The staff decided on a much larger equivalent of the flotilla leader Dubrovnik that could out-gun any Italian destroyer and cover the escape and return to base of the raiding forces.

The French company Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire was selected and based the new ship on their design for the 2,610-metric-ton (2,570-long-ton) Le Fantasque-class destroyer.

The pairs of geared steam turbines and Yarrow boilers were intended to give the ship a speed of 37 knots (69 km/h; 43 mph) from 55,000 shaft horsepower (41,000 kW) and were purchased from Great Britain.

The Swedish government embargoed the Bofors guns due to the war and the German control of the Škoda Works meant that the Yugoslavs had to suspend construction of Split.

[9] When the city of Split was captured by the Italians on 14 April 1941, the hull remained undamaged and the Regia Marina decided to complete the ship after a delay of several months.

One torpedo tube mount was removed and the Italians planned to add depth charge throwers and racks, the capacity for 40 mines and an EC-3 ter Gufo radar.

[10] The ship was lightly damaged by saboteurs in December which disrupted progress and the Regia Marina decided to suspend construction in April 1942 as she remained nearly two years from completion.

This allowed her to be launched on 18 July 1943, but shortly afterwards a change in the Italian leadership caused any further work to be suspended in August and the resources used in her construction to be diverted to finish a large group of small wooden minesweepers.

As part of their scorched-earth strategy as they abandoned Split, the Germans scuttled Spalato and wrecked the shipyard before the Yugoslav Partisans occupied the port on 27 October 1944.

[11] The new communist government of Yugoslavia lacked any sizable warships after the end of the war and decided to resurrect Split as the centerpiece of their new navy.

The Yugoslav Navy ordered replacement parts for the machinery from Franco Tosi and contacted Škoda in 1948 to get delivery of her original main armament, which had sat out the war in a warehouse.

[7] The main armament of Split consisted of four 38-caliber 5-inch (13 cm) guns in single mounts, one superfiring pair each fore and aft of the superstructure.