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199-547: SMS Novara may refer to one of two ships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy , both named after the 1849 Battle of Novara in which Austrian forces had defeated troops of the Kingdom of Sardinia: SMS  Novara  (1850) , a sail frigate most noted for its 1857–59 scientific circumnavigation expedition. Eventually scrapped in 1899. SMS  Novara  (1913) ,

398-689: A "Kingdom of Italy". The revolution in Vienna sparked anti-Habsburg riots in Milan and Venice. Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky was unable to defeat the Venetian and Milanese insurgents in Lombardy-Venetia, and had to order his forces to evacuate western Italy, pulling his forces back to a chain of defensive fortresses between Milan and Venice known as the Quadrilatero . With Vienna itself in

597-657: A commander for the fifth time in as many months. In the aftermath of the loss of Venice, the Austrian Navy reorganized itself under the temporary command of General Count Franz Gyulai . Gyulai recalled every Austrian ship in the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, and in the Levant. Due to Trieste's close location to the parts of Italy revolting against Austrian rule at the time, Gyulai also chose the small port of Pola as

796-585: A crew of 8,000 men. Following the end of the Ostend Company however, a committee was set up in 1738 by the Emperor to examine the status of Austria's Adriatic fleet. Its report concluded that the fleet "had little usefulness, caused great expense, and stood in danger of being defeated in case of attack". This report eventually led to Charles VI scrapping his Adriatic fleet and transferring most of officers and crew members to Austria's Danube Flotilla. Upon

995-635: A day in order to prevent the outbreak of any disease. The most notable regulation imposed directed naval officers to learn German. At the time, most Austrian naval officers were Italian or Spanish, and Italian remained the main language of the officer corps until 1848. This policy change however reflected Austria's desire to re-order its multi-ethnic Empire more towards the German states of the Holy Roman Empire . On 17 March 1802, Archduke Charles of Austria , acting in his role as "Inspector General of

1194-460: A futile effort to counter the list and their ready ammunition was thrown overboard. Upon returning to the formation at 4:45 am, Tegetthoff attempted to take Szent István in tow, which failed. Many of the crew members of the sinking battleship assembled on the deck to use their weight along with the turned turrets as a counterbalance , but the ship was taking on too much water. Szent István ' s chaplain performed one final blessing while

1393-700: A greatly expanded and modernized navy. The origins of Szent István and the Tegetthoff class can also be found in developments in the first decade of the 20th century which greatly increased the importance of sea power to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Between 1906 and 1907, railroads linking Trieste and the Dalmatian coastline to the interior of the Empire had been constructed through Austria's Alpine passes . Additionally, lower tariffs on

1592-404: A heavier broadside than other dreadnoughts of a similar size and meant a shorter citadel and better weight distribution. Szent István carried a secondary armament which consisted of a dozen 50-calibre 15-centimetre (5.9 in) Škoda K10 guns mounted in casemates amidships . Additionally, eighteen 50-calibre 7-centimetre (2.8 in) Škoda K10 guns were mounted on open pivot mounts on

1791-537: A land-based war for Austria, which led to naval affairs being neglected by the newly crowned Maria Theresa, who spent the entirety of the war preoccupied with securing her inheritance of the throne of Austria as opposed to rebuilding her father's former fleet in the Adriatic. By the time the Seven Years' War began in 1756, Austria still lacked a proper navy. Enemy pirates and privateers , as well as Barbary corsairs severely hampered Austria's merchant marine, to

1990-528: A majority of Austria's ships were constructed by domestic shipyards. Ferdinand Max's next construction project was the last Austrian ship-of-the-line, Kaiser . She was commissioned into the Austrian Navy in 1859 after being constructed at the newly built Pola Navy Yard between 1855 and 1858. As a result of these construction projects, the Austrian Navy grew to its largest size since the War of Austrian Succession over 100 years prior. Despite these efforts however,

2189-502: A new class of modern battleships. As a result, by 1908 the stage was set for the creation of Szent István and the Tegetthoff class. Shortly after assuming command as Chief of the Navy, Montecuccoli drafted his first proposal for a modern Austrian fleet in the spring of 1905. While these plans were ambitious and included 12 battleships, none of the ships were near the eventual size of Szent István . Additional proposals came from outside

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2388-707: A peacetime strength of 20,000 personnel, seeing action in the Boxer Rebellion and other conflicts before World War I. During most of World War I , the Allied Powers maintained the Otranto Barrage to bottle up the k.u.k. Kriegsmarine in the Adriatic Sea. Largely tasked with defending the Empire's 1,130 nautical miles (2,090 km; 1,300 mi) of coastline and 2,172.4 nautical miles (4,023.3 km; 2,500.0 mi) of island seaboard,

2587-660: A priority in Austrian foreign policy. As a result, the Austro-Hungarian Navy had little public interest or support. However, the appointment of Archduke Franz Ferdinand – heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne and a prominent and influential supporter of naval expansion – to the position of admiral in September 1902 greatly increased the importance of the Navy in the eyes of both the general public and

2786-493: A regular basis. The size of these operations were the largest Szent István had ever participated in at the time, and they were the largest the Austro-Hungarian Navy had seen since the outbreak of the war. These gunnery and maneuver practices were conducted not only to restore order in the wake of several failed mutinies, but also to prepare the fleet for a major offensive operation. Horthy's strategic thinking differed from his two predecessors, and shortly after assuming command of

2985-419: A result, she was not launched until 17 January 1912. It was customary for either the Emperor or his heir to be present at the launching of a major warship, but Emperor Franz Joseph I was too feeble and his heir, Archduke Franz Ferdinand , refused to be there as a consequence of his anti-Hungarian attitudes. Franz Joseph I thus sent a telegram of congratulations which negated the snub offered by his heir. During

3184-470: A scout cruiser which served in World War I and was later transferred to France as a war prize in 1920. Renamed Thionville , it continued to serve before being scrapped in 1941. [REDACTED] [REDACTED] List of ships with the same or similar names This article includes a list of ships with the same or similar names. If an internal link for a specific ship led you here, you may wish to change

3383-603: A significant role in transporting troops across the Danube as well as denying Turkish control over the strategically important river. Significant portion of the Danube flotila were made up by Serb Šajkaši . Austria remained without a proper seagoing navy, however, even after the need for one became apparent with the French Navy bombardment of the port of Trieste during the War of Spanish Succession . Lacking any sea power, Austria

3582-529: A slightly greater tonnage and larger main guns. The cost to construct Szent István was enormous by the standards of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. While the Habsburg -class , Erzherzog Karl -class , and the Radetzky -class battleships cost the navy roughly 18, 26, and 40 million krone per ship, Szent István was projected to cost over 60 million krone. Under the previous budgets for 1907 and 1908,

3781-549: A very small naval force, which with an average of just three guns and 21 crew members per ship, was largely unable to project power outside of the Adriatic or protect Austrian shipping in the Mediterranean. When the Austrian Army took Ancona in 1799, three former Venetian ships of the line, Laharpe , Stengel and Beyrand , were seized by the Austrians. Despite having 74 guns per ship, far more than any other vessels in

3980-569: A war with Italy in the near future was likely, construction on the battleships should begin as soon as possible. He also worked to secure agreements to sell the ships to, in his words, a "reliable ally" (which only Germany could claim to be) should the budget crisis in Budapest fail to be settled quickly. Although smaller than the contemporary dreadnought and super-dreadnought battleships of the German Kaiserliche Marine and

4179-603: A year of Ferdinand Max's promotion to Oberkommandant , the Austrian Navy consisted of four frigates, four corvettes, and two paddle steamers in active service in the Mediterranean Sea. Ferdinand Max followed up on this progress however by purchasing the steam frigate Radetzky from the United Kingdom in 1856. Her design was used for the construction of future ships of the Navy, and marked the beginning of Austria's modern shipbuilding industry. From 1856 onward,

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4378-670: The Atlantic Ocean , such as Ghent , Antwerp , Bruges and Ostend . However, the economy of the Austrian Netherlands was very disconnected from the rest of Austria, and most Habsburg rulers paid little attention to the province. Even Prince Eugene of Savoy, upon being appointed Governor-General of the Austrian Netherlands in June 1716, chose to remain in Vienna and direct policy through his chosen representative, Hercule-Louis Turinetti, marquis of Prié . The success of

4577-615: The Battle of Lissa in 1866, Italy's Regia Marina was considered the most-important naval power in the region which Austria-Hungary measured itself against, often unfavorably. The disparity between the Austro-Hungarian and Italian navies had existed since the unification of Italy ; in the late 1880s Italy had the third-largest fleet in the world, behind the French Republic's Navy and the British Royal Navy . While

4776-536: The British Royal Navy, Szent István was part of the first class of its type in the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas . Szent István and her sister ships were described by former Austro-Hungarian naval officer Anthony Sokol in his book The Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Navy as "excellent ships", and she was acknowledged as one of the most powerful battleships in the region. The design of

4975-769: The Capitulation of Franzburg and the subsequent siege with assistance of Danish, Scottish and Swedish troops, a blow that denied him access to the Baltic and the chance of challenging the naval power of the Scandinavian kingdoms and of the Netherlands . Wallenstein's assassination at the hands of his own officers in 1634 prevented the development of any Austrian navy in either the North or Baltic Seas . The next incursion Austria took into naval affairs occurred on

5174-457: The Caribbean , Africa, and especially Asia . The most profitable voyages of the Ostend Company were to Canton , as rising tea prices resulted in high profits for ships conducting trade with China . Between 1719 and 1728, the Ostend Company transported 7 million pounds of tea from China , roughly half of the total amount brought to western Europe at the time, placing the company on par in

5373-716: The Crimean War in October 1855. Dévastation signalled the beginning of the emergence of ironclad warships over the course of the next decade. Indeed, the French Navy's technological and numerical edge proved to be decisive in driving the Austrian Navy to port shortly after the outbreak of the Second War of Italian Independence . After the failure of the First Italian War of Independence, Sardinia began

5572-736: The Danube River rather than at sea. During the Great Turkish War , Prince Eugene of Savoy employed a small flotilla of ships along the Danube to fight the Ottoman Empire, a practice which the House of Habsburg had employed previously during the 16th and 17th centuries to fight during Austria's numerous wars with the Ottomans . These river flotillas were largely manned by crews who came from Austria's coastal ports, and played

5771-735: The Dutch , British and French East India Companies throughout the 17th and early 18th centuries however led the merchants and shipowners of Ostend to want to establish direct commercial relations with the East Indies . In December 1722, Charles VI granted a 30-year charter to the Ostend Company to conduct trade with the East and West Indies , as well as Africa . The Ostend Company proved to be immensely profitable, and between 1724 and 1732, 21 company vessels were sent out to conduct trade in

5970-716: The Illyrian provinces . Between 1809 and 1814, there was no Austrian coastline and subsequently no navy to defend it. Following the Congress of Vienna and the 1815 Treaty of Paris , Austria's coastline was restored. Under the conditions of the Congress of Vienna, the former Austrian Netherlands were transferred to the newly created United Kingdom of the Netherlands , while Austria received Lombardy-Venetia as compensation. These territorial changes gave Austria five ships of

6169-979: The Imperial Austrian Navy or simply the Austrian Navy , saw action in the French Revolutionary Wars , the Napoleonic Wars , the Austrian expedition against Morocco (1829) , the Second Egyptian–Ottoman War , the First and Second Wars of Italian Independence , the Second Schleswig War , and the Third War of Italian Independence . Following Austria's defeat by Prussia and Italy during

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6368-749: The March of Istria , western Carinthia with East Tyrol , and the Croatian lands southwest of the river Sava to the French Empire. West Galicia was ceded to the Duchy of Warsaw , and Tarnopol was given to the Russian Empire . These terms eliminated Austria's coastline along the Adriatic, thus destroying the Austrian Navy, with its warships being handed over to the French to guard the newly formed

6567-711: The Oriental Crisis of 1840 . After his victory over the Ottoman Empire during the First Egyptian-Ottoman War , Muhammad Ali of Egypt conquered large parts of Syria . In 1839, the Ottomans attempted to reclaim these territories but after a decisive defeat at the Battle of Nezib , the Ottoman Empire appeared on the verge of collapse. Through the Convention of London , the United Kingdom, Austria, Prussia, and Russia intervened to save

6766-578: The Seven Weeks' War , the Austrian Empire reformed itself into the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary, and the navy also became the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Largely neglected by the Empire in its early years, the k.u.k. Kriegsmarine expanded along with Austro-Hungarian industrialization into one of the largest navies in the Adriatic and Mediterranean Seas. By 1914, the k.u.k. Kriegsmarine had

6965-467: The Tegetthoff class battleships as a fleet in being, the Austro-Hungarian Navy would be able to continue to defend its lengthy coastline from naval bombardment or invasion by sea. The major ports of Trieste and Fiume would also remain protected. Furthermore, Italian ships stationed in Venice were effectively trapped by the positioning of the Austro-Hungarian fleet, preventing them from sailing south to join

7164-576: The Tegetthoff class. However, this contract involved great expense by the Hungarian government, as Fiume had hitherto only built smaller merchant ships for merchant firms such as the Austrian Lloyd . The shipyards in the city therefore had to be themselves refitted and enlarged for the building of a vessel as large as Szent István . The final package of the budget agreement which funded Szent István included provisions which ensured that while

7363-584: The Thirty Years War , Generalissimo Albrecht von Wallenstein was awarded the Duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Güstrow as well as given the title "Admiral of the North and Baltic Seas" by Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II in 1628 after scoring several military victories against Denmark–Norway in northern Germany. However, Wallenstein failed to capture Stralsund , which resisted

7562-403: The Treaty of Pressburg , weakening the Austrian Empire and reorganizing Germany under a Napoleonic imprint known as the Confederation of the Rhine . Believing his position as Holy Roman Emperor to be untenable, Francis abdicated the throne of the Holy Roman Empire on 6 August 1806, and declared the Holy Roman Empire to be dissolved in the same declaration. This was a political move to impair

7761-457: The Treaty of Trianon , Austria and Hungary became landlocked, and the Empire's most important ports of Trieste , Pola , Fiume and Ragusa became part of Italy and Yugoslavia. The k.u.k. Kriegsmarine's main ships were turned over to the Allies, who scrapped most of them in the 1920s during the era of naval disarmament. The k.u.k. Kriegsmarine was not formally established until the 18th century, but its origins can be traced back to 1382, with

7960-432: The War of the Fifth Coalition . Following Austria's defeat at the Battle of Wagram , the Empire sued for peace. The resulting Treaty of Schönbrunn imposed harsh terms on Austria. Austria had to hand over the Duchy of Salzburg to the Kingdom of Bavaria and lost its access to the Adriatic Sea by ceding the Littoral territories of Gorizia and Gradisca and the Imperial Free City of Trieste , together with Carniola ,

8159-421: The first attempt by Austria to establish overseas colonies . Within the next two years, Bolts established factories on the Malabar Coast , on the southeastern African coast at Delagoa Bay , and at the Nicobar Islands . These ventures ultimately failed however due to pressure from other colonial powers such as Portugal and Denmark-Norway, both of which forcefully evicted Bolts and his colonists from Africa and

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8358-422: The 11th-century saint Stephen I , the first King of Hungary . Following France and Britain's declarations of war on Austria-Hungary on 11 and 12 August 1914 respectively, the French Admiral Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère was issued orders to close off Austro-Hungarian shipping at the entrance to the Adriatic Sea and to engage any Austro-Hungarian ships his Anglo-French fleet came across. Lapeyrère chose to attack

8557-435: The 18th century, preventing the Austrians from using its major rivers to gain access to the sea. Following the War of Spanish Succession, Austria's greatest outlet to the sea lay in the newly acquired Austrian Netherlands. While non-contiguous with the rest of Austria, the Austrian Netherlands lay within the boundaries of the Habsburg-dominated Holy Roman Empire . The territory also possessed numerous ports with easy access to

8756-407: The Adriatic, the Austrian Navy lacked experience against the combined Italian forces and Gyulai decided to withdraw his ships to Pola. After the Austrians moved back to Trieste due to the fact that Pola's small and undeveloped dockyards could not handle the size of the Austrian fleet, a stalemate ensued in the Adriatic. The Austrian fleet was too small to go on the offensive against the Italians, while

8955-490: The Adriatic, the Austrian government chose to sell the ships for breaking rather than incorporate them into the Navy. At the end of the 18th century, several new regulations were also imposed regarding naval activity. These included instructing officers to refrain from excessive shouting when giving sailing commands, directing the captains of each ship in the navy not to conduct business transactions on their own behalf, and ordering surgeons to fumigate their ships several times

9154-442: The Austrian Navy in the years following the Congress of Vienna were largely driven by political necessities, as well economic conditions. The marriage between Archduchess Maria Leopoldina and Emperor Pedro I of Brazil in 1817 marked the first time a ship from the Austrian Navy crossed the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas, with the Archduchess traveling with the frigates Augusta and Austria to Rio de Janeiro . Three years later,

9353-473: The Austrian Navy up to that point in time. Under Joseph II's successor, Leopold II , the Austrian Navy was formally located out of the port of Trieste. In 1797 with the Treaty of Campo Formio between France and Austria which ended the War of the First Coalition , Austria ceded to France the Austrian Netherlands and certain islands in the Mediterranean, including Corfu and the other Ionian Islands . The Republic of Venice and its territories were divided between

9552-403: The Austrian Navy was the loss of Venice's naval dockyards, warehouses, its arsenal, as well as three corvettes and several smaller vessels to the Venetian rebels. The loss of Vice-Admiral Martini was also a blow to Austrians, as the Navy had gone through no less than four Commanders-in-Chief within three months of the death of Archduke Friedrich in late 1847. Martini's capture left the Navy without

9751-441: The Austrian Navy, and the Austrian merchant marine, and named Count Matthias von Wickenburg its head. Under this new system, Ferdinand Max continued to be the Oberkommandant , but he was no longer responsible for the political management of the fleet. In addition to obtaining support for the creation of Ministry of Marine, Ferdinand Max was given great freedom by the Emperor to manage the navy as he saw fit, especially with respect to

9950-418: The Austrian Reichsrat or the Diet of Hungary, the deal remained secret. The agreement was ultimately leaked to the public in April 1910 by the Arbeiter-Zeitung , the newspaper of Austria's Social Democratic Party . However, by the time the Arbeiter-Zeitung broke the story, the plans had already been finalized on the Tegetthoff -class battleship and construction on two of Szent István ' s sister ships

10149-419: The Austrian and Hungarian Parliaments. Franz Ferdinand's interest in naval affairs were largely motivated from his belief that a strong navy would be necessary to compete with Italy, which he viewed as Austria-Hungary's greatest regional threat. In 1904, the Austro-Hungarian Navy began an expansion program intended to equal that of the other Great Powers of Europe. This naval expansion program coincided with

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10348-433: The Austrian frigate Guerriera , bombarded the port of Sidon with British support. The Austrians and British landed in the city and stormed its coastal fortifications, capturing it on 28 September. After capturing Sidon, Austria's naval squadron sailed on to Acre which bombarded the city in November, destroying its coastal fortifications and silencing the city's guns. During the storming of the city, Friedrich personally led

10547-410: The Austrians acquired several warships which were under construction or already seaworthy. Most of these ships were added to the strength of the Austrian Navy, increasing the size and strength of the Navy considerably by the year 1850. In Venice the naval shipyard was retained. Here the Austrian screw-driven gunboat Kerka (crew: 100) was launched in 1860 (in service until 1908). In the final months of

10746-596: The Austrians. The Papal States and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies both joined the war on the side of Sardinia, the later sending a naval force into the Adriatic in cooperation with Sardinia to help seize Venice. This Italian fleet consisted of five frigates and several smaller vessels acquired by the Italian nationalists in Venice. Against this force, the Austrian Navy counted three frigates of 44 to 50 guns, two corvettes of 18 and 20 guns, eight brigs of six to 16 guns, 34 gunboats with three guns each, and two steamers of two guns. Despite its relatively large size for navies in

10945-403: The Austro-British landing party and hoisted the Ottoman, British, and Austrian flags over the Acre's citadel upon its capture. For his leadership during the campaign, Archduke Friedrich was awarded the Knight of the Military Order of Maria Theresa . In 1844, Archduke Friedrich was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral and become Commander-in-Chief of the Navy at the age of 23, but his tenure as

11144-401: The Austro-Hungarian Navy an opportunity to even the disparity between the two fleets. The construction of Szent István and her sister ships can thus be viewed in the context of the naval rivalry between Austria-Hungary and Italy, with the ship playing a role in a larger attempt by Austria-Hungary to compete with Italy's naval power. The revolution in naval technology created by the launch of

11343-442: The Austro-Hungarian Navy, which manifested itself in several ways. Among these were a ban on photography in the Pola, future home port of Szent István , and near-constant observation by the Austro-Hungarian police. The Admiralty considered the rumored construction of the battleships "as a concealed addition to the German fleet", and interpreted the ships as Austria-Hungary's way of repaying Germany for her diplomatic support during

11542-471: The Austro-Hungarian government would purchase the battleships as soon as funds were available. After negotiations which involved the Austro-Hungarian joint ministries of foreign affairs, war and finance, the offer was agreed to by Montecuccoli, but the number of dreadnoughts constructed under this arrangement was reduced to two. In his memoirs, former Austrian Field Marshal and Chief of the General Staff Conrad von Hötzendorf wrote that due to his belief that

11741-435: The Austro-Hungarian ships blockading Montenegro. The ensuing Battle of Antivari ended Austria-Hungary's blockade, and effectively placed the entrance of the Adriatic Sea firmly in the hands of Britain and France. Following her launching, Szent István underwent sea trials before preparing to be commissioned into the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the autumn of 1915. Szent István ' s war logs record that on 18 November 1915,

11940-416: The Bay of Bengal respectively. Furthermore, the Austrian government did not wish to provoke other foreign powers after having to fight two major continental wars in the span of just 20 years. Vienna was also unwilling to lend much monetary support to either the company or towards the creation of a navy sufficiently large enough to protect its interests. This was partially because the Austrian government expected

12139-449: The British HMS  Dreadnought in 1906 and the Anglo-German naval arms race that followed had a tremendous impact on the development of future battleships around the world, including Szent István . Dreadnought , armed with ten large-caliber guns, was the first of a revolutionary new standard of "all-big-gun" battleships that rendered pre-dreadnought battleships obsolete. As a result, the value of older battleships declined rapidly in

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12338-473: The Emperor to this conference in order to discuss naval operations in the Adriatic and Mediterranean for 1917. Days after returning from this conference, Grand Admiral Haus died of pneumonia aboard his flagship Viribus Unitis on 8 February 1917. Newly crowned Emperor Karl I attended his funeral in Pola. Despite his death, Haus' strategy of keeping the Austro-Hungarian Navy, and particularly its dreadnoughts, in port continued. By keeping Szent István and

12537-405: The Empire largely sought to establish their own independent kingdom or republic, which resulted in a revolution in Hungary . Competing national ideas in the South Hungary saw combat in the Šajkaška region, primarily populated by Serbs who served in the Danube flotila. Italians within the Austrian Empire likewise sought to unify with the other Italian-speaking states of the Italian Peninsula to form

12736-466: The Greek rebellion against Ottoman rule. During the same time period, Barbary corsairs continued to prey upon Austrian shipping in the Western Mediterranean. These two threats greatly stretched the resources of Austria's naval forces, which were still rebuilding after the Napoleonic Wars. In 1829, two Austrian corvettes, a brig , and a schooner under Lieutenant Commander (German: Korvettenkapitän ) Franz Bandiera sailed Morocco's Atlantic coast to obtain

12935-430: The Hungarian Diet without a prime minister for nearly a year. With no government in Budapest to pass a budget, the money necessary to pay for Szent István could not be obtained. As a result, the largest shipbuilding enterprises in Austria-Hungary, the Witkowitz Ironworks and the Škoda Works , offered to begin construction on three Tegetthoff -class dreadnoughts at their own financial risk, in return for assurances that

13134-420: The Italian dreadnought battleship Dante Alighieri was laid down at the naval shipyard in Castellammare di Stabia . While Dante Alighieri was being worked on in Italy, Austria-Hungary's own plans for Szent István and the other ships of her class remained on paper. Funding necessary to begin construction was not to be had either, due to the collapse of Sándor Wekerle 's government in Budapest. This left

13333-510: The Italian naval commander, Rear Admiral Giovanbattista Albini, was under orders not to attack the port of Trieste as its location within the German Confederation may draw in other powers in central Europe against Sardinia. Austrian efforts to purchase additional warships from the United Kingdom, Russia, the Ottoman Empire, and from Egypt, all ended in failure as the funds to purchase the ships were instead used to fight Austria's many land battles with Hungarian and Italian nationalists, as well as

13532-446: The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies pulled out of the war. Austrian reinforcements bolstered Radetzky's forces in the Italian peninsula and following the Battle of Custoza in July 1848, the tide of the war turned in Austria's favor. On 9 August, an armistice was signed between Sardinia and Austria, and a month later, Admiral Martini was released in a prisoner exchange and returned as head of the Navy. While Martini unsuccessfully lobbied for

13731-403: The League by pointing out that newer battleships were necessary to protect Austria-Hungary's growing merchant marine, and that Italian naval spending was twice that of Austria-Hungary's. Following the construction of Austria-Hungary's last class of pre-dreadnought battleships, the Radetzky class , Montecuccoli submitted a proposal which would include the first design for Szent István . With

13930-529: The Mediterranean Sea. By the 1830s, an attempt to modernize the Navy had begun. The Austrian government granted new funding for the construction of additional ships and the purchasing of new equipment. The most notable change which was undertaken was the incorporation of steamships, with the first such ship in the Austrian Navy, the 500-tonne (492-long-ton) paddle steamer Maria Anna , being constructed in Fiume. Maria Anna ' s first trials took place in 1836. In 1837, Archduke Friedrich Leopold enlisted into

14129-513: The Mediterranean and the Strait of Otranto. These could have been used elsewhere, such as against the Ottoman Empire during the Gallipoli Campaign . The most-important factor contributing to Szent István spending most of her time at port may have been the lack of coal. Prior to the war, the United Kingdom had served as Austria-Hungary's primary source for coal. In the years before the war an increasing percentage of coal had come from mines in Germany, Virginia , and from domestic sources, but 75% of

14328-734: The Naval Section of the War Ministry. Two proposals from Slovenian politician Ivan Šusteršič , and the Austrian Naval League in 1905 and 1909 included battleships which approached the size of Szent István . While Šusteršič's plan lacked the large-caliber guns that would later be found on Szent István , the plans submitted by the Austrian Naval League three dreadnoughts of 19,000 tonnes (18,700 long tons), similar to Szent István ' s eventual displacement of 20,000 t (19,684 long tons). These plans were justified by

14527-505: The Navy chose to rely on its U-boats to attack Allied shipping rather than risk the destruction of its battleships , cruisers and other surface vessels. In June 1918, it attempted to break the Otranto Barrage with a large naval fleet, but the attack was called off after the battleship Szent István was sunk by an Italian torpedo boat on 10 June. Five months later, with the Austro-Hungarian Empire facing collapse and defeat in

14726-646: The Navy drastically undermanned, it prevented any wide-scale disintegration within the Navy which the Austrian Army had repeatedly suffered from in Italy. The loss of so many Italian crew members and officers meant that the remaining ships which did not fall into rebel hands in Venice were lacking many crews. Out of roughly 5,000 men who were members of the Austrian Navy prior to the revolution, only 72 officers and 665 sailors remained. Further complicating matters for

14925-408: The Navy was still considerably smaller than its French, British, or Sardinian counterparts. Indeed, the Austrian Navy was still attempting to catch up to the technological developments which had emerged during the first half of the 19th century with respect to steam power, when the emergence of the French iron-platted floating battery Dévastation gained international attention following its use during

15124-520: The Navy", ordered the formation of the "Imperial and Royal Naval Cadet School" in Venice (German: k.u.k. Marine-Kadettenschule ). This school eventually moved to Trieste in 1848 and changed its name to "Imperial and Royal Naval Academy" (German: k.u.k. Marine-Akademie ). Austria again fought against France during the Second and Third Coalitions , when after meeting a crushing defeat at Austerlitz , Holy Roman Emperor Francis II had to agree to

15323-549: The Navy, though at Njegovan's request it was announced that he was retiring. Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya , commander of Szent István ' s sister ship Prinz Eugen , was promoted to rear admiral and named Commander-in-Chief of the Fleet. Horthy's promotion was met with support among many members of the naval officer corps, who believed he would use Austria-Hungary's navy to engage the enemy. Horthy's appointment did however pose difficulties. His relatively young age alienated many of

15522-500: The Navy. The third son of Archduke Charles, a famous veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, Friedrich's decision to join the Navy greatly enhanced its prestige among the Austrian nobility and public. During his time in the Navy, Friedrich introduced many modernizing reforms, aiming to make the Austrian Navy less "Venetian" in character and more "Austrian". Friedrich and the Austrian Navy had their first major military encounter during

15721-572: The Ottoman Empire. The Convention offered Muhammad Ali hereditary rule of Egypt while nominally remaining part of the Ottoman Empire if he withdrew from most of Syria. Muhammad Ali hesitated to accept the offer however and in September 1840 the European powers moved to engage Muhammad Ali's forces. The British and Austrian navies subsequently blockaded the Nile Delta and bombarded Beirut on 11 September 1840. On 26 September, Friedrich, commanding

15920-552: The Second War of Italian Independence, Ferdinand Max proposed an even larger naval construction program than the one he had initiated upon his appointment as Oberkommandant . This fleet would be large enough not only to show the Austrian flag around the world, but also to protect its merchant marine as well as thwart any Adriatic ambitions from the growing Kingdom of Sardinia. However, constitutional reforms enacted in Austria after

16119-595: The Second War of Italian Independence, Sardinia ordered two small ironclads from France in 1860. While these ships were under construction, the Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi began his campaign to conquer Southern Italy in the name of the Kingdom of Sardinia. He quickly toppled the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies , the largest state in the region in a matter of months. On 17 March 1861, Victor Emmanuel II

16318-618: The Venetian navy, the Austrian Navy only consisted of the two cutters purchased in 1786, as well as several armed merchant vessels and gunboats. While Venice had suffered under French occupation, the ships Austria acquired from the city's annexation still allowed the Austrian Navy to grow to some 37 vessels by the start of the War of the Second Coalition in 1799. These ships mostly consisted of small coastal craft, with some 111 guns and 787 crew members between them. This still remained

16517-481: The War Ministry initially proposed naming the battleship Hunyadi . Newspapers within Austria reported during construction that one of the ships was to be named Kaiser Franz Joseph I , though it was later revealed the navy had no intentions of renaming the cruiser which already bore the Emperor's name . Archduke Franz Ferdinand proposed Laudon for the ship in honor of the Austrian field marshal . Emperor Franz Joseph I ultimately decided to name her Szent István , after

16716-421: The advice of the navy, published in its own newspaper, Reichspost , that the secret project to construct the battleship and the related financial agreements to fund it were true. The Reichspost lobbied in support of the project, citing Austria-Hungary's national security concerns with an Italian dreadnought already under construction. When the story broke, Archduke Ferdinand also worked to build public support for

16915-458: The armor and guns of the battleship were to be constructed within Austria, the electrical wiring and equipment aboard Szent István was to be assembled in Hungary. Additionally, half of all ammunition and shells for the guns of the ship would be purchased in Austria, while the other half was to be bought in Hungary. Construction on Szent István was delayed by the size of Fiume's shipyards and as

17114-425: The battleship also signaled a change in Austro-Hungarian naval policy, as she was capable of far more than coastal defense or patrolling the Adriatic Sea. Indeed, Szent István and her sister ships were so well received that when the time came to plan for the replacement of Austria-Hungary's old Monarch -class coastal defense ships , the navy elected to simply take the layout of her class and enlarge them to have

17313-523: The battleship fired the first trial shots of her guns. Gunnery trials continued the following day and on 20 November, she underwent machinery trials in the Fasana Channel. These machinery trials continued on 22 November, where it was reported that Szent István had attained an unofficial speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). That same day, the battleship conducted torpedo launches from her four torpedo tubes, before anchoring at Fasana for

17512-629: The blockade in May 1917 , Horthy envisioned a massive attack on the Allied forces with Szent István and the other three Tegetthoff class ships providing the largest component of the assault. They would be accompanied by the three ships of the Erzherzog Karl -class pre-dreadnoughts, the three Novara -class cruisers, the cruiser Admiral Spaun , four Tátra -class destroyers, and four torpedo boats. Submarines and aircraft would also be employed in

17711-501: The blockade of Venice, the Danish-born Hans Birch Dahlerup was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian Navy. Emperor Franz Joseph I selected Dahlerup due to his desire to replace Italian influence within the Navy. Dahlerup introduced many personal reforms, such as reorganizing the command structure of the Navy, establishing new service regulations, and setting up a school for naval officers. He also began

17910-514: The bow and stern, but did not reach either. It was continued to the bow by a small patch of 110–130-millimetre (4–5 in) armor. The upper armor belt had a maximum thickness of 180 millimetres (7.1 in), but it thinned to 110 millimetres (4.3 in) from the forward barbette all the way to the bow. The casemate armor was also 180 millimetres (7.1 in) thick. The sides of the main gun turrets, barbettes, and main conning tower were protected by 280 millimetres (11 in) of armor, except for

18109-461: The bow, the stern, and each side. Complementing these torpedo tubes, Szent István usually carried twelve torpedoes. Szent István was protected at the waterline with an armor belt which measured 280 millimetres (11 in) thick in the central citadel, where the most-important parts of the ship were located. This armor belt was located between the midpoints of the fore and aft barbettes, and thinned to 150 millimetres (5.9 in) further towards

18308-656: The bulk of the Entente forces at the Otranto Barrage. Maximilian Njegovan was promoted to admiral and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. With Njegovan appointed to higher office, command of the First Battle Division, which comprised all four Tegetthoff -class ships, fell to Vice-Admiral Anton Willenik. Njegovan had previously voiced frustration watching the dreadnoughts he had commanded under Haus sit idle at port and upon taking command he had some 400,000 tons of coal at his disposal, but he chose to continue

18507-409: The coal purchased for the Austro-Hungarian Navy came from Britain. The outbreak of war meant that these sources, as well as those from Virginia, would no longer be available. Significant quantities of coal had been stockpiled before the war however, ensuring the Navy was capable of sailing out of port if need be. Even so, the necessity of ensuring the Navy's most-important ships such as Szent István had

18706-576: The coal she needed in the event of an Italian or French attack or a major offensive operation resulted in the dreadnoughts remaining at port unless circumstances necessitated their deployment at sea. Commissioning into the Austro-Hungarian Navy too late to engage in the Bombardment of Ancona, Szent István was mostly relegated to defending Austria-Hungary's 1,130 nautical miles (2,090 km; 1,300 mi) coastline and 2,172.4 nautical miles (4,023.3 km; 2,500.0 mi) of island seaboard for

18905-471: The construction and acquisition of new warships. Ferdinand Max immediately went to work expanding the Austrian Navy. Fears of over-dependence upon foreign shipyards to supply Austrian warships enabled him to convince his brother to authorize the construction of a new drydock at Pola , and the expansion of existing shipyards in Trieste. Furthermore, Ferdinand Max initiated an ambitious construction program in

19104-700: The construction of Szent István and her sister ships earned the approval of Emperor Franz Joseph I in January 1909, and by April plans for the design, construction, and financing for the battleships had been laid out. For a full year, the Austro-Hungarian Navy attempted to keep the looming construction of the first two battleships a state secret . This did not prevent rumors from circulating across Europe of two dreadnought battleships being constructed in Austria-Hungary. The French Naval Attaché in Vienna complained to Paris in 1910 of extensive secrecy within

19303-535: The construction of the battleships, and the Austrian Naval League did the same. Szent István would be the fourth and last ship of her class, was laid down in Fiume by Ganz-Danubius on 29 January 1912. Fiume was the only large Hungarian shipyard in Croatia . Ganz-Danubius had been awarded the contract to build the battleship in return for the Hungarian government agreeing to the 1910 and 1911 naval budgets which funded

19502-594: The construction of the final two Regina Elena -class battleships in 1903, the Italian Navy elected to construct a series of large cruisers rather than additional battleships. Furthermore, a major scandal involving the Terni steel works' armor contracts led to a government investigation that postponed several naval construction programs for three years. These delays meant that the Italian Navy would not initiate construction of another battleship until 1909, and provided

19701-508: The crew of Tegetthoff emerged onto her decks to salute the sinking ship. At 6:12 am, with the pumps unequal to the task, Szent István capsized off Premuda . 89 sailors and officers died in the sinking, 41 of them from Hungary. The low death toll can be partly attributed to the long amount of time it took for the battleship to sink, and the fact that all sailors with the Austro-Hungarian Navy had to learn to swim before entering active service. The captain of Szent István , Heinrich Seitz,

19900-652: The death of Charles VI on 19 October 1740, Saxony , Prussia , Bavaria , and France all repudiated the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 which had paved the way for Charles' daughter Maria Theresa to succeed him. Frederick II of Prussia almost immediately invaded Austria in December 1740 and took the affluent Habsburg province of Silesia in the seven-year conflict known as the War of the Austrian Succession . This conflict proved to be primarily

20099-472: The defeat, as well as the recent introduction of ironclads into the navies of the world, made the proposal more expensive than he had initially intended. While the Archduke had previously been given free rein over naval affairs, and had enjoyed an unprecedented allocation of new funds to complete his various expansion and modernization projects, Austria's recent military defeats and financial difficulties in

20298-480: The disintegration of the Austrian Navy. The Austrian commander of the Venetian Naval Yard was beaten to death by his own men, while the head of the city's Marine Guard was unable to provide any aid to suppress the uprising as most of the men under his command deserted. Vice-Admiral Anton von Martini, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, attempted to put an end to the rebellion but was betrayed by his officers,

20497-610: The disparity between Italian and Austro-Hungarian naval strength had been somewhat equalized with the Russian Imperial Navy and the German Kaiserliche Marine surpassing the Italian Navy in 1893 and in 1894, Italy had once again regained the initiative by the turn of the century. In 1903, the year before Montecuccoli's appointment, Italy had 18 battleships in commission or under construction compared to 6 Austro-Hungarian battleships. Following

20696-400: The escort screen and split to engage each of the dreadnoughts. MAS-21 attacked Tegetthoff , but her torpedoes failed to hit the ship. MAS-15 fired her two torpedoes successfully at 3:25 am at Szent István . Both boats evaded any pursuit although MAS-15 had to discourage the Austro-Hungarian torpedo boat Tb 76 T by dropping depth charges in her wake. Tegetthoff , thinking that

20895-518: The establishment of the Austrian Naval League in September 1904 and the appointment of Vice-Admiral Rudolf Montecuccoli to the posts of Commander-in-Chief of the Navy (German: Marinekommandant ) and Chief of the Naval Section of the War Ministry (German: Chef der Marinesektion ) in October that same year. After Montecuccoli's appointment, the Admiral worked to pursue the efforts championed by his predecessor, Admiral Hermann von Spaun , and pushed for

21094-469: The establishment of the Ostend Company in order to increase Austria's merchant marine and establish a proper navy to protect it. This included constructing a new road through the Semmering Pass in order to link Vienna to Trieste, and declaring Trieste and Fiume free ports in 1719. In order to help protect Austrian merchants from piracy in the Adriatic and Mediterranean, Charles VI also purchased

21293-634: The first half of 1859, the Franco-Sardinian forces quickly defeated the Austrians on land, culminating in the Battle of Solferino , while the French Navy blockaded the Adriatic Sea and forced the Austrian Navy to remain in port, preventing its use for the duration of the war. After the defeat at Solferino, Austria ceded most of Lombardy and the city of Milan to France under the Treaty of Zürich , who transferred it to Sardinia in exchange for Savoy and Nice. In response to Austria's quick defeat during

21492-546: The first of its kind to travel the Mediterranean on a voyage between Trieste and Constantinople. In 1836, the Austrian Lloyd (German: Österreichischer Lloyd ) was established. While Austria's merchant marine grew throughout the 1820s and 1830s, the Austrian Navy grew alongside it in order to provide protection on the high seas. During the Greek War of Independence , the Austrian Navy engaged Greek pirates who routinely attempted to attack Austrian shipping in order to help fund

21691-422: The fleet's four torpedo boats to Otranto to bombard Italian air and naval stations. The German and Austro-Hungarian submarines would be sent to Valona and Brindisi to ambush Italian, French, British, and American warships that sailed out to engage the Austro-Hungarian fleet, while seaplanes from Cattaro would provide air support and screen the ships' advance. The battleships, and in particular Szent István and

21890-483: The former's annexation of Bosnia in 1908. During the spring and summer of 1909, the United Kingdom was locked in a heated naval arms race with Germany which led the Royal Navy to look upon the battleship as a ploy by German Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz to outpace British naval construction, rather than the latest development in Austria-Hungary's own naval arms race with Italy. The Admiralty's concerns regarding

22089-497: The founding and development of colonies , and the chartering of overseas trading companies during the early 18th century. Austria's largest obstacle in engaging in overseas trade and naval enterprises however lay in the country's geography. Despite Austria having a lengthy coastline along the Adriatic Sea, the major ports it possessed along its main coastline were isolated from Vienna by the large Austrian Alps . Furthermore, there were no major rivers linking Austria's Adriatic ports to

22288-576: The frigate Carolina escorted Austria's ambassador to Brazil across the Atlantic, before sailing on to China, marking the first time a ship from the Austrian Navy had traveled to East Asia . During the 1820s and early 1830s, Austrian trade along the Danube and within the Mediterranean grew rapidly. In 1830, the Austrian Danube Steam Navigation Company was founded and in 1834, its steamship Marie Dorothee became

22487-639: The growing strength of the Regia Marina, the Imperial Austrian Navy subsequently ordered two Drache -class ironclads in 1860. In the years immediately after the unification of Italy, Austria and Italy engaged in a naval arms race centered upon the construction and acquisition of ironclads . This arms race between the two nations continued for the rest of Ferdinand Max's tenure as Oberkommandant . SMS Szent Istv%C3%A1n SMS Szent István ( His Majesty's Ship Saint Stephen )

22686-543: The head of the Austrian Navy ended just three years after his appointment when he died in Venice at the age of 26. After a successful revolution in France in February 1848 toppled King Louis Philippe I and established a Second French Republic , revolutionary fervor broke out across Europe . In Vienna, Austrian Chancellor Klemens von Metternich resigned his post and went into exile to London while Emperor Ferdinand I

22885-503: The high seas, Ferdinand Max proved to be among the most effective and successful commanders of the Austrian Navy in history. He was described by Lawrence Sondhaus in his book The Habsburg Empire and the Sea: Austrian Naval Policy, 1797–1866 as "the most gifted leader the navy had ever had, or ever would have". Anthony Sokol describes Ferdinand Max in his book The Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Navy as "one of

23084-570: The immediate aftermath of the war stalled his plans for further construction projects. Despite these obstacles, the initiation of the Italian ironclad program between 1860 and 1861, coupled with Austrian fears of an Italian invasion or seaborne landing directed against Venice, Trieste, Istria, and the Dalmatian Coast, necessitated an Austrian naval response to counter the growing strength of the Italian Regia Marina. After

23283-526: The incorporation of Trieste into the Duchy of Austria . During the 13th and 14th centuries, Trieste became a maritime trade rival to the Republic of Venice , which occupied the Adriatic port city for intermittent periods between 1283 and 1372. Under the terms of the Peace of Turin in 1381, Venice renounced its claim to Trieste and the leading citizens of Trieste petitioned Leopold III, Duke of Austria , to make

23482-629: The interior of the country. Austria also enjoyed three major navigable rivers which flowed through the country, the Elbe , the Oder , and the Danube. However, the Elbe and the Oder flowed through the Kingdom of Prussia before emptying into the North and Baltic Sea respectively, while the mouth of the Danube lay within the territory of the Ottoman Empire. Both of these nations remained major rivals of Austria throughout

23681-442: The launching itself there was an accident when the starboard anchor had to be dropped to prevent the ship from hitting a ship carrying spectators, but the anchor chain had not been shackled to the ship and it struck two dockworkers, killing one and crushing the arm of the other. Originally referred to as "Battleship VII", discussion began over what to name the battleship while it was under construction in Trieste. The Naval Section of

23880-542: The left. Prior to this, Austrian ships flew the yellow and black flag of the Habsburg Monarchy . Joseph II's Marineflagge remained the naval ensign of Austria, and later Austria-Hungary, until the middle of World War I. The onset of the French Revolution in 1789 and the subsequent French Revolutionary Wars greatly changed the political face of Europe and resulted in the largest expansion of

24079-594: The legitimacy of the Confederation of the Rhine. Two years earlier, as a reaction to Napoleon making himself an Emperor of the French , Francis had raised Austria to the status of an empire . Hence, after 1806, he reigned as Francis I, Emperor of Austria. This move meant that the naval forces under the banner of the Holy Roman Empire were now reconstituted as solely being a part of the Austrian Navy. Three years later Austria again declared war on France, beginning

24278-415: The line, two frigates, one corvette , and several smaller ships which had been left in Venice by the French during the Napoleonic Wars. The decades of warfare Austria had participated in since 1789 however had left the Empire on the verge of bankruptcy, and most of these ships were sold or abandoned for financial reasons. By the end of the decade however, the Austrian Navy began to be rebuilt. The growth of

24477-449: The link to point directly to the intended ship article, if one exists. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SMS_Novara&oldid=1046017670 " Categories : Set index articles on ships Austro-Hungarian Navy ship names Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata All set index articles Austro-Hungarian Navy Before 1867,

24676-419: The list to 7°, but efforts to use collision mats to plug the holes failed. While this was going on the dreadnought steered for the nearby Bay of Brgulje at low speed. However, water continued to leak into the forward boiler room and eventually doused all but the two boilers on the port side. This killed the power for the pumps and only left enough electricity to run the lights. The turrets were trained to port in

24875-589: The loss of Szent István and the blow to morale it had on the navy forced Horthy to cancel his plans to assault the Otranto Barrage. The fleet returned to the base at Pola where it would remain for the rest of the war. After the war MAS-15 was installed in the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II as part of the Museo del Risorgimento in Rome for the torpedo boat's role in the sinking of Szent István . The anniversary of

25074-427: The majority of whom were Venetians, and subsequently captured and held prisoner. By the end of March, the Austrian troops in Venice were forced from the city and the Austrian Navy appeared to be collapsing as many of the Austrian sailors and officers were of Italian descent. Fearing mutinies, Austrian officers ultimately relieved these Italian sailors of their duty and permitted them to return home. While this action left

25273-498: The middle of an uprising against the Habsburg Monarchy, the Austrian Empire appeared on the brink of collapse. On 23 March 1848, just one day after Radetzky was forced to retreat from Milan, The Kingdom of Sardinia declared war on the Austrian Empire, sparking the First Italian War of Independence . Venice was at the time one of Austria's largest and most important ports, and the revolution which began there nearly led to

25472-491: The morning of 10 June. While Tegetthoff was unharmed, Szent István was struck by two torpedoes launched from MAS-15 , and capsized roughly three hours later off the island of Premuda . She is the only battleship whose sinking was filmed during World War I. The ship's wreck was located in the mid-1970s by the Yugoslav Navy . She lies upside down at a depth of 66 metres (217 ft). Her bow broke off when it hit

25671-575: The most talented of the Habsburg princes...He used his prestige, youthful enthusiasm, and love of the Service to promote it in every way possible." Ferdinand Max worked hard to separate the Austrian Navy from its dependence upon the Austrian Army, which had nominal control over its affairs. On 14 January 1862, Franz Joseph I agreed to establish the Ministry of Marine, which oversaw the affairs of both

25870-473: The naval ensign of Austria-Hungary flying from every vessel. The Emperor received multiple cheers and salutes from the men at Pola, who had spent the past two years doing little more than shooting down Italian airplanes and airships. The third dignitary visit came during Kaiser Wilhelm II's inspection of Pola's German submarine base on 12 December 1917. During this trip, the German Emperor also took

26069-428: The navy had been allocated some 63.4 and 73.4 million krone, which at the time was considered an inflated budget due to the construction of two Radetzky s. Montecuccoli worried that the general public and the legislatures in Vienna and Budapest would reject the need for a ship as expensive as Szent István , especially so soon after the political crisis in Budapest. The dramatic increase in spending meant that in 1909

26268-452: The navy he resolved to undertake a major fleet action in order to address low morale and boredom, and make it easier for Austro-Hungarian and German U-boats to break out of the Adriatic into the Mediterranean. After several months of practice, Horthy concluded the fleet was ready for a major offensive at the beginning of June 1918. Horthy was determined to use the fleet to attack the Otranto Barrage . Planning to repeat his successful raid on

26467-491: The navy spent some 100.4 million krone, a huge sum at the time. This was done in order to rush the completion of the Radetzky -class battleships, though the looming construction of three other dreadnoughts in addition to Szent István meant the Austro-Hungarian Navy would likely have to ask the government for a yearly budget much higher than 100 million krone. A secret agreement to fund construction of Viribus Unitis and Tegetthoff , Szent István ' s sister ships,

26666-426: The new base for the Austrian Navy. This marked the first time the city had been used as an Austrian naval base, and from 1848 onwards the city continued to serve as a base for Austrian warships until the end of World War I. In late April, this fleet began a blockade of Venice in order to assist Austria's army currently fighting the Italian nationalists who had seized the city. Meanwhile, fortunes continued to fade for

26865-406: The next three years. The lack of combat engagements, or even instances where Szent István left port, is exemplified by war logs. Between 1916 and 1918, the battleship rarely left the safety of the port except for gunnery practice in the nearby Fasana Strait. She only spent 54 days at sea during her 937 days in service and made only a single two-day trip to Pag Island. In total, only 5.7% of her life

27064-491: The night. She returned to her home port of Pola on 25 November. Between 13 and 23 December, Szent István conducted further gunnery trials before finally being commissioned into the 1st Battleship Division of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Like the other three ships of the Tegetthoff class, Szent István saw very little action during the course of the war, spending much of her time at her base at Pola. This general inactivity

27263-653: The older type Yarrow boilers installed on the sister ships, however they were more efficient than the old boilers. The new boilers had a huge advantage of being able to maintain top speed for up to eight hours, compared with only two hours on their sister ships. Constructed at the Škoda Works in Plzeň , Bohemia , Szent István ' s main battery was one of the few pieces of the battleship to be built outside of Hungary. These guns consisted of twelve 45- calibre 30.5-centimetre (12 in) Škoda K10 guns mounted in four triple turrets. Two turrets each were mounted forward and aft of

27462-588: The operation to hunt down enemy ships on the flanks of the fleet. On 8 June 1918 Horthy took his flagship, Viribus Unitis , and Prinz Eugen south with the lead elements of his fleet. On the evening of 9 June, Szent István and Tegetthoff followed along with their own escort ships. Horthy's plan called for Novara and Helgoland to engage the Barrage with the support of the Tátra -class destroyers. Meanwhile, Admiral Spaun and Saida would be escorted by

27661-481: The other Tegetthoff s, would use their firepower to destroy the Barrage and engage any Allied warships they ran across. Horthy hoped that the inclusion of these ships would prove to be critical in securing a decisive victory. En route to the harbour at Islana , north of Ragusa , to rendezvous with Viribus Unitis and Prinz Eugen for the coordinated attack on the Otranto Barrage , Szent István and Tegetthoff attempted to make maximum speed in order to catch up to

27860-576: The point that most of Austria's sea trade had to be conducted in foreign ships. The lack of any naval force to protect Austria's shipping led Count Kaunitz to push for the creation of a small force of frigates to protect the Adriatic Sea. However, the Seven Years' War forced Vienna to pay much more attention to Austria's land border with Prussia and its coastline along the Adriatic Sea, preventing Kaunitz's program from achieving success. In 1775, another attempt to formulate an overseas trading company

28059-458: The port of Trieste allowed for a rapid expansion of the city and a similar growth in Austria-Hungary's merchant marine. As Austria-Hungary became more connected to naval affairs than in past decades, a new line of battleships would be necessary to match the Empire's growing naval interests. Szent István and her sister ships were first envisioned in the middle of a heated naval arms race between Austria-Hungary and its nominal ally, Italy . Since

28258-532: The port part of his domains. The agreement incorporating Trieste into the Duchy of Austria was signed at the castle of Graz on 30 September 1382. While Austria had a port with the incorporation of Trieste, the city was granted a large degree of autonomy and successive Dukes of Austria paid little attention to the port or the idea of deploying a navy to protect it. Until the end of the 18th century, there were only limited attempts to establish an Austrian navy. During

28457-475: The ports of Pola, Trieste, and Venice, the largest the Adriatic had seen since the Napoleonic Wars. Pola in particular saw a considerable amount of attention as its natural harbor and strategic location along the Adriatic coastline of Austria enabled ships docked there to provide protection for Trieste as well as the Dalmatian Coast. While it had been used as a base for the Navy during the Revolutions of 1848,

28656-510: The ports of Trieste and Fiume to bear the cost of constructing and maintaining a fleet. The Austrian Navy was finally established in 1786, with Emperor Joseph II purchasing two cutters in Ostend, each armed with 20 guns, and sending them to Trieste. Joseph II also introduced Austria's Naval Ensign , which consisted of a red-white-red standard with the crown of the Archduchy of Austria on

28855-497: The process of replacing Italian with German as the spoken de facto language of the Austrian Navy. However, Dahlerup's command style clashed heavily with the prevailing culture within the Austrian Navy and he resigned after just over two years. After a two-year interim period in which Lieutenant General Count Franz Wimpffen commanded the Navy, in September 1854 Emperor Franz Joseph I promoted his younger brother, Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian (commonly referred to as Ferdinand Max), to

29054-540: The purchase of new steam ships to re-establish a blockade of Venice, Sardinia resumed the war with Austria on 12 March 1849. This led to the disastrous Sardinian defeat at the Battle of Novara ten days later. The decisive defeat forced King Charles Albert of Sardinia to abdicate the throne of Sardinia in favor of his son Victor Emmanuel II and brought the First War of Italian Independence to an end in August 1849. Venice

29253-423: The rank of Rear Admiral and named him Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian Navy. At the age of 22, Ferdinand Max became the youngest Oberkommandant in the history of the Austrian Navy, being a year younger than when Archduke Friedrich of Austria assumed command of the navy ten years earlier. Despite his age, the fact that he had only been in the Navy for four years, and his lack of experience in battle or command on

29452-549: The release of an Austrian merchant ship which had been captured by pirates. While the mission resulted in the return of the ship's crew, the Moroccans refused to return the ship, resulting in the Austrian bombardment of Larache . This action resulted in Morocco returning the captured Austrian ship, as well as pay damages to Vienna. The bombardment of Larache resulted in the end of North African pirates raiding Austrian shipping in

29651-399: The rest of the fleet. In doing so, Szent István ' s turbines started to overheat and speed had to be reduced to 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph). When an attempt was made to raise more steam in order to increase to 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) Szent István produced an excess of smoke. At about 3:15 am on 10 June, two Italian MAS boats , MAS-15 and MAS-21 , spotted

29850-559: The rest of the war due to the Otranto Barrage , which prevented the Austro-Hungarian Navy from leaving the Adriatic Sea. In June 1918, in a bid to ensure safer passage for German and Austro-Hungarian U-boats through the Strait of Otranto , the Austro-Hungarian Navy attempted to break the Barrage. This attack was to be spearheaded by all four ships of the Tegetthoff class but was abandoned after Szent István and her sister ship , Tegetthoff were attacked by Italian motor torpedo boats on

30049-464: The rumored battleships. Aehrenthal denied the construction of any dreadnoughts, but admitted that plans to construct a new battleship class were being considered. In an attempt to assure Cartwright that Austria-Hungary was not constructing any ships for the German Navy, Aehrenthal justified any naval expansion as being necessary to secure Austria-Hungary's strategic interests in the Mediterranean. At

30248-482: The scene, Horthy believed the element of surprise had been lost and called off the attack. In reality, the Italian torpedo boats had been on a routine patrol, and Horthy's plan had not been betrayed to the Italians as he had feared. The Italians did not even discover that the Austrian dreadnoughts had departed from Pola until 10 June when aerial reconnaissance photos revealed that they were no longer there. Nevertheless,

30447-489: The seabed while the stern was still afloat, but is immediately adjacent to the rest of the heavily encrusted hull. She is a protected site of the Croatian Ministry of Culture. Before the construction of Szent István and the other three ships of the Tegetthoff class, most of Austria-Hungary's battleships had been designed for the defense of the Empire's coastline. During the 19th-century, sea power had not been

30646-679: The search for potential allies. Sardinian Prime Minister Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour , found French Emperor Napoleon III supportive of an alliance with Sardinia following the Crimean War, in which France and Sardinia were allies against the Russian Empire. After the Plombières Agreement of 1858, Napoleon III and Cavour signed a secret treaty of alliance against Austria whereby France would assist Sardinia in return for Nice and Savoy being ceded to France. During

30845-533: The senior officers, and Austria-Hungary's naval traditions included an unspoken rule that no officer could serve at sea under someone of inferior seniority. This meant that the heads of the First and Second Battle Squadrons, as well as the Cruiser Flotilla, all had to go into early retirement. Horthy also used his appointment to take the Austro-Hungarian fleet out of port for maneuvers and gunnery practice on

31044-533: The ship's main superstructure in a superfiring pair. The implementation of triple turrets aboard Szent István came about for two reasons: the need to ensure the ship had a more-compact design and smaller displacement to conform to Austro-Hungarian naval doctrine and budget constraints, and to counter the implementation of triple turrets on the Italian Dante Alighieri . Having three guns on each turret rather than two made it possible to deliver

31243-464: The sinking, 10 June, has been celebrated by the Regia Marina, and its successor, the Marina Militare , as the official Italian Navy Day ( Italian : Festa della Marina ). The wreck of Szent István was located in the mid-1970s by the Yugoslav Navy . She lies upside down at a depth of 66 metres (217 ft). Her bow broke off when it hit the seabed while the stern was still afloat, but

31442-494: The small dockyards and port facilities, coupled with surrounding swampland had hindered its development. In addition to Pola's new drydock, Ferdinand Max had the swamps drained and constructed a new arsenal for the city. By 1855, a screw-powered ship-of-the-line was under construction in Pola after failed bids to construct the ship with British and American shipbuilding firms, while two screw-frigates and two screw-corvettes were being built in Trieste and Venice respectively. Within

31641-440: The smoke from the Austrian ships while returning from an uneventful patrol off the Dalmatian coast. The MAS unit was commanded by Capitano di corvetta Luigi Rizzo , who had sunk the Austro-Hungarian coastal defense ship SMS  Wien in Trieste six months before. The individual boats were commanded by Capo timoniere Armando Gori and Guardiamarina di complemento Giuseppe Aonzo respectively. Both boats successfully penetrated

31840-450: The strategy of his predecessor. Despite a change in command of both the Austro-Hungarian Navy and the Empire which it served, there would be no change in strategy regarding the employment of the Tegetthoff class in battle. Having hardly ever ventured out of port except to conduct gunnery practice for the past two years, the most-significant moments Szent István saw while moored in Pola were inspections by dignitaries. The first such visit

32039-434: The strength of the Regia Marina. The Italians believed that building a strong navy would play a crucial role in making the recently unified kingdom a Great Power . These actions captured the attention of the Austrian Empire , which viewed Italy with great suspicion and worry, as irredentist claims by Italian nationalists were directed at key Austrian territories such as Venice , Trentino , and Trieste . In response to

32238-413: The tea trade with the East India Company . The Ostend Company proved to be short lived however, as Charles VI suspended the charter of the company due to British diplomatic requests following the Treaty of Vienna , with the company ceasing operations in 1731. Believing that "Navigation and commerce are the foremost pillars of the state," Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI engaged in other projects beyond

32437-440: The threat of war with Italy from the Bosnian Crisis in 1908 fresh in the minds of the Austro-Hungarian military, Montecuccoli delivered a memorandum to Emperor Franz Joseph I in January 1909 proposing an enlarged Austro-Hungarian Navy consisting of 16 battleships, 12 cruisers, 24 destroyers, 72 seagoing torpedo boats, and 12 submarines. The most notable change in this memorandum compared to Monteccucoli's previous draft from 1905

32636-429: The three-decker 80-gun third rate ship of the line Cumberland from the United Kingdom in 1720. The ship was renamed San Carlos and stationed out of Naples . On the Adriatic, Charles VI constructed even more ships, usually employing Italian and Spanish officers to man them. This Adriatic fleet consisted of three ships of the line, one frigate, and several galleys . In total, this Adriatic fleet had 500 guns and

32835-431: The time to inspect Szent István in similar fashion to his Austro-Hungarian counterpart. Aside from these visits, the only action the port of Pola and Szent István were subject to between the Bombardment of Ancona and the summer of 1918 were the more than eighty air raids conducted by the newly formed Italian Air Force . Following the Cattaro Mutiny in February 1918, Admiral Njegovan was fired as Commander-in-Chief of

33034-475: The time, the potential that Austria-Hungary was constructing a class of dreadnought battleships was widely regarded among the British press, public, and politicians as a provocation on the part of Germany. Neither the Admiralty's suspicions, nor those of some politicians, managed to convince Parliament that the German government was attempting to use the battleships to escalate Germany and Britain's already contentious naval arms race however. When Winston Churchill

33233-427: The torpedoes were fired by submarines , pulled out of the formation and started to zigzag to throw off any further attacks. She repeatedly fired on suspected submarine periscopes . Szent István was hit by two 45-centimetre (18 in) torpedoes abreast her boiler rooms. The aft boiler room quickly flooded and gave the ship a 10° list to starboard. Counterflooding of the portside trim cells and magazines reduced

33432-442: The true purpose of the Tegetthoff class was so great that a British spy was dispatched to Berlin when Montecuccoli sent an officer from the Naval Section of the War Ministry to obtain recommendations from Tirpitz regarding the design and layout of the battleship. These concerns continued to grow and in April 1909, British Ambassador Fairfax Leighton Cartwright asked Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister Alois Lexa von Aehrenthal about

33631-402: The turret and conning tower roofs which were 60 to 150 millimetres (2 to 6 in) thick. The thickness of the decks ranged from 30 to 48 millimetres (1 to 2 in) in two layers. The underwater protection system consisted of the extension of the double-bottom upwards to the lower edge of the waterline armor belt, with a thin 10-millimetre (0.4 in) plate acting as the outermost bulkhead. It

33830-400: The two states, and Austria received the city of Venice along with Istria and Dalmatia . Venice's naval forces and facilities were also handed over to Austria and became the basis of the formation of the future Austrian Navy. The Treaty of Campo Formio resulted in Austria becoming the largest, and indeed the only, naval power in the Adriatic. Prior to the incorporation of the remnants of

34029-644: The upper deck, above the casemates. Three more 7-centimetre (2.8 in) Škoda K10 guns were mounted on the upper turrets for anti-aircraft duties. Two additional 8-millimetre (0.31 in) Schwarzlose M.07/12 anti-aircraft machine guns were mounted atop the armored cupolas of her rangefinders. Szent István was also equipped with two 7-centimetre (2.8 in) Škoda G. L/18 landing guns, and two 47-millimetre (1.9 in) Škoda SFK L/44 S guns for use against small and fast vessels such as torpedo boats and submarines. Furthermore, she also fitted with four 533-millimetre (21.0 in) submerged torpedo tubes , one each in

34228-399: The war with Sardinia. Early experimentation on the use of a self-propelled explosive device—forerunner to the torpedo—to attack the Italian ships also failure due to the technological constraints of the time. Additional proposals to break the Italian fleet by using fire ships was rejected as an "inhumane" way of fighting. The stalemate in the Adriatic came to an end as the Papal States and

34427-399: The war, the Empire decided to transfer most of its navy to the newly declared State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs on 31 October, effectively bringing the k.u.k. Kriegsmarine to an end. Three days later, the Empire's military authorities signed the Armistice of Villa Giusti , pulling the rapidly disintegrating empire out of the war. With the signing of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and

34626-484: The war. Szent István also carried 1,844.5 tonnes (1,815.4 long tons; 2,033.2 short tons) of coal, and an additional 267.2 tonnes (263.0 long tons; 294.5 short tons) of fuel oil that was to be sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate. At full capacity, Szent István could steam for 4,200 nautical miles (7,800 km; 4,800 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). The new Babcock & Wilcox boilers of Szent István were 48 tonnes heavier than

34825-510: The years after 1906. This development gave Austria-Hungary the opportunity to make up for neglecting its navy in past years. Furthermore, Austria-Hungary's improved financial situation following the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 were beginning to reflect in the form of larger budgets being allocated to the Empire's armed forces. Political will also existed to construct Austria-Hungary's own dreadnought battleship, as both Archduke Ferdinand and Admiral Montecuccoli were supportive of constructing

35024-408: The years before 1848, the Navy was largely considered to be a "local affair of Venice". In the years after 1848, most of the navy's officers corps hailed from the German-speaking parts of the Empire, while most of the sailors came from Istria and the Dalmatian Coast, leading to Croats, Germans, and even Hungarians to begin to be represented among the ranks of the Austrian Navy. After retaking Venice,

35223-423: Was laid down in January 1912. She was launched two years later in 1914, but Szent István ' s construction was delayed due to the smaller shipyards in Fiume, and further delayed by the outbreak of World War I in July 1914. She was finally commissioned into the Austro-Hungarian Navy in December 1915. Armed with a main battery of twelve 30.5 cm (12.0 in) guns in four triple turrets, Szent István

35422-485: Was about to begin. Designed by naval architect Siegfried Popper , Szent István had an overall length of 152.18 metres (499 ft 3 in), with a beam of 28 metres (91 ft 10 in) and a draught of 8.6 metres (28 ft 3 in) at deep load. She was designed to displace 20,000 tonnes (19,684 long tons; 22,046 short tons) at load, but at full combat load she displaced 21,689 tonnes (21,346 long tons; 23,908 short tons). Szent István ' s hull

35621-444: Was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty in 1911, he rejected any potential Austro-German collusion regarding the battleship. Roughly a year after Szent István ' s plans were drafted, Arbeiter-Zeitung , the Austrian Social Democratic Party newspaper, reported the details of the battleship to the general public. The Christian Social Party , supportive of the construction of Szent István and her sister ships, and operating on

35820-423: Was assigned to the 1st Battleship Division of the Austro-Hungarian Navy upon her commissioning. Alongside the other ships of her class, she was stationed out of the Austro-Hungarian naval base at Pola . Szent István ' s commissioning into the fleet came too late for her to participate in the Bombardment of Ancona following Italy's declaration of war on Austria-Hungary in May 1915, and she saw little combat for

36019-399: Was backed by a torpedo bulkhead that consisted of two 25-millimetre plates. The total thickness of this system was only 1.60 metres (5 ft 3 in) which made Szent István incapable of containing a torpedo warhead detonation or mine explosion without rupturing. This design flaw would ultimately prove to be fatal for her and her sister ship Viribus Unitis . Montecuccoli's plans for

36218-415: Was built with a double bottom , 1.22 metres (4 ft 0 in) deep, with a reinforced inner bottom that consisted of two layers of 25-millimetre (1 in) plates. The hull design was intended by Popper to protect the battleship from naval mines , though it ultimately failed Szent István when she was sunk by a torpedo in June 1918. The hull also failed for her sister ship Viribus Unitis when she

36417-420: Was conducted by Emperor Karl I on 15 December 1916. During this brief visit the Emperor inspected Pola's naval establishments and boarded Szent István . Karl I returned to Pola in June 1917 in the first formal imperial review of the Austro-Hungarian Navy since 1902. This visit was far grander than his previous trip to the naval base, with officers and sailors crowding the decks of their ships at port and

36616-461: Was cut short by their loss to Spain in 1734 during the War of Polish Succession , these territories as well as the new Austrian Netherlands gave Austria greater access to the sea than ever before. Following the War of Spanish Succession, Austria once again developed interest in establishing a proper navy in order to protect its now numerous coastal possessions. This coincided with the majority of European nations' growing interest in mercantilism ,

36815-404: Was forced to abdicate the throne in favor of his nephew, Franz Joseph. Across the Austrian Empire, nationalist sentiments among Austria's various ethnic groups led to the revolutions in Austria to take several different forms. Liberal sentiments prevailed extensively among the German Austrians, which were further complicated by the simultaneous events in the German states . The Hungarians within

37014-436: Was not equipped with torpedo nets. Szent István possessed two shafts and two AEG-Curtis steam turbines , which were housed in a separate engine-room and powered by twelve Babcock & Wilcox boilers. This differed from the four shaft arrangement present on her three sister ships. Szent István ' s propulsion system was designed to produce a total of 26,400 or 27,000 shaft horsepower (19,686 or 20,134 kW), which

37213-412: Was one of only two on the high seas to ever be filmed, the other being that of the British battleship HMS  Barham during World War II . Proceeds from the film of Szent István capsizing were eventually used to feed children in Austria following the ending of the war. Fearing further attacks by torpedo boats or destroyers from the Italian navy, and possible Allied dreadnoughts responding to

37412-404: Was partly caused by a fear of mines in the Adriatic. Grand Admiral Anton Johann Haus chose to keep most of his ships in port in order to use the Austro-Hungarian Navy as a fleet in being . This tactic earned sharp criticism from the Austro-Hungarian Army , the German Navy, and the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Ministry, but it also led to a far greater number of Entente naval forces being devoted to

37611-414: Was prepared to go down with his ship but was saved after being thrown off the bridge when she capsized. Film footage and photographs exist of Szent István ' s last half-hour, taken by Linienschiffsleutnant Meusburger of Tegetthoff with his own camera and by an official film crew. The two films were later spliced together and exhibited in the United States after the war. The battleship's sinking

37810-423: Was proclaimed King of Italy . With the unification of Italy , the various navies of the former Italian states were merged into a single military force, named the Regia Marina (Royal Navy). By the time the two Formidabile -class ironclads had been commissioned, they formed the first broadside ironclads of the Italian Regia Marina. Following up on these ships, Italy launched a substantial program to bolster

38009-443: Was spent at sea; and for the rest of the time she swung at anchor in Pola Harbour. Szent István saw so little action and so little time at sea that she was never drydocked to have her bottom cleaned. In January 1917 Emperor Karl I attended a military conference at Schloss Pless with German Kaiser Wilhelm II and members of the German Army and Navy. Haus, along with members of Austria-Hungary's naval command at Pola, accompanied

38208-617: Was struck with the Rothschild family in Austria , who owned the Witkowitz Ironworks, the Creditanstalt Bank, and had significant assets in both the Škoda Works and the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino. Archduke Franz Ferdinand personally courted Albert Salomon Anselm von Rothschild to obtain his family's monetary support until the government could buy Szent István ' s two older sister ships. Facing potential backlash over constitutional concerns that constructing two Tegetthoff -class battleships committed Austria-Hungary to spend roughly 120 million Krone without prior approval by either

38407-431: Was sunk by a mine in November of that same year. Szent István also featured two 2.74-metre (9 ft 0 in) Barr and Stroud optical rangefinder posts on both the starboard and port sides for the secondary guns of the battleship. These rangefinders were equipped with an armored cupola, which housed an 8-millimetre (0.31 in) Schwarzlose M.07/12 anti-aircraft machine gun. Unlike her sister ships, Szent István

38606-415: Was the inclusion of four additional dreadnought battleships with a displacement of 20,000 tonnes (19,684 long tons) at load. One of these ships would eventually become Szent István . Montecuccoli's memorandum would eventually be leaked to Italian newspapers just three months after obtaining approval from Emperor Franz Joseph I. The Italian reaction to the Austro-Hungarian plans was swift, and in June 1909,

38805-494: Was the last Italian nationalist holdout to fall on 27 August 1849. The Revolutions of 1848 marked a turning point in the history of the Austrian Navy. Up until that time, the Navy had been dominated by the Italian language, customs, and traditions. Prior to the revolution, the Austrian Navy was mostly made up of Italian crew members, the Italian language was the primary language, and even Italian ship names were used over German ones, such as Lipsia rather than Leipzig . Indeed, in

39004-439: Was the last of four Tegetthoff -class dreadnought battleships built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy . Szent István was the only ship of her class to be built within the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire , a concession made to the Hungarian government in return for its support for the 1910 and 1911 naval budgets which funded the Tegetthoff class. She was built at the Ganz-Danubius shipyard in Fiume , where she

39203-412: Was theoretically enough to attain a maximum designed speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph). It was reported during the speed trials of her sister ship Tegetthoff that she attained a top speed of 19.75 knots (36.58 km/h; 22.73 mph), though Szent István ' s actual top speed is unknown as the official sea trial data and records for all ships of the Tegetthoff class were lost after

39402-406: Was unable to protect its coastal cities or project power into the Adriatic or Mediterranean Seas. The war ended with the treaties of Utrecht , Rastatt , and Baden . Under the terms of the Treaty of Rastatt, Austria gained the Spanish Netherlands , the Kingdom of Naples , the Kingdom of Sicily , the Kingdom of Sardinia , and the Duchy of Milan . While Austria's control over Sardinia and Naples

39601-494: Was undertaken with the establishment of the Austrian East India Company . Headed by William Bolts , the company's first voyage to India began on 24 September 1776 with Bolts sailing aboard the Indiaman Giuseppe e Teresa from Livorno in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany , which was ruled by Maria Theresa's son Leopold . Bolts was also granted a 10-year charter to trade under the flag of the Holy Roman Empire with Persia, India, China and Africa. The Austrian East India Company marked

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