Andy South - THE TEGETTHOFF CLASS.: Austria-Hungarys Dreadnoughts (1909-1925) (Warships of the First World War)

THE TEGETTHOFF CLASS DREADNOUGHTS

1909-1925

ANDY SOUTH

AMAZON.C0.UK

Copyright 2019 Andrew South, Andrew Wilkie & Zoltan Takacs

All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
ISBN-13: 9781234567890
ISBN-10: 1477123456
Cover design by: Andrew Wilkie
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018675309
Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Andrew Wilkies passion for ships began at a very young age of 5 years old, his first love, the R.M.S. Titanic. His passion spread from ocean liners to the battleships of WWI and WWII, heavily favouring the British and Italian Navies, with special interest in the obscure, forgotten nations like Austria-Hungary. Having an artistic talent, Andrew wanted to combine his passion for ships with his passion for drawing. He embarked on recreating the little known Austro-Hungarian battleship S.M.S Viribus Unitis in stunning 3D detail on his computer, a project that would span three years. Eventually, he created her sister ship Szent Istvn in 3D, all the while collaborating with historians, magazines, museums, institutions, film studios, and diving associations on many different projects. His art has graced the covers of books and magazines and eventually creating his own book. Andrew shares his passion for the Viribus Unitis and the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the form of his website at www.ViribusUnitis.ca. Be sure to visit the site to learn the history around these ships, the preliminary battleship/battlecruiser designs, photos, drawings, plans and much, much more.

previous page: the alternative cover created by Andrew Wilkie. Both are stunning images and I fluctuated between the two. But both demand their place in the spotlight as both are stunning and both are copyrighted. thank you, Andrew.

PHOTOGRAPHS, TRANSLATIONS & ERRORS.

A brief note (and an apology) concerning a small number of the images within this E book. They are off a poor quality and their inclusion means no higher resolutions were available to me. I decided after much thought to include them and thereby tell the complete tale. I felt their omission would leave out more than their submission would bring to the telling of the history. I hope the reader will both bear with me and forgive me.

Secondly having worked with Hungarian, Serbian, and Croatian source material, I had to resort to Googles translations services. If the text does not 'flow' within these parts I am sorry, but I was reluctant to tamper with languages I do not read or speak.

Finally, this volume has been proofread and checked by three people, myself included. However, I am not naive enough to think it will emerge free of errors. If you find any , please do not post a bad review but drop me an email and I will correct any mistakes. This volume is the result of hundreds of hours work, so allow me the chance to make amendments. Once again I hope the reader will both bear with me and forgive me.

Andy South

( andyuknaval@gmail.com )

MAPS

THE ADRIATIC

500 miles (800 km) long with an average width of 100 miles,

A=LOSS OF THE WIEN Bay of Muggia, 19/12/17.

B= venice, italian port.

C= LOSS OF Jugoslavija 01/11/18

D= LOSS OF THE SZENT ISTVAN 10/06/18

E= BOMARDMENT OF Ancona 05/15

F= VIRIBUS UNITIS 06/14

G= ROUTE OF COFFINS 06/14

H= Otranto Barrage

ALL PLACEMENTS ARE APPROXIMATE.

NATIONAL FLAG DONATES NAVAL BASE.

THE PORT OF POLA

A= THE MAIN NAVAL BASE WITHIN POLA

B= THE SITE OF THE Yugoslavia LOSS

C= FLEET GUNNERY EXERCISE LOCATION.

THE DISTANCE FROM A TO C IS 8 MILES (APPROX.) AND WAS TO BE THE MOST frequented ROUTE THE dreadnoughts TRAVELLED DURING THEIR WAR SERVICE. ONLY ON A VERY FEW OCCASIONS DID THEY VENTURE FURTHER.

The Szent Istvns final voyage.

The red track denotes the Austrian-Hungarian fleet and the green path, the Italians.

(All positions are approximate)

THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN FLEET ANCHORAGES

(NOTED ON THE 22ND OCTOBER 1918, BY Italian air reconnaissance).

the warships locations are most unlikely to have changed during the days leading up to the Italian raid.

1. Zrnyi. 2. RADETZKY 3. Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand 4. PRINZ EUGEN 5. TEGETTHOFF 6. VIRIBUS UNITIS 7. EMPTY BERTH 8. EMPTY BERTH 9.? 10 BUDAPEST 11.? 12. SMALL WARSHIP 13.? 14. COMET CLASS 15. HABSBURG CLASS 16. HABSBURG CLASS 17. SMS ADRIA 18. KAISERIN UND KONIGIN MARIA THERESIA 19 WIEN 20.? 21. EMPTY BERTH 22. YACHT 23. SMALL WARSHIP 24. OLD WARSHIP 25. SMALL WARSHIP 26. TORPEDO BOAT 27. TORPEDO BOAT 28.? 29. NOVRA CLASS 30. SMALL UNKNOWN WARSHIP 31. EMPTY BERTH 32. STEAMER 33. SMALL UNKNOWN WARSHIP 34. TORPEDO BOAT 35. HUNTING TORPEDO BOAT 36. UNKNOWN WARSHIP 37. EMPTY BERTH 38.? 39.? 40. TORPEDO BOAT 41. HAZAR CLASS 42. SUBMARINE & TORPEDO BOAT 43. SUBMARINE 44. HABSBURG CLASS 45. TORPEDO BOAT 46. STEAMER 47. STEAMER 48. STEAMER 49. NOVARA CLASS 50. SUBMARINE 51. EMPTY DRY DOCK 52. OCCUPIED DRY DOCK 53. BERTH FOR DRY DOCK 54.? 55. OCCUPIED DRY DOCK (SUBMARINE) 56. STEAMER 57. MERCHANT SHIP.

The red line denotes the route taken by the mas boats. the white lines are defence booms and black line a mole or pier.

all positions are approximate,

PART ONE: THE CONCEPTION

THE 21,689 ton S.M.S Szent Istvn leaving HER HOME port, IN THE COMPANY OF A LIGHT CRUISER & TORPEDO BOAT ESCORT. (IMAGE CREDIT Andrew Wilkie www.ViribusUnitis.ca)

CHAPTER 1: THE DREADNOUGHT CLUB.

THE TEGETTHOFF CLASS

I n 1906 there was a new club in town. One that only the richest and most powerful of nations could realistically afford to join. Its chief assets were bigger, faster, shapelier, and more powerful than anything that had gone before. Membership of this 'exclusive' club sent the message "don't mess with us". As with all new 'must-haves' those who could not afford to join, 'wanted-in' even more, so they too would be recognized as a 'Great Power'. In 1906 the must have item was the Dreadnought battleship and the Austro-Hungarian Habsburgs wanted in. The Tegetthoff Dreadnoughts (often referred incorrectly to, as the Viribus Unitis class) was destined to be the only group of Dreadnoughts ever to be built and completed for the Austrian-Hungarian Imperial Navy, (the Kaiserliche und knigliche Kriegsmarine, sometimes shortened to K.U.K. Kriegsmarine). The class, (after much scheming and politicking), would be comprised of four ships, the Viribus Unitis (pronounced: "Var-e-buss Unit-is"), Tegetthoff ("Tea-gee-toff") , Prinz Eugen, ("Prinz U-jen") and the Szent Istvn ("Scent ist-van") [1]. Three of the four ships were to be built in, what was until 1918, the fourth largest city in the Habsburg Empire, Trieste. The fourth vessel, the Szent Istvn, was constructed in the Empire's Hungarian port of Fiume. [1a] The allocation of the two construction sites was made to ensure that both parts of the Dual Monarchy, (or Empire), benefited from and agreed to provide the funds for these four 'status' symbols.