first was alongside Selve accompanying Cadamosto and Spezia, and the second was from 22 to 24 December escorting the tankers Polifemo and Labor, the salvage vessel Raffio, and the tug Proteo.

[20][29] After repairs following the collision with Eso, on 8 July Oriole replaced the La Masa-class torpedo boat Enrico Cosenz, which, along with the Turbine-class destroyer Turbine was escorting the tanker Pici Fassio from Trapani to Tripoli.

From 20 to 26 July, Oriole escorted the steamers Pertusola and Tripolino from Tripoli to Tobruk; they were joined by the Spica-class torpedo boat Clio from Benghazi onwards.

On 15 January 1943, Oriole departed Tripoli accompanying the steamer Zenobia Martini, but two days later her charge was torpedoed and sunk by the British U-class submarine HMS Unseen.

[29] She was scuttled by her crew on 10 July 1943 at Augusta, Sicily, in the face of advancing British troops,[16] following damage she sustained in an air attack south of Messina.

[32] Following the June 1942 collision with Oriole, Eso returned to service on 30 July, escorting Istria from Trapani to Tripoli alongside Giuseppe Dezza where they were joined by Selve for the remainder of the voyage to Benghazi.

British aircraft unsuccessfully attacked the motor vessel Col Di Lana near Misurata in Libya while she was being escorted by Eso and the Spica-class torpedo boat Partenope between Benghazi and Tripoli on 10 and 11 October.