The city of Varna attracts many tourists from all across the globe with its beautiful beaches and museums displaying Bulgaria’s ancient and new history. The only museum of naval history in this country is situated in Bulgaria’s seaside capital Varna. Several days ago one of the symbols of Bulgaria’s naval history - Drazki museum ship opened again for visitors, in order to acquaint them with the life of the Bulgarian seamen in the beginning of the 20^th century. More details from Curator of Drazki Museum Mariana Krasteva: 

“Drazkimuseum shiphasaverylonghistory. It was transported to Bulgaria in 1906 together with five other torpedo boats, which were build in France and later assembled in Bulgaria. In 1908 these six torpedo ships were the most important part of the country’s fleet. Let us not forget that Bulgaria’s battle fleet was commensurate at that time with the fleets of the other small countries in Europe. However, the country’s fleet became much more efficient when all six torpedo boats joined the navy and managed to protect better its sea borders. Drazki ship became popular in that moment. During the Balkan War in 1912 it was one of the four torpedo boats that formed a naval squad. Drazki scuttled the Ottoman cruiser Hamidiye. As a result, many people onboard the Turkish vessel died and the ship itself suffered serious damages. The ship was pulled to the Bosporus for a repair and later entered again in battles. However, the Bulgarian vessel which was 40 times smaller that the Turkish cruiser managed to win a great victory against its unequal rival, which had a positive psychological effect on the Bulgarian fleet and its members during the Balkan War and after.”

Since 1957 Drazki ship-museum has been reminding people of Bulgaria’s glorious past. On the other hand, this torpedo boat is the only preserved vessel of this type in the world. It is valuable with its biography, the history of its commanders and the people who were on probation there. The first service of renowned Bulgarian poet Nikola Vaptsarov was also on Drazki torpedo boat.

Drazki is the most-valuable exponent of our museum, Dr. Krasteva went on to say and added:

“The ship was serviced by 25 to 30 people. It was equipped with a steam engine which was running on coal. Its was sailing with a maximum speed of 25 knots, nearly 50 kilometers per hour, which was a fair speed for that period. It was armed with three torpedo pipes and two 47 millimeter weapons. We must note that the ship was used as minesweeper in certain periods. That is why it was reconstructed and reshaped several times. In other words Drazki was a multifunctional vessel which carried out decently its tasks in peaceful periods and times of war.”

English version: Kostadin Atanasov