– Navigare necesse est, vivere non est necesse –
(It is necessary to sail; it is not necessary to live.)
In memory of the people of Lika who served in navies and sailed the world’s seas aboard warships flying different naval flags.
Author: Captain of the Line Đorđe Pražić
Introduction
The people of Lika were hardened soldiers and often displayed an aspiration to attain the highest military ranks. A state career, most often in the military or police, and wearing a uniform were an obsession for many people from Lika. Wars were fought in the territory of Lika throughout the centuries, with incalculable consequences for the population and for material and spiritual assets. For young men from Lika, choosing a military profession, apart from their traditional attachment to state service, also had a social dimension (free education and secure employment), as well as a preventive one (preparation for a future war).
Although the Velebit mountain range forms a natural barrier between Lika and the Adriatic Sea, and its massive bulk conceals the sea from view, a small number of young men from Lika were nevertheless attracted by the mysterious allure of the sea and the demanding service aboard warships. This partly influenced their decision to pursue education and a career in the navy.
Lika’s generals and national heroes were celebrated in local folk songs and became part of the legend of Lika’s warriors. Much less is known about admirals and naval officers from Lika.
Karstic Lika – A Land of Rivers and Lakes
Those who have never been to Lika but have heard the expression “Karstic Lika” might find it difficult at first to imagine that Lika is rich in streams, rivers and lakes. Even one of the legends concerning the origin of the name Lika is associated with its abundance of water. The natural boundaries of Lika are washed by the waters of the Korana, Una and Zrmanja rivers, as well as by the Adriatic Sea. The well-known rivers Lika and Gacka flow through Lika, displaying exceptional natural beauty. Smaller rivers – Jadova, Otešica, Novčica, Glamočica, Bogdanica and Otuća – together with numerous streams, flow through the beautiful landscapes of Lika. Lika also has the Kruščica and Štikada reservoirs, while the Plitvice Lakes are a world-renowned example of unique natural beauty.
Kruščica Lake in Kosinj
The people of Lika used their water resources to the extent necessary for their livelihood. Dams and watermills were built on the rivers. The power of rivers and torrential streams was used to operate sawmills and fulling mills. The only vessels used on the rivers and lakes were characteristic wooden boats and kereps (rafts). Boats were used to collect melta (river sand), while kereps were temporary vessels made of beams and planks during major floods, or logs were lashed together to transport timber down the river to the sawmill, particularly on the Gacka.
By the middle of the twentieth century, tourism and fishing had developed on the lakes and rivers of Lika. Electric boats have long operated on the Plitvice Lakes, while modern boats, speedboats and sailboats now cruise the rivers and lakes of Lika.
Although the lakes and rivers of Lika were rich in fish and freshwater crayfish, such food was not traditionally represented in the Lika diet.
Just as Nikola Tesla found scientific inspiration in the Vaganac stream in Smiljan, it may be assumed that some young men from Lika chose a naval career while observing some of Lika’s waterways, dreaming that through strength and skill they might master the forces of nature. Many childhood dreams and wishes formed on the banks of Lika’s rivers were fulfilled on the world’s seas and oceans, particularly on the Adriatic Sea.
People from Lika in the Navy
At first glance, a person from Lika serving in the navy may seem like an incompatible professional combination, owing to the historical stereotype that the people of Lika, as highlanders, were supposedly predisposed to work on land and to occupations requiring physical strength rather than intelligence. The notion that inhabitants of the coastal regions possessed an exclusive aptitude for seafaring was promoted by the people of Dalmatia and the Littoral, who claimed an exclusive right to sail, while those “from across the mountain”, derisively called žabari (“frogs”, meaning people from inland areas), were denied the skill and ability to sail successfully.
The professional calling of a naval officer in any historical period required high intellectual and moral-psychological qualities. Service aboard naval vessels meant working under extremely difficult living conditions, separation from one’s family, little free time, inadequate financial compensation, and a demanding way of life lasting many years, which also caused health problems.
People from Lika went to naval academies with a solid education acquired in the schools of Lika. By attending the Naval Academy of the Austro-Hungarian Navy in Rijeka, naval academies in the USA and USSR, the naval academies of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the SFRY in Dubrovnik, Divulje and Split, and the Naval Department of the Military Academy in Belgrade in the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia, they also represented and promoted the educational achievements of the people of Lika and the school system of Lika.
It is not widely known that the first post-war “Tito’s cadet”, i.e. the best cadet of the first class of the Naval Military School, which trained from 5 November 1946 to 10 September 1949, was Vladimir D. Plećaš, a native of Divoselo. His name was engraved at the entrance to the Naval Academy in Divulje.
Since the 1960s, the Navy employed the following naval officers of Serbian nationality from Lika (according to the author’s recollection): Mile Pochucha from Pochuchić Brdo near Gospić, Neđeljko Pavlović from Kosinj, Ljubiša Vujnović from Divoselo, Petar Sunajko from Vrebac, Gojko Njegovan from Gospić, Dane Kokotović from Kosinj, Đorđe Pražić from Gospić (Kosinj), brothers Željko and Duško Vračar from Raduč, Dragan Kosanović from Plaški, Vajo Batinić from Otočac. Mile Paripović and Zoran Pavičić were of Lika origin. In the naval technical service there were Mile Čudić from Donji Babin Potok, Mane Hinić from Debelo Brdo (Korenica), Nikola Dragaš from Divoselo, Nikola Cvjetičanin from Srb, Jovo Dautović from Gračac and others.
Fewer people from Lika of Croatian nationality entered the Navy. The Naval Academy was completed by Zlatko Bićanić, whose family originated from Gospić, Frane Serdar from Gospić and Zlatko Dujmović from Otočac. Petar Balenović, a Croat from Gospić, served in the naval technical branch. Naval non-commissioned officers’ schools were completed by Ilija Vujnović-Stucko from Divoselo (before the Second World War), Miloš Munjas from Lipovo Polje (ship’s clerk aboard the monitor Drava), Gojko Batinić from Otočac, Mane Repac, Dane Glumac and Mladen Kokotović from Kosinj, Vojislav Medić from Srb, Petar Trbojević from Metak, Duško Bogdanović from Vrebac and others (after the Second World War).
Many senior naval officers of Lika origin completed higher military schools and various advanced training courses. Some held highly responsible positions in the navies of several countries, while some were promoted to the highest naval ranks – admirals.
MAXIMILIAN NJEGOVAN – Grand Admiral (Grossadmiral)
Maximilian Njegovan was born in 1858 in Zagreb into a military family of Serbian origin from Lika.
A few years after his birth, he moved to Gospić, where he completed primary school. He enrolled in the Naval Academy in Rijeka in 1873 and graduated in 1877 as one of its best students. As a young officer, he commanded the torpedo boat “Condor”. For a time, he was also an instructor at the Naval Academy in Rijeka. Later, during his service, he commanded the ships “Nautilus,” “Schwarzenberg” and “Budapest.” He was promoted to rear admiral in 1911 and, as commander of a naval squadron, led the naval blockade of Montenegro. At that time he served as a Navy representative in Shkodër. He commanded the First Squadron from the battleship Tegethoff. As a vice admiral, he chaired the Naval Technical Committee in Pula in 1913–1914.
He was appointed commander of the Austro-Hungarian Navy in 1917. At that time, the Austro-Hungarian Navy was the sixth-largest navy in the world.
As naval commander, he refused to attack Venice, thereby falling out of favor with Emperor Charles I of Austria and German Emperor Wilhelm II. He was removed from the position of commander of the Austro-Hungarian Navy in 1918, following the sailors’ mutiny in the Bay of Kotor.
He lived for a short time in Vienna and died in Zagreb in 1930. He received numerous Austro-Hungarian decorations.
DRAGUTIN PRICA – Admiral
Dragutin Prica was born on 5 November 1867 on the “Lika coast,” in Sveti Juraj near Senj. He was a Serb by nationality. In the Austro-Hungarian Navy he retained his Serbian name and surname.
He attended the civic school in Ogulin and grammar school in Senj. He became a second-class naval cadet on 30 June 1885 at the Naval Military Academy of the Austro-Hungarian Navy in Rijeka, which he had entered in 1881.
He retired at his own request as a rear admiral of the Austrian Navy on 1 May 1918.
He served on all types of warships, from sailing ships to dreadnoughts, and in all branches of service, including wartime and military-diplomatic missions. As a corvette captain, he served on the staff of the Squadron Commander in East Asia (China). During the war of 1914–1917, he was Chief of Staff of the Port Admiralty in Pula, and in 1917 he commanded the battleship (dreadnought) “Prinz Eugen.” He also served with the Naval Coastal Command in Trieste. He was promoted to the rank of captain of the line on 19 December 1912 and to rear admiral on 1 May 1918. He was, however, soon retired at his own request. He spent the end of the war in Zagreb.
When the Austro-Hungarian army began to collapse under the blows of the Salonika Front, the Government of the National Council appointed Prica Commissioner for the Navy. In this capacity, he saved what could be saved from the Austro-Hungarian fleet and laid the foundations for the formation of the Yugoslav Navy. In December 1918, he went to Belgrade, where together with Field Marshal Živojin Mišić and the Minister of the Army he drafted regulations for the new Navy.
He was admitted into the Navy of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes on 23 May 1919 as Commissioner for the Navy of the Government of the National Council of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The government subsequently assigned him to receive from Admiral Troubridge the entire confiscated river fleet. To operate this fleet, he organized the Directorate of River Navigation within the Ministry of the Army and Navy on 1 July 1919, and headed it until July 1922. As a representative of the Directorate, he participated in international conferences concerning the arbitration of river vessels and the regulation of waterways. He subsequently served as commander of the Bay of Kotor from 21 June 1922 to 29 July 1923.
During the conclusion of the peace treaties, he succeeded in preserving a large part of the confiscated river fleet.
On 21 August 1923, he held the newly born Crown Prince Peter in his arms and was promoted to the rank of vice admiral on the same day. He was appointed aide-de-camp to King Alexander and commander of the Navy that same day, a position he held until his retirement on 18 October 1929. Previously, on 12 October 1927, he had been appointed honorary aide-de-camp to the King.
He was promoted to admiral on 23 September 1929 and retired on 18 October of the same year, after 60 years of pensionable service, including wartime service, and at the age of 63.
“He was a great patriot, a man of broad abilities and splendid manners,” wrote Mladen St. Đuričić. “He was not only the most prominent, but also the most likeable figure in our Navy. He was highly popular both in the Navy and among sailors.”
He received numerous Austro-Hungarian decorations. In the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes he was awarded the Order of the Star of Karađorđe, fourth and third class; the Order of St. Sava, third and first class; and the Order of the White Eagle, third and second class, as well as other foreign decorations. He was a relative of Jovanka Budisavljević Broz. He died in Opatija on 14 June 1960.
JANKO VUKOVIĆ DE PODKAPELSKI – Rear Admiral
Janko Vuković de Podkapelski was born on 27 September 1871 in Jezerane near Otočac in Lika. He was Croatian by nationality. In the Austro-Hungarian Navy he was known as Janko Vuković de Podkapelski.
He entered the Navy on 1 July 1889, after graduating from the Naval Military Academy in Rijeka. As a cadet aboard the ship Fasana, he sailed almost all the world’s seas, and aboard the corvette Donau he visited America. At the age of 28 he became commander of a torpedo boat.
During the First World War, on 1 September 1915, he was promoted to captain of the line. As commander of a destroyer division, aboard the command ship “Csepel,” he took part in a raid on the Italian coast on 24 May, capturing and sinking a destroyer. He later commanded a destroyer flotilla and then a cruiser. That same year he was appointed commander of the older battleship “Babenberg,” and later commanded the light cruiser “Admiral Spaun” and the battleship “Viribus Unitis,” which became the flagship of the Austro-Hungarian fleet.
After the collapse of Austria-Hungary, with the consent of the Sailors’ Revolutionary Council, the National Council in Zagreb promoted him to rear admiral on 31 October 1918 and appointed him commander of the fleet.
He was killed at dawn the following day, 1 November 1918, when Italian naval saboteurs sank the flagship “Viribus Unitis” in the harbor of Pula. Admiral Vuković refused to abandon the ship and went down with it.
He was the first commander of the Yugoslav fleet and the first Yugoslav admiral.
STEVAN MANDARIĆ – Admiral of the United States Navy (US Navy)
Stevan Mandarić was born in 1911 in Arizona, USA. He was Serbian by nationality.
Due to poverty and the search for a better life, his family left the village of Vrebac near Gospić in 1900 and emigrated to the United States.
After grammar school he graduated from the Naval Academy and subsequently, in 1933, completed the Naval War College. Before the Second World War, he served aboard several warships in the Atlantic. Six months before the United States entered the war, he completed flight training. The war found him in the Pacific, where throughout 1942 he underwent intensive training in preparation for combat operations. At the beginning of 1943 he took part in combat against the Japanese for the first time. He then became squadron commander aboard an aircraft carrier. When the new aircraft carrier USS “Lexington” (CV-16) was completed at Pearl Harbor, he was promoted again and commanded four aircraft squadrons (a wing) aboard it. He fought in the Pacific until the end of the war.
After the war he served as an instructor at military academies. In 1956 he joined an expedition to the South Pole. He returned to the South Pole in 1958, where he prepared a base for an international expedition in connection with the International Geophysical Year. Upon returning to the United States, he was promoted to admiral and retired.
He first visited Yugoslavia (Belgrade) in 1960, and visited Vrebac, the native village of his parents, for the first time in 1979.
He was decorated with the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Purple Heart for his wartime service.
MOMČILO NOVKOVIĆ – Vice Admiral
Momčilo Novković was born on 7 November 1916 in the village of Pavlovac near Gospić in Lika. He was Serbian by nationality.
He completed four years of primary school in Vrebac in 1927 and three years of vocational school in Novi Bečej. In 1936 he completed a two-year specialist non-commissioned officers’ naval school at the Naval Command in Šibenik.
In 1943 he completed a course for brigade commanders in Ličko Lešće and, in 1944, a politico-military course in Belgrade.
Before the occupation, he served as a naval non-commissioned officer aboard the tugboat Jaki, holding the rank of sergeant. He was captured on 15 April in Herceg Novi. Three days later he escaped and set out for home. He was captured again in Metković and escaped the same day. From his return home until 27 July he remained continuously in liberated territory. He joined the Yugoslav Partisan detachments on 27 July 1941.
He participated in the National Liberation War from 1941. He became a member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia in 1941. During the war he served as a fighter in the First Lika Detachment, company commander, battalion commander, deputy brigade commander and brigade commander, as well as in various staff and operational positions within the Lika and Kordun divisions. He was wounded and spent the final months of the war in hospital, subsequently serving as deputy commander of the People’s Defence Division for Croatia until 15 August 1945.
For his demonstrated personal courage he was proclaimed a National Hero of Yugoslavia and was a holder of the 1941 Partisan Commemorative Medal.
After the war he held numerous command and staff positions in the Yugoslav Army and Navy. Among other posts, he commanded the Naval Command of the Central Adriatic, served as chief of staff of various naval formations, commanded the Naval District of Pula and the Fleet, and was head of the Higher Naval Academy and the Naval Training Center. His final assignment was in the Study Department of the General Staff of the Yugoslav People’s Army, where he served until 30 January 1974.
He was promoted to rear admiral on 22 December 1957 and to vice admiral on 22 December 1967.
He received numerous decorations, including the Order of the National Hero (1956), the Order of Merit for the People with the Gold Star, the Order of Brotherhood and Unity, the Order of Bravery, the Order of the Partisan Star, the Order of Military Merit, the Order of the People’s Army, and the Order of the Two Niles (Sudan, 1961).
His active military service ended on 31 December 1974.
He died in Split in 1988.
MILAN VRANEŠ – Vice Admiral
Rade Milan Vraneš was born on 22 September 1922 in the village of Tužević near Brinje in Lika. He was Serbian by nationality.
He completed four years of primary school in Tužević. Before the war he was a farmer and tunnel worker.
During the war he completed a junior officers’ course in March 1944 with the 11th Corps and a senior officers’ course in November 1944 with the General Staff of Croatia. After the war he completed Russian-language courses in 1953 and 1968 and the seventh class of the War College of the Yugoslav People’s Army.
He participated in the National Liberation War from 6 February 1942. During the war he served in numerous combat, political, intelligence and command positions, eventually becoming commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 13th Division.
After the war he held numerous senior positions in the Yugoslav Army and Navy, including Chief of Operations, Chief of Staff, commander of the Naval District of Pula and head of the Naval Training Center. His final position was president of the committee of the League of Communists organization within the Federal Secretariat for National Defence, which he held until 30 September 1980.
He was promoted to rear admiral on 22 December 1969 and to vice admiral, ahead of schedule, on 22 December 1975.
He received numerous decorations, including the Order of Bravery, the Order of the Partisan Star, the Order of Military Merit, the Soviet Medal of the Patriotic War, the Order of the People’s Army and other decorations.
His active military service ended on 31 December 1980.
He died in Belgrade.
VELJKO DOKMANOVIĆ – Vice Admiral
Veljko Danilo Dokmanović was born on 6 December 1926 in Plaški. The Plaški Valley lies along the geographical boundary of Lika, but its inhabitants, particularly the Serbian population, have traditionally identified themselves as people of Lika. He was Serbian by nationality.
He completed four years of primary school in Plaški in 1937 and four years of the classical grammar school in Ogulin in 1941. That same year he joined SKOJ, the Young Communist League.
He participated in the National Liberation War from 1943, when he joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. He distinguished himself in attacks near Vaganac, Preboj, Lička Jesenica and other places throughout Yugoslavia. During the war he was a company commander and after the war joined the Navy.
He completed two years of the Naval Academy in the USSR, until 1948, and later served as an instructor at the Naval Academy. As a highly capable naval officer, he commanded the training ship “Galeb” and the destroyer “Pula.” After commanding ships, he served as Chief of Staff of the Squadron, Chief of the Operations Department of the Naval District Command, head of the Naval Administration and Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav People’s Army for the Navy.
He died in Belgrade on 12 September 1982.
DUŠAN RAKIĆ – Vice Admiral
Dušan Milete Rakić was born on 12 September 1943 in Jajinci, Belgrade. He was Serbian by nationality. His parents came from Škara near Otočac, and he always emphasized his Lika origin.
He completed the Merchant Marine School in Belgrade in 1962 and qualified as an inland-navigation officer.
He graduated from the 17th class of the Naval Academy in 1965, the 12th Mine Warfare Officers’ Specialization Course in 1966, the first Advanced Specialization Course for Naval Officers (mine warfare) in 1971, the 22nd class of the Command and Staff Academy of the Navy, and the first class of the Command and Staff Operational School of the Navy in 1986.
After graduating from the Naval Academy, he served in a number of operational and command positions, including aboard mine-laying vessels, minesweepers, patrol boats and river mine warfare vessels. He subsequently commanded naval units, served in staff positions and attended advanced military education. His later assignments included commander of the Fifth Naval District Pula, Chief of Staff of the Naval Command, head of the Naval Administration, and Minister of Defence of the Army of the Republic of Serbian Krajina until 4 October 1994.
He was promoted to rear admiral on 22 December 1992 and to vice admiral on 10 December 1994.
He received several decorations, including the Order of Military Merit with Silver Swords, the Order of the People’s Army with a Silver Star, the Order of Military Merit with Gold Swords, the Order of Labour with a Gold Wreath and the Order of the People’s Army with a Gold Star.
His active military service ended in 1994.
He died in Belgrade on 15 July 2020.
Conclusion
Some naval officers from Lika reached the highest command positions and the rank of admiral in the navies of various states: Austria-Hungary, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the United States, the SFRY and the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia. Through their professional work, specialist knowledge and naval skills, they left a notable mark on naval history.
It can be observed that most of them, during their professional careers, served as instructors or heads of naval academies. This indicates that they possessed extensive knowledge of naval warfare and other areas of naval education, which they passed on to cadets and younger generations of naval officers.
It can also be observed that more Serbs than Croats from Lika entered naval schools. By locality in Lika, the largest number of naval officers and non-commissioned officers came from Kosinj, Vrebac and Divoselo.
Since there are no longer any substantial navies on the eastern coast of the Adriatic and there are now very few Serbs left in Lika, it is difficult to expect that in the future anyone among the Serbs of Lika will choose a career as a naval officer.
For hundreds of years, the Serbs of Lika served in the state services of various countries and were among the most diligent personnel. They served as guards protecting rulers from Maria Theresa to Josip Broz Tito. In the end, they were left without their homeland and without the state they had failed to preserve, for which they had sacrificed an enormous number of lives.
Young descendants of the Serbs of Lika around the world now use their natural Lika intelligence and traditional resourcefulness in other professions, which will probably bring them new professional and life opportunities.
References
- Boško Antić, Rear Admiral, Admirals of the Yugoslav Navy 1918–2008, Naval Corps, unpublished work.
- Boško Antić, Rear Admiral, Education of Naval Officers, unpublished work.
- Group of authors, Serbian Military Memorial, Military Publishing Institute, Belgrade, 2003.
- Group of authors, Development of the Armed Forces of the SFRY 1945–1985, Volume Five: Navy, Military Publishing and Newspaper Center, Belgrade, 1988.
- Dr. Kosta Novaković, Knin Garrison, Serbian Cultural Society “Zora” Knin–Belgrade, 2015.
- Milan D. Vorkapić, Plaški Valley, author’s edition, Vrnjačka Banja, 2012.
- Mirko Petković, The Roots of Admiral Mandarić, Arena, Zagreb, 1979.
- Wikipedia – The Free Encyclopedia.